Indoors, at Rusty Boucher's Plant Farm near Monett, it’s harvest time.

  “It’s a weekly crop that generates weekly income,” said Boucher.

  Boucher’s new winter crop is leafy lettuce.  It’s ready to eat in under eight weeks.  Just five weeks is required for a summertime crop.

  Boucher says it wasn't a hard decision to jump to lettuce growing.  He figures people don't buy flowers every day but they eat every day.

  Boucher decided it’s better to supply 55,000 heads of lettuce head for grocers and restaurants in frozen Michigan than house empty flowerpots. He said he had no winter income before lettuce, plus it’s fun to grow.

  And it’s all done hydroponically, the original Dutch technology of no dirt, no pesticides and just a continuous flow of an optimum growing mixture that’s pumped through the roots.

  Boucher says the mixture builds up an incredible shelf life of four to five weeks, where most lettuce is good for four to five days at most. 

  The process leaves no worries about salmonella, whether the lettuce is in a salad bar or a refrigerator.  Produce dealer Jim Beaton of Michigan believes that's why more vegetables will be grown indoors in the future in more places. It’s more than just about efficiency.

  “This is opening their eyes. ‘Where did this come from?’ ‘Where was this grown?’ ‘How was it handled?’ said Beaton.

  Boucher is working on a distribution plan for lettuce to get in stores in the Springfield area.

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 Boucher's Plant Farm is at 7933 Lawrence 2220, Monett, Mo. 65708.  Its telephone number is (417) 235-7084.