A Greenhouse Grows in Denver: Healthy, Sustainable Food in the City

Finding healthy sustainable food in the middle of the city can be difficult, particularly in areas that qualify as food deserts. Such is the case in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, where the nearest real grocery store is a Walmart supercenter that is three miles away. It's industrial, it's low income, it's primarily Latino. But it also happens to be home to a very large greenhouse taking on a very large sustainable food project.

The GrowHaus is a brand new community farm, marketplace, and education center occupying an old commercial flower greenhouse. Thanks to the vision of a local developer, the greenhouse was bought and renovated to transform into a community garden of sorts, with space for neighborhood residents to grow their own vegetables, even through the winter.

In addition to providing affordable garden space for low income residents, the GrowHaus has begun to develop an indoor farm for market production based on the low-input/output models of permaculture. Until the staff creates a master plan for how to best utilize the greenhouse space (which is fairly huge), GrowHaus is also available for use by local sustainable food growers. Currently a small Colorado-based aquaponics company has three aquaponic systems up and running in the space, growing lettuce, chard, basil, tomatoes, perch and tilapia. The farm has begun testing the marketability of their produce and sells to a local restaurant. Eventually, however, the Growhaus hopes to expand to create a "Growasis" market, a place where area residents can come to buy affordable staples, like healthy, fresh, and organic produce, among other items.

Just as important as creating access to healthy, sustainable food for folks living in a food desert, the GrowHaus provides access to food literacy and education. The greenhouse hosts speakers on topics like urban permaculture, garden design, nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and food justice. This interactivity between the farm and the surrounding community is an important piece of creating a lasting and healthy impact. As the GrowHaus grows, it will also include job programs and internships for local high school students.

As the GrowHaus works to make this dream greenhouse a reality, it emerges as a striking example of the way food justice synthesizes all aspects of a truly sustainable food system on a local level. They not only seek to grow healthy, sustainable food, but are also paying as much attention to growing a sense of community, increasing the number of jobs, and providing a space for education.