Iowa greenhouse partners with company to deliver fresh veggies to kids

FAIRFIELD, Iowa—Minutes after train cars loaded with coal roll by, Jan Swinton admits this rough industrial park on Fairfield's north side is hardly where you'd expect to find the beginnings of a lush vegetable garden that will help feed the area's 1,700 schoolchildren.

But there, tucked behind a nondescript factory, is a new greenhouse, sprouting spinach, radishes, pea shoots, greens and lettuce on a cold April day, thanks to its industrial partner next door.

In a unique experiment, Swinton is growing veggies by tapping unused heat from her neighbor, Schaus-Vorhies Kleaning, a company that uses heat up to 1,600 degrees to clean and sometimes strengthen metals.