Gail and Vic Vanik put the green in greenhouse. The owners of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery have recently put Cortez on the map by receiving the 2013 Revolutionary 100 national award from Today's Garden Center magazine.
About 17,000 greenhouses from all over the country applied to be considered for the award. Five are awarded by region with one reigning supreme.
Gail had traveled to Atlanta, Ga. to receive the Southwest Regional winner award. The Vaniks admitted that the recognition came as a total surprise.
"You can only win this award once," Vic said. "Every year it is generally these $5 or $10 million greenhouses in metropolitan areas that are winning this award. To be from a small community like this is a huge deal."
The decision to award the Vaniks' greenhouse, lcoated at 26650 County Road P near Dolores, came from an accumulation of successes over the past nine years. Most recently, Four Seasons has made a community-wide effort toward the local food movement, by initiating a winter farmers market, which has been on overwhelming success. Even on the coldest winter Saturdays, every space at the market was filled. Vendors have been on board from day one - buying up every booth the Vaniks offered two weeks before the market began in November.
Now that the winter market has closed for the season, the Vanik's have another trick up their sleeve.
"Vendors and shoppers were so disappointed that we were closing down that we decided to host a summer market as well," Gail said. The summer market will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays starting in May to avoiding conflicting with the Cortez market on Saturdays.
"We did it in the middle of the week because vendors pick for the Cortez market on Saturday and by Monday have a whole new crop of produce that will go bad before the next Saturday," Gail explained.
She added that shoppers many times commented that produce purchased on Saturday only lasted through mid-week. Now they can have fresh goods more often.
But the award from Today's Garden Center wasn't just for the winter market.
The Vaniks have operated Four Seasons for almost 30 years. They started as a wholesale operation but by mid-2006, the couple realized they weren't seeing the profits for the workload they put in. After Gail attended a Garden Center Group's fall event that same year, she knew changes to the business had to be made.
The Vaniks hired a consultant from the Garden Center Group to help improve their profitability. Once they tracked numbers from previous years, they noticed their wholesale division was not as profitable as they had hoped. They took a risk and dropped the operation, focusing on retail markets only and transforming the business.
"The change allowed us to have better quality products," Gail said. 'We've acclimated those products to the area. We want to benefit the gardener. We want people to be successful."
The Vaniks are proud of their stock, citing plants and plant materials that local green thumbs will not find at big box stores. There is such a huge demand for local produce from residents and restaurants that the couple has their 2014 preview products ready to go.
Vic and Gail are known in garden communities all across the country. In this area, they sell their produce to local restaurants, actively participate in the farm-to-school movement and promote agricultural growers throughout the area.
And now they are a local greenhouse with a national award.
"There are no other garden centers doing what we do," Gail said. "They may provide space for a farmers market, but they aren't producing food themselves."
It's a feat the couple intends to expand upon as the years continue. Beginning with sunflower greens two years ago, they now produce two full greenhouses of lettuce, six varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, swiss chard, radishes and kale - and they are experimenting with other vegetables.
"People are more conscious about their food," Gail said. "They are tired of getting sick' they want organic. And if it's local and organic. it's a bigger trade- off. The local food movement is growing."
The Vaniks were featured on the cover of Today's Garden Center magazine, displaying baskets of fresh, colorful, mouth-watering produce. What started as a simple solution to their business goals has turned into an even greater accomplishment.
On the award application, one question stood out for Gail - "What makes you revolutionary?"
Gail's response: "If you think you're too small to make a difference, try going to bed with a mosquito."
rachels@cortezjournal.com
