nOURish BRIDGEPORT, Inc.
Year-Round Indoor Hydroponic Farm
NOURISH: to provide people or living things with food in order to make them grow and keep them healthy. Cambridge Dictionary
In an out-of-the-way location, nOURish BRIDGEPORT’s hydroponic farm, the first non-profit indoor hydroponic farm in Connecticut, a 5,000 square foot facility (which has the growing equivalent of 6 acres of soil land) was constructed to combat the harsh realities of a surging food insecurity and lack of access to healthy fresh produce.
nOURish BRIDGEPORT, is headed by the Reverend Sara D. Smith, President, CEO, and Founder, who had a vision in 2010, to address the needs of her neighborhood – Bridgeport. Reverend Sara is Senior Minister of the 329 year-old United Congregational Church, located then at 877 Park Ave. in Bridgeport, one of the oldest continuous congregations in North America. When Reverend Sara arrived 15 years ago, she walked the blocks around her big urban church building, meeting and getting to know the residents, many of whom were in desperate circumstances. It was then in 2010 that she founded nOURish BRIDGEPORT, Inc., a 501c3, that is a separate entity from the church itself, but shares the church facilities and several staff to help those in need.
Due to the ever-increasing high maintenance costs of the building, the old church was sold. The congregation moved to the Bessemer Center on North Avenue, and renamed it the nOURish CENTER.
The reality in Bridgeport is:
- 1 in 5 children go to bed hungry
- 1 in 3 residents faces food insecurity and food scarcity – This number has increased since COVID.
- 4 in 6 neighborhoods are considered a “food desert” (a neighborhood lacking a supermarket).
In order to address these needs, Reverend Sara knew she had to implement new and innovative approaches. Falling back on her Kentucky background (she comes from seventeen (17) generations of farmers), her law school graduate savvy, and the realities of a New England growing season, she researched and implemented several growing indoor hydroponic methods: fork farms system, grow rack rig system, Dutch bucket system, and freight container system, all of which help provide the solution to the shortage of healthy food that so many face daily.
In their first 2 years of production, nOURish distributed 14 tons of healthy greens grown in their indoor hydroponic farm to people struggling with food insecurity.
All of the crops are grown in a safe and sanitary environment. According to Reverend Sara, “We must have a clean environment at every stage of the Hydroponic system or we lose whole crops. Employees must wear a lab-coat, a hair bonnet and shoe booties – because we all carry spores on our clothes from the environment that can harm the sensitive hydroponic plants. Only those employees ‘gowned up’ can enter the seeding, transplanting and the grow room areas. In addition, in the harvesting and packaging area, we must meet the same food safety requirements as a restaurant.”
Their produce goes directly to families served by Bridgeport pantries via the CT Food Bank system. Families may purchase these greens using SNAP benefits at local farmer’s market, where they are the only year-round farm.
They presently are a vendor at Bunnell High School of the Stratford School System – daily fresh romaine for salads. They also deliver fresh greens to low-income diabetic patients in Bridgeport through the St. Vincent’s Diabetes-Equity Project, and provide the fresh produce for the City of Bridgeport’s East Side “City Fresh” food boxes. Sterling House in Stratford purchases nOURish FARM’s fresh produce for Senior Food Boxes. Soon The nOU Rish STORE will open selling their fresh produce to the public.
GROWING METHODS
There is no “dirt” used in hydroponic systems. They put seeds into “GROW PLUGS” made from Cococore, and for the Dutch Bucket systems they use ground-up Cococore.
“Cococore” in a Dutch Bucket
Fork Farms system:
nOURish’s indoor hydroponic farm uses Flex Farm technology to grow leafy greens, vegetables, and fruits 365 days a year. Flex Farms are indoor hydroponic farm units that require minimal space, energy, and resources. By carefully controlling everything plants need to thrive, each Flex Farm can grow more than 394 pounds of produce annually. Since indoor hydroponic farms only use water, light and nutrients, there is no need to plan for inclement weather or to deal with the potential food safety issues of produce grown in the dirt, such as the use of pesticides.
nOURish’s Farm Manager Lezli Albelo says they use the Flex Farm to grow a variety of leafy greens like arugula, romaine lettuces, kale and swiss chard, along with herbs including basil, oregano, thyme, and more. “The Flex Farms have allowed us to provide our community in the capacity we were hoping for,” Albelo states. “We are able to provide fresh produce to the Connecticut Food Share through the farm neighbors program every week.”
Photo is of Dutch Bucket Systems and Fork Farm Systems
Dutch Bucket Systems
Dutch buckets, also referred to as bato buckets, allow growers to take advantage of drip irrigation, where a nutrient solution is pumped through a series of tubes and applied slowly to growing media. This gradual application supports more precise watering, helping growers reduce waste, conserve resources and keep plants well-nourished.
Bato buckets are widely used in commercial grows because of their ability to support larger – viney plants than other hydroponic growing systems, as well as their effectiveness when combined with automation. Commercial growers can use these setups to produce plants with extensive root systems, like onions, tomatoes and zucchini, while saving a significant amount of money on watering costs.
Dutch Bucket Systems offer a more effective solution. This hydroponic garden system gives operations superior control over their production area, enabling them to quickly adjust the spacing of their buckets, or incorporate additional buckets as needed.
nOURish uses their 2 Dutch Bucket Systems to grow 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of cucumbers, and viney herbs.
Each Dutch bucket has a siphon-designed drainage system, nutrient reservoir, and features dripper stakes that connect to a nutrient feed pump station to deliver food to plants.
Freight Container System:
Featuring a state-of-the-art controlled environment agriculture system that gives you complete control of the elements, our shipping container farm makes it possible to grow delicious food 365 days a year, and to grow thousands of high-value crops like lettuces, leafy greens, herbs, roots, edible flowers, and more in just 320 sq. ft.
The Freight Container System incorporates an automatic lighting system that aids in growing seedlings.
The produce grown year-round is distributed at local food pantries and farmers markets: Connecticut Food Share, Sterling Community Center, Golden Hill Methodist Church, and City Fresh.
Farmer’s Markets include Bridgeport Farmer’s Market, Paradise Green Farmer’s Market in Stratford, Shakespeare Market, Alliance, and Stratfield Farmer’s Market.
Their crops include up to 50 greens and lettuces. “We have tried 50 varieties of lettuces and greens, but regularly grow 25,” said Reverend Sara, “plus a rotation of 9 herbs.” This year they added equipment that enabled them to grow vertical crops of tomatoes and cucumbers.
Reverend Sara is blessed with a core group of “super helpers” who are encouraged to expand offerings. They are experimenting with scallions, arugula, micro greens, squash, watermelons, berries, 6 different basil varieties. One of her favorite crops is Pomegranate Crunch Romaine (purple on top) that is only available from nOURish INDOOR FARM – it cannot grow in CT soil!
You can “try and buy” nOURish produce at the nOURish STORE at 2200 North Avenue in Bridgeport, as well as local farmers markets. nOURish also provides fresh produce to City Fresh – East Side Food Boxes, and Sterling House – Senior Food Boxes.
Imagine… lettuce and tomatoes in February! Can you see it? We can.
