Gretchen C. Van Benthuysen of Two River Times visits the Beyond Organic Growers greenhouse to discuss the business with Theresa Reid.
“Beyond Organic started small and grew and grew.
“My daughter lives in L.A. and I would go out there to visit her and the produce was so beautiful and delicious,” explained Theresa Reid, owner of Beyond Organic in Howell. “I craved having that all the time.”
So she bought a 4 1/2-foot tall indoor Tower Garden by Juice Plus that uses aeroponics (water, liquid nutrients and a soilless growing medium).
“It was great,” she said. “It was the middle of winter and I was getting fresh thyme and parsley and lettuce from my tower.”
Then she had another idea that began to grow. She wondered how she could bring locally grown, delicious, organic greens, microgreens and herbs to the local community. Maybe even open an organic juice bar.
“I knew they did this (aeroponics) on a commercial scale,” she said. “So we looked into it and nobody was doing this north of Georgia at the time, nor east of Oklahoma.””