New Business Sprouts Up in Sidney

The project started from a news cast of lettuce and similar vegetables being recalled. The recall was first at specific restaurants, then later at grocery stores.

While at a Juice Plus Tower Garden conference in Phoenix, Ariz., Jeanne Ogden thought of a way to offer vegetables that have almost no way of being infected. She is opening a store that allows the customer to cut herbs and leafy vegetables from the plant in a grow tower, or the customer can purchase the plant to take home and transplant to their own garden.

"I thought - we should just take these tower gardens and grow vegetables that won't have a chance of recall," Ogden said.

Fast forward, she is just days from opening her enterprise, "Growcery, An Indoor Garden," at 920 Tenth Ave., in Sidney. Her official opening is planned for Monday, Aug. 6.

Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

"I feel like I'm extending the Farmers Market," she says.

She says many of the products offered at the Farmers Market she cannot grow on a tower. Likewise, she offers herbs and vegetables that are not consistently available in the Sidney area. She also offers customers the opportunity to taste a fresh herb or vegetable before purchasing it.

According to Ogden, freshness and quality of product are most of what are driving her. As an indoor growing operation, she can control the reproduction of plants. Quality of plants is also contingent on when the plant is harvested.

"My plan is to cut it at the point of sale," she said.

She said herbs and vegetables are most nutritious when freshly cut. She has eight towers for customers to purchase fresh from, and two towers for customers wanting to grow their own.