Growing food all year.

[Mr Mom]

My wife got the bright idea that we should grow all our food all year around.
Well she thinks we could raise our own beef and other things.
No problem....but i have 14 acers of woods that is it.
Now i need to know if anybody grows in green houses all winter.
Any information like book would be good.



Thanks Alot Mr Mom

[Tom]

I think that might be why so many of you folks move down here.  So that you don't need greenhouses. :P

'Course, you have to develop a taste for collards.  :D :D

[DanG]

A greenhouse is a wonderful thing, but expensive to build and heat.  It would be a lot more economical to grow a larger garden in the Spring and Summer, then do a lot of canning and freezing. 

Considering you don't have a pasture, perhaps you'd be better to partner with someone and buy a steer that is ready to butcher, or partner with someone who has a place for it and raise it there.  A whole cow is an awfully big pile of meat to store!

[Mr Mom]

Good points Dang i will run it by the boss.
We are both from familys that had to do things for them-self.
My father raised his own cows and had a garden every year. I remember carring water to the garden to water the plants and water the cows all winter not fun.
It was her ideas i am just the one that has to figureout how to do it.


Thanks Alot Mr Mom

[thecfarm]

Heating the greenhouse would be the hard part,money wise.How cold are your winter temps in OH? I built a greenhouse for the wife out of hemlock for her business.Had it for 4 years and no problems with it.Greenhouse plastic is not cheap. I have no idea what is out there for info.I read about someone trying what you are saying here in Maine every few years,but growing mostly cold crops.Seems like it's kinda connected to the house too.They try to capture what heat they can.We had a 90,000 BTU furnace in the green house and it would almost run steady when it was around the single digits.It's a hard nut to crack with the price of fuel now.Not worth it in my climate.

[Mr Mom]

Gets very cold here around the teens and sometimes colder.
Might have to think about this some more might not do it.
Could go geothermal to heat with. just thinking.

Thanks Alot Mr Mom

[zopi]

Here is a project not to jump in both feet...Start out with a garden plot and maybe a small greenhouse to extend the growing season, both by keeping the killing frost off of some plants and allowing an early start in the spring..and plan on canning alot...

As for livestock, you might start with poultry, on a small scale..for a couple of reasons...it's cheaper,
you can grow at least part of their food, and you can take two outputs from the stock...eggs and meat..three really..manure for the garden..it's a fairly simple matter to breed chickens and raise the roosters and some of the pullets for meat while replenishing the broodstock through breeding..

The drawback there is you have to put up with the rooster..I just got rid of my last rooster..i now have a watch turkey...

Rabbits are also a good meat producer...zero fat and they are stupid easy to raise..but there also isn't alot of nutritional value there...you could starve on a diet of nothing but rabbit..good way to lose weight though...

Try a google searh for "permaculture" for some ideas on sustainable agriculture...

[Mr Mom]

We already have planned on chickens and maybe some pigs to start with.
I cleared some woods for yard for the bigger garden and a place for the kids to play.
I want to build a barn first but the way things are going it maybe a while. might have to build little sheds for the time being.

Thanks Alot Mr Mom

[farmerdoug]

Heating a greenhouse for warm weather crops takes alot of heat.  But cool weather crops can grow nicely in an unheated greenhouse.  Lettuce, radishs, turnips, cole crops, etc.  If it gets real cold for a long period they may freeze but a little heat to keep them above freezing is alot better than 70 degrees of the time.  Low light conditions will make most fruiting veggies undoable unless you invest in lights.

[crtreedude]

We grow food all year round, but it is cheating in the tropics. Our temperature only varies about 5 to 10 degrees year round, a cold day for us is 70.  :D

[Dan_Shade]

there is a book Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman. 

Basically, his theory is along the lines of what farmerdoug says, go for the cold weather crops through the colder months.  when we think garden, we think tomatoes and corn, but the cold weather crops are the leafy foods.  He says that he doesn't preserve any food, and only eats the seasonal things.

[zopi]

oh...if ya do build a greenhouse...make the tables inside out of those big plastic rain barrels...paint them black and fill with water...deck over with 2x boards...the barrels tend to keep the temp extremes down....

I still want a little hothouse...passive and active solar...with a booster heater...but then I live farther south...

[Splinter]

fella around the corner has cold frames and raised beds. Heard he grows stuff year round although not sure how stuff survives during the real cold snaps.

the cold frames have a self opening lid that keeps it from getting too hot inside.

[Ianab]

What about a small scale hydroponics setup inside? (not sure what spare space you have)

Not thinking of large scale, just a few of those off season treats like lettuce, tomatoes and fresh herbs that are real expensive in the winter. Because they were either freighted 1/2 way around the world, or someone else grew them hydroponically.

You can start off with a little self contained unit about the size of a large fish tank.

I agree with the others about going with poultry. In your climate, and with little pasture cattle are going to get expensive to house and feed. You dont actually have to have a rooster, you can just buy pullets, let them lay for a season, and still eat them. You may want to cassarole them as they may be bit chewy, but still good eating.

Other than that the old school ideas of bottling, drying, freezing and growing veges that store well (like potatos, pumpkins etc) A big chest freezer may be a better investment than a greenhouse?

You will tend to eat more seasonally, but you can have year round home grown food.

Ian

[zopi]

Y'know...that's a good idea...I had dismissed it as being a pain...but it might be just what yer looking for..

[farmerdoug]

I have alot of customers that freeze veggies.  But I would go more for canning.  Less long term electric use and will not spoil if the power goes out.

[crtreedude]

I really think it is much easier to put up food with freezing and canning than attempt to grow food year round. Working with nature is always easier than trying to outwit her. The problem, which you will find out, is that it only takes one failure in a greenhouse to lose everything that is tender.

And it generally occurs when you are just about to start harvesting...  :-\

[Mr Mom]

Thanks guys i talked to the boss and she said that we will make a bigger garden next year.

Ianab... i might try a small hydroponics garden as a test.

Farmer Doug....That is what she was thinking about doing is canning everything that could be canned.

crtreedude...you are so right.

I will let you know if i try the hydroponics.

Thanks Alot Mr Mom