Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
The co-owner of a Carson City restaurant wants to start a greenhouse to help feed people in need.
Karen Abowd has applied for $250,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to start the greenhouse. She owns Adele's Restaurant and Lounge with her husband, Charlie Abowd.
She will ask the board of supervisors Thursday to allow city staff to advise her on the project.
Fresh vegetables grown at the greenhouse would go to organizations like Friends in Service Helping and Kids in Transition.
FISH owns land on Jacobsen Way at the Stewart Complex and will let Abowd use it for the greenhouse. She has to get approval from the state before she starts work. Abowd said the Builders Association of Western Nevada has agreed to build the greenhouse.
Besides growing food, she also wants to use the greenhouse to grow hanging flower baskets for downtown, teach students about horticulture and possibly start a regional food cooperative.
"It's kind of growing wings of its own, and that's pretty cool," she said.
FISH director Jeff Fast said demand for food has grown over the past few months and supplies are lower than usual. He likes Abowd's idea.
"There's a always a need for food," he said.
Food from the greenhouse would probably go to serve meals at FISH's dining room,
he said.
Rick DeMar, executive director of the Builders Association of Western Nevada, said his association is happy to be involved. Builders will volunteer to build the greenhouse because it is a project that will help the city, he said.
Abowd said people struggling to afford food is more of a problem than she realized.
She said she hopes to hire 12 people to work at the greenhouse.
The greenhouse will help businesses and the city as a whole, said Joe McCarthy, city business development manager.
"It's a voluntary effort by concerned citizens who want to do something positive and special for the community," McCarthy said.
- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.