Naked Greens
It's more than just our name, it is also a commitment to our customers, our community, and ourselves. More than just the colour of the delicious, nutritious fresh vegetables we produce, green is the colour of sustainability and environmental responsibility. We believe that food is the future of greenhousing, and greenhouses are the future of food. Our commitment is to ensure that on the long road ahead, and always taking positive and responsible steps towards a sustainable food future.
We are proud to be a leader in greenhouse production focusing on biocontrol (a tool in our integrated pest management program or IPM) for all our pest control needs. Biocontrol is the use of beneficial bugs to stop the bad bugs from bullying our crops. This means a healthier, cleaner growing environment that’s safe to eat fresh out of the ponds. When your greens are that fresh, you want to show them off! That’s where the “naked” part of the Naked Greens commitment comes in. Not only do our greens come with the bare roots attached, but when you walk into our greenhouse, you can see right into our hydroponic ponds. You can see where your greens are growing and watch us hand-select them when you place your order. Everything is right out in the open because we have nothing to hide.
It's just fresh, local, & delicious.
Our Story
In 2010 the Stielow family bought their Bruderheim greenhouse, with an almost 60 year growing tradition. Since then, Nadine, her family, and her team have introduced new energy to the company. Upgrades to the facilities, processes, and a unique plant selection, all without sacrificing the top-notch product quality the community had come to expect.
The next step was to look toward a sustainable food future; a dream that Nadine envisioned for the greenhouse. With industry research as their basis, the Stielow family built two prototype tabletop hydroponic ponds; and with seeds, water, nutrition and a very old set of grow lights in hand, the production tests were underway.
Further yet behind the scenes the infrastructure planning was underway for both a growing space and a more efficient boiler heating system that would be needed for the hydroponic expansion. Ever committed to our environmental responsibility goals, both the boilers and the new greenhouses were saved from demolition; disassembled piece-by-piece and transported to their new home by Bob’s skilled hands. Their three sons stepped in to help whenever extra hands were needed, and soon, a brand-new greenhouse had appeared. But what to fill it with?
The trials revealed that the most frustrating hurdle toward a sustainable product would be the traditional hydroponic growing mediums. The most common ones, a wool-like substance, and a dense foam, didn’t biodegrade the way we wanted. We decided the only solution for us was to get one of the most advanced systems the Netherlands had to offer: Dry Hydroponics. This system would allow us to use tiny cubes of real soil to grow in, which biodegrade quickly and easily! But as with any specialized system, it would come with a price tag. We put our vision out to the community, and they answered in a way we couldn’t have dreamed. We set up an ATB BoostR campaign to crowd-fund the up-front cost of getting the new system to Canada, and with our community’s support, it became one of the largest and fastest-met campaigns in BoostR history. The rest of the story, you can come and see for yourself.
Now, Naked Greens boasts two custom hydroponic ponds capable of each growing 3000 plants in stages of growth, plus a special seedling pond that holds an additional 7000 plants; a big step up from the tabletop test ponds. Each week, we can harvest up to 1900 heads of lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, swiss chard, watercress, bok choy, and more. All of it can be ordered online for pickup in our main greenhouse, or at any of our community vendor partner locations.
From Seed to Salad and Pond to Plate, we’ve got you covered!