“My motto: change the world one garden at a time.” said Dale Larson.
Dale Larson started a cooperative devoted to building patent-pending Vertical Cascade Gardens. The Knox County man utilizes fabrics and construction materials made in Ohio. “We have twenty Co-op members that manufacture all the pieces and parts of the operation,” he stated. “I said let’s do something for everybody, and not just the top dog.”
“It is just now taking off,” he said. Larson donated two cascade garden units and a raised bed unit for Mansfield North End Community Improvement Collaborative’s (NECIC) development recdently and nearly thirty volunteers installed them in a matter of hours.
He has a definite worldview on genetically modified foods. Larson stated that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) haven’t had enough testing. The long term effects of genetically modified foods have yet to be seen.
“China doesn’t like GMOs, and Europe decided they would not import those foods,” said Larson. Larson is concerned that genetically modified wheat may be linked to statistics in Gluten allergies. “I’m absolutely convinced if you eat very good, non-GMO seeds, that come from a plant that you know and trust,” Larson stated, “you will be eating what’s good for you.”
And his effort toward creating backyard solutions, for organic growing, goes beyond individuals’ homes. The vertical units are space saving, and can be installed in an apartment parking lot. When assembled with cascade watering tubes cut and threaded into place, the pouches were filled with a unique soil mix, were planted, and watered from the top.
Larson created the cooperative two years ago, to pursue the creation of gardening systems which he was already developing. He structured the Co-op with fair wages, and opportunities to share profits. “At this cooperative, the top individual is not allowed to make 10x the lowest wage,” Larson mentioned, as a response to the contrasting nature of corporations. “We got to get people to work,” Larson said. “We came up with some ideas that allow us to patent, and we want to be able to develop an income stream to reinvest in communities, and to develop with credit unions.”
The Cooperative’s products include more than just the vertical cascade garden for the backyard or parking lot. They’ve developed an indoor model, great for herbs and flowers in a leak-proof system. Their website, Ohiogardensystems.com also offers raised beds, Rollabox gardens for patios, and lean-to greenhouses for garage exteriors. Larson offers a 20 percent discount to Co-op members, and ten percent sale commissions to any member who makes a sale of a gardening system. Larson maintains his philosophy using only the best materials: the polyethylene fabric made in Wooster is coated with solar resistant treatment on one side and abrasion resistant on the other.
He insists, “I’m just a plain redneck hillbilly from Knox County who made vertical gardens because of my back and knees.” It has been ten years in developing this particular system. Larson stated, “Every time I used to try and weed my traditional garden, it cost me $80 at the chiropractor. No stoop labor anymore.” The intuition to garden in his ripe old age, turned into a space-saving vertical design. The units constructed for NECIC were produced with an array of colorful pockets. Larson is meeting with COSI in Cleveland in the coming week, as they are soon to implement his design.
Larson stated, “I have a couple of motivations. The first thing we need is food,” he stated. “Second is shelter, and the third thing we need is purpose.” Nodding to some young volunteers, he stated “I look at the youth and wonder what they’re going to be doing in ten years.” Among the many economic factors in the last decade, and the current state of the GMO food industry, he maintains that what he’s doing with organic gardening will ingrain that sense of purpose; for the next generation of gardeners.
