Nestled in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, in a fertile rural valley in the shadow of the northern Cascade Mountain range, is a unique greenhouse operation where gentleman farmer Steve Pelton grows his specialty line of “Kitchen Pick” culinary living herbs.

Steve had his start in the greenhouse industry in 1978 when he began working alongside his father, propagating trees for replanting by the forestry industry. They ran Pelton Reforestation together for 27 years, building the operation into the biggest reforestation company in the world, according to Steve. The family sold the business in 2006, when Steve turned his attention to the art of growing living herbs and bedding plants indoors.

Employing a high degree of automation, state-of-the-art computer monitoring systems, and custom machinery designed in Holland, Steve Pelton runs his facility with a handful of employees. Continuing the tradition of father-son farming, Steve’s younger son Ryan works alongside him in the Kitchen Pick greenhouse. Retired and enjoying his golden years, Steve’s father Norm also keeps busy, working partial days.

How does it work?

The potting machine rotates and fills 9-cm pots with a peat and pumice mixture, and then sends the pots along a conveyer to the seeding robot. Seeds are dropped into the pots by a specially designed herb seeder and conveyed to a robot arm that loads the pots onto moveable tables. When a flood table is full, then it is rolled out into the greenhouse, misted and covered with Styrofoam lids for germination, then eventually grown into healthy basil, cilantro, sage, parsley, mint or rosemary. As the plants grow, the tables are returned to the robots where the pots are re-spaced automatically.

Basil is the most popular item, according to Steve, who grows several varieties, including sweet, Thai, lemon and purple basil.

In the sheltered greenhouse environment the herb plants reach full size in about six weeks in summertime and in about 12 weeks in winter. They thrive at a warm room temperature of 72 degrees F or 20 degrees C. After germination, the tables are flooded from the bottom, so the tender leaves always stay dry. Steve uses a smart phone to monitor watering and to activate the irrigation valves.

Organic components – seeds, growing media and fertilizers – are used whenever possible, and the herb plants are grown naturally with the utmost care, and with consideration for nutrition and integrated pest management using biological control.

Once the herb plants reach full size, they are given a final watering, hand-sleeved, and placed 15 per case for shipping the same day to retail stores throughout the Pacific Northwest. Standard shelf life is about one week with no watering or special care required at retail. Kitchen Pick culinary living herbs merchandise well in the produce department with other fresh herbs and vegetables, like tomatoes, avocados, onions and garlic.

Steve and his wife Pat have a daughter, Carolyn, who is studying marketing, and an older son, Colin, who is a helicopter pilot for a Vancouver TV station. Steve enjoys spending holidays with his family skiing and windsurfing. He also is a serious landscape photographer.

For more information visit www.kitchenpick.com.