what sets her crops apart? well, for one they are grown year round in “a controlled agriculture environment.” this means while other local farmers in loudon county, virginia are unable to grow, the lettuce lady still provides her products to top washington, dc restaurants and chefs and local customers.

taylor told us she got the idea from a visit to disney world’s hydroponic gardens. “i never thought i’d go into farming, but i have found it, just right now, the place to be,” the californian raised taylor said.

“this is smart farming.”

– mary ellen taylor, aka the lettuce lady

endless summer harvest grows 4,000 plants a week using just 12,000 ft.2 of greenhouse space. that is the “equivalent of 12 acres of traditional farmland,” she said.

her hydroponic farm uses no soil and she is able to recycle 90% of the water used back through her well into the mixing tanks that produce the solution used to grow her crops.

endless summer harvest’s controlled environment hydroponics system could provide a way for farmers in climates unsuitable for growing crops to provide food for a growing planet.

visitors from around the world, especially in developing nations including afghanistan and botswana have visited her farm seeing it as a model for future use in their less irrigable home regions.

the lettuce lady hopes to double the amount of greenhouses at endless summer harvest from two to four within a year.

is this the future of farming?

• since our land is on the highest point in the oak creek valley with never-ending wind, we want to harness wind and solar energy to run the farm and then sell the leftover energy back to the grid.
• we need a new well to support our plans and in the process of digging the well, we’d also like to drill deeper to see if geothermal energy would be possible and if so, that leftover energy would also be sold back to the grid.
• we would then create a self-sustaining greenhouse and eventually an all-organic farm that would provide food for the community, education on self-sustainment and alternative energy and most importantly jobs.
• we’re partnering with a company that creates bricks out of compressed earth, much like the sod houses of our ancestors. with the growing hmong community in lincoln, we would make homes for these underserved people and others who would also be trained in organic farming and self-sustainment.
• we’re already creating a hardy strain of fir and cedar trees to replace scotch pine, which create windbreaks all over nebraska. unfortunately those trees are dying of pine wilt and will soon need to be replaced. this profit center for our operation is already in progress.
• my sister alice, who is the chief gardener for the city of lincoln, has applied for a matching fund through the nebraska season extension project to build a green house, but progress on that and on all of our plans are in fits and spurts because of lack of funding.
• with our off the grid! reed’s green growers plan we will:
-create jobs
-educate america about self-sustainment, alternative energy and organic farming
-provide a space for local small businesses as well as an outlet for artists to perform and create their work in our largest barn in the county
-hold an alternative farmers’ market on sundays to supplement the one held on saturday in the community.
if we can make this work in the harsh climate of nebraska, we can make it work anywhere.