Down on the Farm

Many Peachtree Corners residents may not know that there is a farm downtown, right off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Joan and Rob Flanders started Corner Greens Farm right before the pandemic.

The Flanders have lived in Peachtree Corners for over 27 years. Their kids went to the local schools and are fully grown now. Since starting their farm, the family has quickly become a staple of the Peachtree Corners community.

Whatever you’re currently picturing when you hear the word “farm,” this is not it. At Corner Greens Farm, instead of weathered red barns and silos, you will find industrial shipping containers, LED grow lights and a hightech irrigation system.

Joan and Rob purchased the shipping container for their vertical farm in January of 2020, thinking they would sell to highend restaurants. As the story goes, they pivoted and ended up transitioning to online farmer’s markets, a niche that desperately needed to be filled in the wake of the pandemic.

In March of 2020, they purchased the property on 6579 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, which was zoned for commercial. After successfully opening the location in May of 2020, they subsequently bought a second container farm system in September of 2020 — and then a third container farm system in October of 2021.

Each farm holds a 40foot shipping container, where the vertical farm grows inside under ideal, controlled growing conditions. Each shipping container farm yields about the same amount of produce as a four-acre farm.

By Kris Bird Photos by George Hunter

Local, fresh produce

The Flanders are both vegans, and after retirement they were looking for a project to keep the community healthier by providing local produce to an area where it isn’t always readily available. “It’s also a great way to get to know the people in the community,” Joan said.

In Georgia, you can only typically grow lettuce for a few months out of the year, in fact, 90% of the lettuce you see in stores is grown in California. But with climate-controlled, vertical farming, Corner Greens Farm is growing lettuce for the residents of Peachtree Corners, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

The problem with lettuce from California, is that by the time it reaches the stores here, it’s already been about 10 days since it was pulled from the ground, and it will be about weeks until it’s consumed. Every day the lettuce is out of the ground, it is quickly losing nutrients, so by the time you eat it, there has been a significant nutrient loss.

At Corner Greens Farm, the lettuce is seeded, planted and harvested every single week. They first plant the seeds in the pods and move them to the seedling area. Then, after the seedlings sprout,

they are then moved to the vertical gardens.

The whole process takes about three to four weeks; they harvest Monday through Wednesday and make deliveries and pickups from Monday through Thursday.

“By the time you buy lettuce from us, it has never sat more than one to two days,” Joan said proudly.

The future of farming

Joan and Rob first purchased the shipping container farms from a company called Freight Farms in Boston. They delivered the shipping containers using a huge crane and hook with everything in them.

Then Joan and Rob just had the simple task of figuring out how to become farmers.

While these shipping container growers may not look like your grandfather’s farm, they still come with the same amount of work. While Joan and Rob once thought that they would open up a retail store to sell their produce, Joan mused that there never seems to be enough time when you’re living the “farm life.”

But the work that Joan and Rob are putting into it must be paying off, because the CEO of Freight Farms is coming out for a visit this month to check out their operation. According to Freight Farms, Corner Greens is doing better than most other farms they have installed.

Corner Greens Farm is the future of farming; it is 100% sustainable. They use about 98% less water than traditional farms through irrigation technology you might have only seen in science fiction movies.

They start with nutrients in the water, which is dispensed at the top of the vertical grow wall. It drips down the plants until it is collected at the bottom in drip tanks, and then re-used. Because it is climate controlled, no moisture is lost in the air; it is simply captured in the AC units and the water from the air is also used to water the plants.

LED grow lights are left on for 16 hours, then turned off for eight hours to give the plants a “nighttime.” Corner Greens sends out monthly samples for lab analysis and Joan is happy to say that the nutrients in their plants are currently at an optimal level.

“Once you’ve had our lettuce, it is going to be hard to go back to store-bought,” Joan said. You can get Salad Mix, (with or without the root ball still attached) Rainbow Chard, Spinach Chard, Kale, Arugula, Herbs, or you can choose a specially curated mixed bag based on what is fresh that week.

Corner Greens Farm donates all leftovers to food banks. Be sure to visit their website, CornerGreensFarm.com, to order or to learn more. ■

Center Rob and Joan Flanders Left and right, images from their hydroponic farm housed in shipping containers Where to find Corner Greens Farm produce

You can pick up produce directly from Corner Greens Farm, 6579 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Monday-Thursday, or sign up for a weekly subscription with deliveries every Wednesday.

Corner Greens Farm produce is also available at: ■ Living Well Farmer’s

Market

■ Floral Park Market ■ Market Wagon East (or pay $5.99 for a delivery) ■ Norcross Community

Market Online, and ■ Tucker Farmer’s Market (with Wednesday pickup in Thrasher

Park).