The solar GroShed on display last week at the community center was a marvel of ingenuity and thoughtful engineering. It was also completed with nice finishes for easy cleanup and durability. The GroShed is designed to work especially well when temperatures hit -30 to -40 F. Jon Friesner (pictured far left) is the principal engineer/ builder of GroSheds. Staff photos/Brian Larsen
It was a sad day when the tractor sold, said Jonathan (Jon) Friesner, but with the money from the sale, he and his wife and buddy Josh Rooker started a company.
It’s a company he hopes can grow in a variety of ways.
Jon was at the Cook County Community Center on October 18 giving tours of his portable solar model GroShed and answering questions for the 30 or so folks who attended the two-hour evening show-and-tell.
With such a short growing season in northeastern Minnesota, said Friesner, it’s hard to keep fresh produce in your kitchen unless you buy it from the grocery stores. And the average piece of produce, said Friesner, “travels 1,800 miles before it gets to your plate.”
Plus, he said, there is a lack of variety that can be found in the grocery stores in the winter.
“With a Gro-Shed, you can grow anything any time of the year,” he said, adding, “GroSheds are designed to work well in 30 to 40 below zero.”
“This is an example of a hydroponic growing system that could be used year-round to grow food for your family, your whole foods cooperative, your restaurant, or your grocery store,” said Cook County Community Center Director Diane Booth, who introduced Jon.
Growing food with hydroponics isn’t new. “Egyptians were growing with hydroponics,” added Jon.
Even though he sold the family tractor, there wasn’t enough money to build a workshop. That means Jon and his partners are currently building GroSheds in Jon’s driveway, “Which we hope to change in the near future,” he said.
The model he brought to Grand Marais is 168 square feet and would cost, with all of the beautiful finishes and flooring and decked ceiling, about $150 per square feet to build. A less fancy model, but still containing all of the technology, costs about $100 per square foot to construct.
GroSheds are designed to be very efficient and simple for the owners to operate, he said.
“We provide a completely automated hydroponic growing system housed inside an 8-foot by12-foot building. The GroShed building is so efficient and well-engineered that it is heated solely by the four LED grow lights. The entire system operates under 1,000 watts and only needs to run 12-16 hours a day.
Problems solved
Home indoor hydroponic gardening challenges include issues with high humidity, odor, excessive heat, large amounts of water leakage, and damage by children or pets. Additionally, indoor hydroponics requires the provision of a heated space inside your home, said Jon, “and proper ventilation, but GroShed is a standalone system that controls its own environment outside of your home.”
“We wanted to make this simple for the user,” he said, adding, “We took many of the complexities of hydroponics out by being automated and prefabricated.”
GroShed is a plug, fill, and gardening system that requires a 110V/15 amp plug for electricity and a hose to fill the water reservoir.
Another customer-friendly feature is that when you purchase a GroShed, all of the work, except planting and harvesting, is done. And in the near future, GroSheds will be WIFI compatible and you will be able to monitor your plants remotely from your computer, laptop, or cellphone.
“All of the current hydroponic systems on the market require extensive assembly and a heated space to house it,” said Jon, adding that many of the kits look shoddy when completed even though they tend to be very expensive to purchase.
More and more, consumers want to know where their food comes from and how it was grown, said Friesner.
“The desire for sustainability, GMO-free, and responsible growing is increasing in the marketplace. GroShed brings sustainability to a hungry market sick of sub-par and overpriced produce.”
For the disabled, GroShed can easily be made wheelchair accessible and allow those with disabilities to garden again.
The prototype for GroShed cost $5,199.88 in materials to build, “but that pricing would be cheaper if we were able to purchase these products at bulk pricing,” Jon said. “We hope to sell a basic 8-foot by 12-foot model for approximately $9,000 and a premium 8-foot by 12-foot model for approximately $13,000.”
At this time, said Jon, “we can build a GroShed up to 12-feet by 24-feet and deliver it like any storage shed. GroSheds could also be built as small as 6 feet by 10 feet .”
Portions of GroShed’s profit would go to fund hydroponic startups in foreign countries, where individuals desperately need nutrient-rich food but have limited or no access to fertile soil and/or water to grow conventionally.
Leave a Reply