Just over a year ago, before the world shut down, South Korean company LG premiered a new appliance that may be the way of the future. Enter the LG Harvester. The plain-as-vanilla indoor herb and vegetable grower doesn’t have a fancy name; it’s simply called the Harvester. It sounds a little like a name you would hear C3PO say while preparing a little arugula salad for R2D2 and his Jedi friends. Yet whether we are on Elon Musk’s rocket to Mars or locked down for the next 10 years, I think we’ll all want one of these.
This new appliance most likely will cost you somewhere in the ballpark of $10,000, not a tiny investment, no matter how green your thumb. According to the LG website, this Bentley of indoor gardening employs advanced LED lighting systems, temperature control, a non-circulating water supply that prevents algae, and all-in-one seed packages. You can monitor your little green friends on your smartphone and follow the progress of your custom indoor harvest. One can choose from between 20 and 24 different varieties of herbs and greens to plant at one time.
Some folks in Humboldt County, California, may want another, more lucrative type of herb (you know the kind). These folks would most likely find this LG appliance a great addition to their wine fridge.
The LG Harvester is not the only full-size indoor cultivator on the market. I happened to find another one from Saudi Arabian company Nautifa. It appears to be a similar product with a bit more emphasis on design. Meanwhile, companies like Viking and Urban Cultivator have their own mini versions of indoor grow-fridges. If you’re going to be spending the kind of money that these specialty grow-fridges require, market research is key.
The good news is that we may see many of these devices becoming much like toasters, electric mixers, and other traditional kitchen appliances. One could argue that we’re on the verge of a revolution in terms of self-reliance and food cultivation. Once we can all grow our own herbs and greens, the future may include growing everything you need under the roof of your own home.
With the reduction in carbon emissions that the transport of produce creates, growing your own veggies would genuinely make Greta Thunberg (everyone’s favorite teen climate activist) happy. Still, a product like the Harvester would need to become truly mainstream for a lot of consumers to get in touch with their, ahem, roots. Witnessing the miracle of life happening in our own fridges might help us gain not only homegrown salad greens, but a deeper connection with life here on Earth – urban or otherwise.
