Wednesday, 16 March 2011 14:53

I know it looks cold outside, but things are warm and plants are growing inside this lovely structure!

As days grow longer and snow infiltrates the soil in its liquid state (yes, I mean water), our planning for the Fondy Farm Project is starting to become reality. A large part of this is due to a wonderful connection we have made with the Mequon Nature Preserve. They have generously allowed us to use the above pictured greenhouse.

There is a lot that goes into making a strucutre like this function correctly. Most importantly, a furnace! The days are warm now, but night time temps are still in the twenties. It is so nice to arrive early on a chilly morning and open the greenhouse door to a balmy sixty degrees and cabbage cotyledons unwrapping from their homes in trays of potting soil, ready to soak up the coming rays.

Another vital component is ventilation. On sunny, warm spring days, our greenhouse can reach a hundred degrees! Our little transplants like the heat, but one hundred degrees is a bit much. That is why the Meqon Nature Preserve greenhouse has two large box fans on the East end and two large louvres on the West end. When the inside temperature reaches above eighty degrees, thermostats in the greenhouse sense the temperature, sending an electrical signal for the box fan shutters to open and the fans switch on, pulling warm air out of the greenhouse. The louvres on the opposite end open simultaneously, allowing cool air to enter the greenhouse. Once homeostasis is reached, the fans quit and the shutters and louvres close.

It is almost as if this greenhouse has turned into a living thing; inhaling, exhaling, heating, housing other species, and constantly reacting to the outside environment. How about that for a biology analogy!

We are just getting set up at the greenhouse and figuring out all the intricacies it has to offer. Several of our farmers have never used a greenhouse before, and this too is a learning process.

The farmers and I are so excited to have a greenhouse! A big thank you to our fearless leader here at Fondy Young Kim, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and Kristin Gies at the Mequon Nature Preserve for making this happen.

The life of your future food is starting! I will follow up with some "baby" pictures of your food currently growing in the greenhouse.