Greener Gardening, Cleaner Eating

Aeroponic farming, a technique where plants grow in a soilless environment with their roots suspended in air, has been slowly revolutionizing sustainable agriculture for decades.

This innovative method, pioneered by horticulturists at Disney World’s EPCOT more than 30 years ago, is now finding a unique application in the culinary world, particularly in restaurants committed to using fresh, high-quality ingredients.

The Green House, Wilmington’s first upscale vegan restaurant, exemplifies this approach by incorporating aeroponic tower gardens into its operations. The gardens are at the heart of the restaurant’s food and beverages, and it’s a model that enhances both the sustainability and the nutritional quality of its offerings.

Michelle Lyon-Heatherly, owner of Cape Fear Tower Gardens, is the lead horticulturalist for The Green House. For more than 25 years, she operated a commercial garden center, and during that time she became increasingly concerned about the effects of pesticides on the produce she was growing and on nearby waterways.

Lyon-Heatherly never expected to take such a deep dive into aeroponics. But back in 2020, she happened to strike up a conversation with friend Anastasia Worrell, owner of The Green House, about plans for an on-site greenhouse at the new vegan restaurant, which is located at 1427 Military Cutoff Road.

After reviewing the initial greenhouse plans, Lyon-Heatherly realized it might not be the best fit in terms of functionality and sustainability and urged Worrell to consider tower gardens. Tower gardens maximize vertical space, which is beneficial for restaurants with limited growing space. The vertical setup allows a variety of crops to be grown in a compact area.

Unlike hydroponics, where roots are intermittently covered in water, aeroponics allows roots to be suspended in air and misted with a nutrient solution. This method offers several key benefits, including a growth rate that is three times faster than soil-based farming and the need for a fraction of the water required in traditional farming.

A unique aspect of The Green House’s aeroponic system is the use of “living water.” This water is structurally altered using magnets and electricity to separate hydrogen from oxygen, creating a molecular hydrogen-rich solution. This process not only enhances the nutrient absorption of the plants but also eliminates the need for synthetic pH adjusters and pesticides.

By splitting the water molecules, the system creates two streams of water: acidic and alkaline. The high-pH water serves as an effective, chemical-free pesticide. This approach has eliminated the need for expensive organic pesticides like rosemary oil, ensuring the cleanest possible produce. The low-pH water is used for sanitation purposes and ensures the entire growing environment is sterile without harmful chemicals.

One of the benefits of aeroponics is the ability to harvest produce in its living state, maintaining the roots until just before consumption. This method boosts the nutrient density of the food. Lyon-Heatherly explained that traditional produce loses about 10% of its nutrients each day after harvest for the first four days. The percentage drops a bit each day thereafter, but the produce continues to lose nutrient content. By keeping plants alive until they are ready to be served, this nutrient loss is virtually eliminated, ensuring diners receive the most nutritious food possible.

“A vegetable or herb at its peak nutrition is going to also be at its best tasting,” said Dexter Spencer, The Green House’s executive chef. “The concept of farm to table greatly reduces the amount of time between field and fork, but having the ‘field’ right there outside the kitchen door diminishes that decline in quality almost completely.”

Spencer is new to The Green House but has been preparing fine-dining vegan dishes since his time at The Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon. He was required to stage at a restaurant and decided upon Portland’s Farm Spirit because he felt that veganism’s added challenge in transforming ingredients into fine dining would stretch his culinary repertoire.

“Add enough butter and cream to something, never mind meat reductions and pan drippings, and of course it’s going to taste delicious,” Spencer said. “But limit yourself from all those ‘cheats,’ and it really does take a modern type of alchemy to manipulate simple vegetables and make them greater than the sum of their parts.”

Some of the items currently on the menu at The Green House include Strawberry Gazpacho with cucumber, tomatoes, green strawberries and shaved asparagus; Charred Bok Choy with crispy chilies, white garlic sauce and sesame seeds; and Grilled Lion’s Mane Mushrooms with potato pave, roasted tomatoes, aji amarillo, onions, scallions and chimichurri. Spencer prepares all of the desserts, breads, cheeses, preserves and pickled items in-house.

While the tower gardens allow for the year-round growing of various crops, ranging from lettuces, micro-greens and herbs to squash, tomatoes, eggplant and strawberries, The Green House also supports local farmers by purchasing ingredients such as root vegetables – the only type of produce that can’t be grown aeroponically. The restaurant works with farms that include Shelton Herb Farm, Terra Vita Farm and Red Beard Farms as well as Tidal Creek Co-op and Feast Down East for supplemental items.

In addition to providing the kitchen with produce, the tower gardens also support the restaurant’s bar program with herbs such as thyme, mint, rosemary, cilantro and fennel fronds. Most of the bar’s syrups and elixirs are made in-house, and shrubs are sourced from Pomona Shrub Co.

The Green House’s bar program serves traditional as well as zero-proof spirits that offer the essence of herbs, barks and flowers but without alcohol. The nonalcoholic cocktails, sometimes referred to as conscious cocktails, also include restorative herbal tinctures and elixirs, meaning that, unlike most traditional cocktails, they provide a health benefit.

“Our bar program is all about crafting memorable experiences for every guest, regardless of their drink preferences,” Anastasia Worrell said. “These alternatives provide the same depth of flavor and complexity as traditional cocktails, ensuring that everyone can enjoy a sophisticated and satisfying drink at our bar.”

For those looking for a truly unique dining experience, The Green House offers private dinner parties in the tower garden greenhouse. Diners can experience a true feast for the senses as they taste, see and smell the living gardens.

The adoption of aeroponics and living water technology has propelled The Green House to the forefront of sustainable and innovative culinary practices. By growing the cleanest, freshest produce on-site, the restaurant not only reduces its environmental impact but also elevates the dining experience, setting a new standard for farm-to-table dining in Wilmington and beyond.