Henry Ford Hospital West Bloomington greenhouse producing food -- and wellness

From Detroit Free Press: Perched on an 8-foot ladder, Michelle Lutz reaches into the leafy tops of the pole-bean vines growing toward the glass roof of Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital's new $1-million hydroponic greenhouse.

"The first ones!" the resident farmer declares, holding up several young pods.

Already that morning she had picked red and green lettuces, heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, edible nasturtiums and bunches of herbs for the hospital's kitchen, which uses the produce in patients' meals and its café.

Dozens of kinds of vegetables and herbs -- five types of kale, 23 kinds of tomatoes, five varieties of basil, eggplants, squash, hot and sweet peppers, fresh herbs, microgreens and even strawberry plants -- have been thriving since mid-summer in what Henry Ford officials say is the first hospital-based greenhouse in the nation.

It is surprisingly prolific. Hospital chefs no longer have to buy microgreens or basil, their most-used herb, because the greenhouse produces all they need. "If I manage this properly," Lutz says, indicating her 12-by-20-foot hydroponic table, "this will produce 15,000 heads of lettuce in a year. For 240 square feet, that's pretty incredible."

Click here to continue reading.