How We Grow

  • We grow OZARK FRESH  lettuce and herbs using water combined with all natural nutrients. NO SOIL!
  • Using a soil-less system allows us to eliminate risks that contaminate traditional soil grown produce, such as E-Coli and Salmonella.  
  • Our 8,000 square foot greenhouse can grow as much lettuce and herbs as an 10 acre soil farming operation using almost 90% less water.
  • We feed our plants exactly what they need to be the best nutrient dense lettuce you have tasted.  That’s why many say our lettuce is the best they have ever tasted.
  • We eliminate use of harmful pesticides and herbicides that soil farmers use because we grow in a climate controlled greenhouse that protects our lettuce from insects.
  • Our lettuce takes 30-45 days from seed to harvest, depending on the time of year, allowing us to harvest daily so we can offer you the freshest produce possible.
  • We harvest our lettuce using gloves and follow strict guidelines in handling all our greens.  This means you are the first to ever touch what you eat with bare hands.

Heart Healthy

OZARK FRESH  lettuce is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin K, folate, and vitamin C. In addition, our lettuce is a very good source of dietary fiber, molybdenum, manganese, potassium, and iron. It is also a good source of vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and copper. Many of these compounds have anti-oxidant properties that help maintain proper health as well as prevent against many common diseases.

Regular consumption of lettuce in your daily diet is known to prevent osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anemia, and is believed to protect from cardiovascular diseases, age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease and many cancers.

Many of our customers say our lettuce is the only kind their children will eat because of the taste.  Harvested daily as a LIVING PLANT makes our produce have a vibrant distinct fresh taste unlike the processed lettuce you buy in a store that traveled from Mexico or the West coast that looses a lot of its nutritional value.

 

Local is Best

  • To maintain a high-nutrient content in produce, it is best to eat fruits/vegetables shortly after harvesting.
  • Once produce is cut, the nutrients start to diminish at a fairly fast rate because the tissue of the plant starts to break down.  Ours are not cut, they are LIVING PLANTS!
  • Much of the produce we purchase in stores is approximately 2-3 weeks old before we actually eat it. At this point, the nutrient content has been reduced significantly and it does not store long in your refrigerator.  Our lettuce can last 14-21 days or longer and keep all of its taste!
  • Eating local produce provides the freshest and highest nutrition level possible.
  • OZARK FRESH harvests lettuce daily, arriving to your family table just 1-2 days before you eat it, if not the same day!

Hydroponic vs. Organic

Hydroponic

  1. Hydroponics feed the plants directly.
  2. Hydroponics uses clean water.
  3. Plants use less energy to find the nutrients as they are dissolved in water that is fed directly to the roots.
  4. Hydroponics uses approximately 1/10th of the amount of water that traditional soil growing uses.
  5. Soil quality is not a factor as there is no soil involved.
  6. Hydroponic vegetables are gown in a controlled environment.
  7. Hydroponic produce is clean because it does not come in contact with soil.
  8. 100% Natural with zero use of pesticides.  We randomly use lady bugs to gobble up any lettuce-loving bugs that may have made their way into our greenhouse.

 

Organic

  1. Organics feed the soil.
  2. Organics use rain water and other available irrigation water.
  3. Plants must spend more of their energy creating root mass to search out the necessary nutrients in the soil.
  4. Organic production requires more water because much of it leaches away down into the soil.
  5. Soil quality is very important to plant growth.
  6. The organic environment is dependent on the weather (rain, wind storms, etc).
  7. Organic produce can have soil or animal residue on it, from the environment and should be washed.  These are sources for E-Coli and Salmonella contamination.
  8. Organics still uses over 20 pesticides approved to be certified organic which are still harmful to the consumer.