The Greenhouse Education Center and team traveled over 650 miles to New Jersey this week. This has been our furthest destination yet, but was by far my favorite week! Overall we had great weather that brought Wegman shoppers to the stores all week. We saw nearly triple the number of visitors to the GEC and sampled many sweet bell peppers, English Cukes, and Ohio Red™ tomatoes. While in New Jersey, shoppers would come across the parking lot to see our demonstration greenhouse and were so excited that we came this far to share with them how NatureFresh™ grows. To our delight, dozens of people went directly to the produce department to find our products after checking out our demo and tasting the veggies. Ohio Red Tomatoes™ were very popular and even loved by those who often use the infamous “Jersey grown tomatoes”. Being in the “Garden State” I got to meet many people who shared my passion for plants and fresh produce—overall it was a fantastic trip and one I would gladly do again!

This week Dave Froese, NatureFresh™ energy manager tagged along with the team. It was great to have him along as he shared his daily work routine with us, the importance of energy management in the greenhouse, and had fun with the team. Something that I personally learned from Dave was the use of the NatureFresh™ Priva system, which is a computerized tracking system used by growers and managers at the Greenhouse. Dave showed us how he used an app on his phone to track and make recommendations for the heating system while several states away! It is truly unbelievable how modern technology can do so much these days, even in agriculture. Dave is a well of knowledge and he shared his insight with shoppers and all of us at the GEC.