Progress 2024 Agriculture

Lee’s Greens: Staying green year round

Nevada business specializes in marketing fresh produce

NEVADA -- While studying horticulture at Iowa State University, Lee Matteson developed his green thumb even further and after graduation, worked for Holub Greenhouses in Ames.

Today, Matteson owns Lee's Greens, a seven-acre farm outside Nevada that utilizes technology to grow a variety of produce year-round for Iowans.

After spending seven years with the greenhouse growing bedding plants and flowers, he went "back to my roots" and worked for the berry patch farm south of Nevada. He tended to 50 acres of fruits for five years then took the plunge and launched his own business in 2012 in partnership with a co-worker who he bought out in 2020.

"We have an acre of heated greenhouses where we grow produce in the off-season. We also grow fruits and vegetables outdoors during the regular growing season," Matteson said. "I experimented growing raspberries in heated greenhouses in the horticulture hall at ISU but my idea to grow fresh salad greens during Iowa's winters using a heated greenhouse came to me while I was working at Holubs and the berry patch. I was one of the first people to grow winter salad greens for the Iowa Food Co-op and restaurants."

After paving the path to growing salad greens indoors during Iowa's brutal winters, quite a bit of competition has sprouted up, he said. He experimented with what varieties could grow successfully at the lowest temps and the timing of raising those crops in the off-season.

One greenhouse is dedicated to spinach planted in the ground alongside radishes and turnips. The other four heated greenhouses produce cucumbers, zucchinis, yellow squash, tomatoes and peppers.

"Outside the greenhouse I plant in the ground a wide range of potatoes, sweet corn, melons, winter squash, beans, broccoli and cool crops like cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, zucchini, squash, peppers, eggplants and tomatoes," Matteson said. "I have more than 50 different types of veggies and fruits that include strawberries, red and black raspberries, blackberries and then peach and pear trees. I keep my operation very diverse because if one crop fails, I'm hoping the others do better."

He also expanded his farming operation to include a hydroponic system in two greenhouses for growing salad greens like lake, Swiss chard, collards and red and green lettuce heads, romaine lettuce and arugula. He uses propane to heat his greenhouses.

"Those greenhouses run warmer in order to keep the water warmer. Those plants are all up on raised tables in hydroponic trays. I have a little over 5,000 slats that I put the plants on for the hydroponic system," Matteson said.

Although the competition has grown since he first started using heated greenhouses to grow fresh produce in the winter, Matteson continues to look for new ways to add value to his business and meet the needs of his customers.

"I'm always advancing my business, staying ahead of the competition. I switched to hydroponics because there began to be a build-up of diseases and fertilizer in the heated greenhouses where I planted crops in the ground," Matteson said. "I also circulate the water in the hydroponics system so I'm not wasting it. The turnaround is four to five times faster with this system and you don't have all the diseases or bugs chewing on the plants. I'm hoping to convert everything to a full hydroponics system."

Most of Matteson's produce is sold at the Ames farmers market on Main Street, to restaurants in Ames and Des Moines, to a caterer, through the Iowa Food Co-op and through CSA shares he offers on the farm.

"People can come out and sign up for the CSA shares, then go to our big walk-in cooler to pick up a box of produce every week on Thursday. Farm to Folk in Ames also delivers our produce to customers on Tuesday. I post a weekly a la cart list and anyone who wants something just responds to my Facebook post, I pick it and box it up, then pop it in the cooler. They come on out and pick it up," Matteson said. "I try and keep everything convenient for the customers. The more diversity you have, the better and more successful you'll be."

Customers of Lee's Greens love how long his fresh produce lasts, how natural and delicious it tastes, and how fresh, crisp and crunchy it is.

"I cut the produce the day of or the day before you ask for it and it's on your table within 24 hours. You just can't beat it," he said.

Even though Matteson stays busy year-round thanks to the heated greenhouses and hydroponic systems, his wife Kelly, a school teacher, helps out on the farm during her summer break as do their kids.

Lee's Greens is located at 66296 Lincoln Highway, Nevada.