Brush Creek Ranch goes green ... house

If you have driven on the Snowy Range Highway in the recent month, or just passed by Brush Creek Ranch (Brush Creek) on the way to Ryan Park, you may have noticed some large buildings that sprung up.

'The Farm', owned by Brush Creek, has recently finished its construction and has already hosted a wedding. The facility is set atop a hill and the surrounding landscape is spectacular Carbon County scenery at its best.

Very close to 'The Farm', large greenhouses can be seen from the road. These growing centers of greens, fruits and vegetables are meant for Brush Creek resort guests. When the resort says farm-to-table, they mean farm-to-table. Actually, they mean from seed-to-table.

Brush Creek chef, Angus McIntosh, figures out his menus six to eight months in advance so he can come to Serge Boon and tell him what he needs grown.

"The greenhouse is a natural progression of the property," McIntosh said. "For us to produce high-end food that matches the quality that we want, we had to evaluate and look at what we could do to source products being so remote of a property, as well as a short growing season in Wyoming."

McIntosh said the concept of seed-to-table not only allows him to plan interesting menus for Brush Creek Ranch guests, it helps make sure there is a consistent and constant supply of produce.

"The green house allows us to solve all of those problems and create a unique guest experience," McIntosh said. "Serge is a genius when it comes to creating a sustainable and consistent environment as we look towards the future at Brush Creek Ranch."

Each greenhouse is 6,480 square feet, making it almost 13,000 square feet of growing area. There is infrastructure for two more if demand requires them to be built in the future. The first greenhouse was built in 2017. It had a year of growing when Boon came on board in April 2018.

"We have two greenhouses we treat a little different," Serge Boon, Brush Creek greenhouse manager said. "After the second one was built, we are using the first one as a colder greenhouse and the second one is warmer."

He said there were improvements to the second greenhouse not present in the first.

"We have an energy blanket that we can use to keep it more energy efficient in the winter," Boon said. "When we started a greenhouse for the ranch, we always had in mind being able to expand. When the demand happens, we are set to go to four greenhouses."

Boon said, in the second greenhouse, mostly vine plants are grown because it is warmer and the temperature is more humid than the first.

"We grow vine plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers," Boon said. "We use a high wire system so they can go straight up. By having them grow up the wire, we can keep the plant producing for a year."

Boon said the greenhouse is automated as much as possible.

"All the water dripping is automated by sensors in the soil to trigger the watering once the soil hits a certain percentage of dryness," Boon said. "It is a slow drip, that is about a one and half gallon a hour."

Besides growing vine plants in the warmer, newer greenhouse, there are herbs. They have four varieties of basil.

"We get a list from the chefs, before every planning season," Liz Helm, Boon's greenhouse second in command said. "Whatever they are ordering from distributors, I try to match with a seed and see if we can grow it here. So these four varieties of basil were chosen specifically because they have a place on the menu. What we grow is dictated by what the chefs need."

Boon explained why Brush Creek is different from most venues that claim their food is 'farm-to-table'.

"Normally farm-to-table means, whatever you bring out of the ground you bring to the chefs and they figure it out, but here the chefs say, we have this menu and we want this," Boon explained. "From there, we at the greenhouse calculate when to grow it, how much so when it comes for him to put out that menu, we can give them that exact amount."

He explained how horticulture technology is applied during this process.

"It is really hard to forecast, so that is why, as we get experience over the years, we take in data," Boon said. "We just brought in this software program to track yield for variety, where does it go, what do the chef's like, and it helps us with variety selections and knowing how long does it actually take. There is a lot of planning."

This forethought takes time.

"This is why we need to know six to eight months in advance," Boon said. "It can be 21 days needed for a radish to 190 days for a brussel sprout or tomato."

The other consideration for Boon and Helm is to stagger seeding in a way there is continuous produce available. Looking at the row of beds growing carrots, one bed will only have earth showing, since it has been newly seeded while, at the end of the row, green bushy tops are ready to be harvested.

"So we really grow on a weekly basis so that the chef gets a consistent delivery," Boon said. "Its not like we go to them and say 'here are your 80 pounds of carrots and two months later, you will get the next batch.' That is why, if you look at the beds, you will see different stages of growing. We harvest three times a week and that is why everything is super fresh for the chef."

The greenhouse has tours for guests of Brush Creek Ranch. Boon and Helm both give the tours and they said this is why they keep the greenhouses immaculate. Not to impress the guests with the greenhouses cleanliness, although that probably happens, but they acknowledge pests often attach themselves to those visiting.

"We keep this place as clean as possible and that is why the floors are cleaned on regular basis," Boon said. "Keeping it this clean helps control the pests."

The guests that tour are just the beginning of what is envisioned by Brush Creek for 'The Farm', Helm commented.

"We give tours now to guests that want them, but eventually it will develop into a whole immersive educational experience," Helm said. "They will come in and harvest with us or learn about pruning tomatoes, mixing soil, humidity, things like that, because we get a lot of people who do garden at home or want to."

The Brush Creek greenhouse is also building a relationship with the University of Wyoming.

"Last year we had a question about what fertilizer to use, the best for our uses and there was horticultural class that experimented with different options," Boon explained. "We also have an intern that comes to work for us."

Showing off the hydroponic system, Boon pointed to the exceptionally green leafy lettuces.

"We grow many varieties of lettuces to get different taste profiles," Boon said. "Lettuces have different textures, colors and taste. It all helps the chef make an interesting meal."

There is also fruit grown.

"We have 1,440 strawberry plants," Boon said pointing to the baskets of growing strawberries.

An interesting plant being grown for guests palate is the flower nasturtium. Both the leaves and petals of the nasturtium plant are packed with nutrition, containing high levels of vitamin C. It has the ability to improve the immune system, tackling sore throats, coughs, and colds, as well as bacterial and fungal infections.

Nasturtium carries a mildly peppery flavor with an aroma reminiscent of mustard.

"It is mixed in with salads and used as garnishes," Boon said. "We have some plants that produce large flowers."

Boon said a greenhouse tries to use all of its space in a manner that is efficient

"You want to use every square footage you have the most efficient way, because it is enclosed, because you can't just grab more soil or grab more land.," Boon said.

He explained the infrastructure of the building was the focus when the first greenhouse was being built.

"We did irrigation infrastructure, humidity, lights, all those kind of things," Boon said. "When we built the second one, we really focused on centralizing into the middle part."

Boon is 37 and has worked in greenhouses since he was 12 in his home country of the Netherlands. The area he grew up in was called the Westlands. This region is one of the most important in the world for greenhouse horticulture.

This area of the Netherlands offers a congregation of modern, cutting edge production, delivery, trade, distribution and processing companies, all linked together. The area is home to importers, exporters, packers, coldstores, ripening and repacking companies, growers, breeders, transport companies, customs, seed companies and warehouses. Boon said the region literally feeds Europe, if not the world.

"I started with cleaning the greenhouses as a summer job," Boon said. "Then I moved to the radish greenhouse and I loved it."

In school, he studied horticulture and, once he graduated, he started his career as a grower. He worked for a software company that specialized in horticulture needs.

"I did a lot of consulting and helped implement software for automated greenhouses," Boon recalled. "I have a really diverse background, all the way from technical greenhouses to just growing plants outside."

At the age of 30, he left the Netherlands to come to the United States to work for Dupont de Nemours, Inc.(Dupont) in Iowa. He took the job with Dupont partly because his wife is American and they wanted to raise their two children here. They lived in Des Moines.

"I managed a 185,000 square foot research greenhouse where I worked mostly with beans and corn," Boon said. "I helped them make it more greenhouse operational, like greenhouse production, instead of mostly research. I found myself getting more involved in management and found myself getting away from the greenhouse, which I am really connected to. I realized it was time for me to take a step back, so I started looking at something that would get my hands dirty again, so to say."

He saw his dream job appear when Brush Creek was looking for an individual to run their greenhouse program.

"I read an ad that sounded interesting," Boon said. "We talked on the phone and then I came out to Wyoming to see what was being talked about. When I saw the greenhouse and understood the plans and concepts better, it was just awesome. To be able to design a greenhouse program for delivering to the restaurants, it really is like working on a blank slate. It is my 'greenhouse baby' and I love coming to work to take care of it."

Boon's comfort with state-of-the-art horticulture he worked with in the Netherlands has made him excited to transpose much of those systems to make the Brush Creek greenhouses into a facility that produces the most consistent, healthy and most important, delicious produce possible.

"The Netherlands is about 20 years ahead in greenhouse technology over the United States," Boon said. "But you can't fault the U.S. because in the Netherlands our greenhouse region is a day delivery from many markets."

He said the Netherlands has learned to merge technology and horticulture due to economies of scale. The Netherlands geographic location has access to many markets whereas, for the greenhouse operations to be on the same scale, they would have to be located near major urban centers in the United States. He said the infrastructure in the Netherlands is stronger for allowing distribution because of the high density of population.

"Definitely, in the past 10 years, there has been good development in this country, that is for sure," Boon said. "The modernization is happening nearer the large cities because it comes down how quickly it can get to a distribution point."

According to Producebusiness.com, in 2017, greenhouse crop sales totaled approximately $3 billion in the United States and $1.3 billion in Canada. The Netherlands, greenhouse crops sales were $6 billion.

Boon said the technological procedures used in the Netherlands makes a huge difference far as taste and consistent quality for produce. Cameras are used to monitor crops growing and also help in sorting. Automated water drips into the soil takes away the guess work on how much water is getting to the plants. The automation also records information for data banks.

Boon not only takes orders on what to grow from the chef, he experiments with produce to see if it will work at Brush Creek.

"Greenhouses in the Netherlands were erected to grow produce more efficiently," Boon said. "I think, because I grew up and worked in the area of greenhouses, makes me aware of what can be done here, whether it is seeding or harvesting."

Boon said his first real winter in Wyoming took a little acclimation.

"Winters are much more terrible compared to what I had been used to, but during summer, driving to work is like seeing a post card," Boon said. "I live in Saratoga and I like it. It has several good restaurants, it is really a pretty town and it feels very safe."

Boon is proud to be working with Brush Creek's greenhouse program.

"The greenhouse was built to take care of the restaurants on the property, but they were also built with understanding that they are also educational facilities for our guests," Boon said. "That is a really cool aspect of the greenhouse that might not be as well understood. I mean, really think of it. We are starting with a seed of a plant our chef wants to serve on the table, and we want to explain that process to our guests. We are so hands on in so many ways, it just proves, what Brush Creek does, it does very well."