A new 22' Growing Dome (April 8, 2005) Mostly owner built and just in time for our April snow storm

Greetings, We, Chinle Beaver and Bill Sitkin, started our 22' dome with the help of Rodney and Pam back in (seems like such a long time ago) April 05. A greenhouse is probably one of the best thing you can do for yourself and your community. With access to fresh veggies in the colder months being an outrageous expense for ourselves and our global environment, the grow dome experience has altered our perceptions and relationship with nature. Today is October 10, 2005, the temp is 32 outside and 51 in the dome and we are harvesting cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, peppers, kale, carrots, scallions and more. As winter moves in and we hook up the two solar heat panels for the 900 gallon water tank, we will keep you informed as to developments inside. This being our first experience with a greenhouse meant quite a bit of work and learning before the first crops went in. One thing we do love is research and research we did. Our first concerns were to really understand healthy soils (we have only scratched the surface here). One of the best sites that deals specifically with soils is www.soilfoodweb.com. We purchased a soil testing kit (LaMotte has some very good ones) or you can send samples to the SLV Research Station in Center (www.colostate.edu/Dept/SLVRC). We ended up getting soil through Pete Grover from a source he has near Pancha Pass. We mixed 2 parts of that soil with one part compost from Mountain Valley Lumber (Baxters) and pearlite for breathability for the beds. We also mixed in straw in the bottom layers for fresh compost. Gary Olson Sr. has a portable cement mixer which he rents that we used to thouroghly mix the soil. To top it off we brewed up quite a bit of potent compost tea (soilfoodweb.com). The labor is totally worth it, so stick with it. One idea which I heartily believe is that healthy soil breeds healthy plants and healthy plants naturally repel desease and harmful insects. So far the only critters to feast inside have been a handful of inch worms on the tomatoes which we fed to the 6 goldfish in the tank. I am looking into the work of Maynard Murray and his experiments with sea salts and trace elements. More on that later. One last thing - check out www.acresusa.com. Another great source for the small grower. be well Bill and Chinle