Two Vegetable Wash Station Designs

Conclusion

The two wash station designs presented in this project provide efficient and effective systems for washing vegetables produced on small farms.

Vegetable Wash Station Design 1
The basic wash station design used at One Step at a Time Gardens offers many advantages to the smaller vegetable producer. The wash station is designed as modules that are attached to a base frame. Higher throughputs can be achieved by simply adding more sink and drying rack modules, either in the line or as a second line alongside the first.

One Step at a Time Gardens utilizes two side-by-side wash lines (a total of 5 sinks for vegetables, 1 hand wash sink, and 4 drying stations) to process their 8 acres of vegetables for CSA, farmers markets and targeted wholesale accounts - see photo.

One Step at a Time Gardens also utilizes a small, electric power washer for washing root crops (such as carrots and beets). This power washer is similar to the one described in Vegetable Wash Station Design 2 (the Hoophouse Wash Station). The power washer is set up a short distance from the vegetable wash lines, as it creates a large wet zone, due to the volume of water being sprayed - see photo.

Vegetable Wash Station Design 2
Higher throughputs of vegetables can be obtained by constructing the upgraded, hoophouse wash station. This design also offers the advantage of processing vegetables for a longer season, with the addition of heating equipment in the hoophouse. Additional labor resources (and resulting training costs) will be desirable to maximize the return on the investment in additional capital.

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