Indoor Organic Gardens of Poughkeepsie (IOGP), June’s Client of the Month, is an indoor garden located at 316 Main Street in Poughkeepsie. The gardens provide local, fresh, and nutritionally rich produce for restaurants, retail stores, schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities, and more throughout the Hudson Valley.
After running businesses in the “Center City” area of Poughkeepsie for more than 25 years, Brud Hodgkins, one of IOGP’s founders, saw how challenging it was for this area of the city to attract new businesses. Additionally, there was a high unemployment rate. So in the spring of 2015, Hodgkins started Indoor Organic Gardens of Poughkeepsie along with Karole Mundell and Earl Crum, as they recognized the opportunity to capitalize on the abundance of potential labor and underutilized building space in the area.
IOGP grows all of the vegetables indoors, which are harvested at the microgreen state at roughly 10-15 days after seeding. According to Hodgkins, at this stage, a vegetable has an especially high concentration of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). In addition to selling the raw greens, IOGP also has a proprietary process in which they dehydrate the greens and produce a powder that is a significant highly concentrated source of organic living vitamins and minerals. (You can learn more about IOGP powder, here.)
The gardens currently employ seven paid staff in addition to more than a dozen volunteers from several special needs programs in the area. Hodgkins says that this group is a “tremendous resource” for IOGP, and one of their regular employees came from this program. The gardens will continue to hire people from the at risk population, ex-incarcerated, special needs, and more.
IOGP has been insured by Ryan & Ryan Insurance Brokers since the organization’s inception. When asked why they chose R&R as their insurance agency, Hodgkins responded by stating:
“The service and product lines from R&R are exceptional. Bob’s evaluation of my coverage and needs, along with his staff, convinced me that R&R was the place to be. Adjustments need to be made as products and business situations change, and R&R is excellent at designing coverage that fits each individual’s needs.”
The gardens plan to grow its “Food as Medicine” business into a large national company and employ dozens of people from our local at risk population. IOGP is especially interested in demonstrating their products to healthcare and nutrition professionals, and anyone responsible for delivering nutrition to our population in general.
IOGP is open five days a week, and someone is typically in the garden area all week long. Visitors are welcome, but it’s best to arrange a visit ahead of time by calling 845-790-8071. Their raw greens and powder are available for purchase at the gardens (and online!), so if you’re looking to try fresh, nutritionally rich, locally grown produce, head on over to see our June Client of the Month in Poughkeepsie!