Perhaps I am in a rut or maybe I have just spent too much time in the basement tending my seedlings, but my farm chat once again will be about indoor gardening. March, 2008 has been dark and dismal in Ohio. I haven’t spent any time outside due to snow storms and freezing, rainy weather. It has not been all bad; the kids and I have had a ball planting seeds and watching them turn into seedlings. Soon we will need to transplant them into larger containers.

Nevertheless, all of the darkness of the month has caused me to reflect on our global warming. For Ohio, does this mean glaciers will once again slide across our land? I don’t know if it does, but my mind likes to wander and I must be prepared to feed my family in such a case, right?

These reflections prompted me to research indoor gardening and I found the most successful way to grow food indoors is to use hydroponics. Hydroponics basically means growing plants indoors without the use of soil. It uses other substances like pebbles or vermiculite to hold the plants in place while the roots feed on nutrient solutions. There are countless solutions available and scientists differ on whether plants grown in soil are more nutritious than their soiless counterparts. Organoponics, a version of hydroponics is also available to the hard care organic gardener.  It, as you may have guessed, uses compost made from sugar waste rather than chemical fertilizers to feed the plants.

There are already places on earth that depend on hydroponics. Residents of Antarctica use indoor gardens to provide themselves fresh food. During the winter months, when the human population is at a minimum, these indoor gardens provide all of the fresh food. Researching the Antarctic gardens led me to another interesting fact; various organizations around the world are studying how to grow food on Mars! The University of Arizona has a program called Mars Greenhouse that has designed a prototype for a collapsible garden center which would be used by Mars’s visitors to grow fresh foods during their stay on the red planet.

Growing food outside of earth’s protection is not going to be an easy task. There are many concerns such as heat, light, and water which must be worked out prior to a visit. These same issues would need to be overcome in my basement.

Heat

On Mars temperatures range from -111°C (really really cold) to 27°C (a comfortable 80°F) all in the same tropical latitude. OK, my house temperature doesn’t vary near that much. If the outside weather would cause me to heat my house all year, the inside would stay around 17°C (65°F) which is cooler than a lot of vegetables I grow will thrive at. Scientists are suggesting ways to trap heat within the greenhouse to keep the plants warm. I would need to find a solution too.

Light

Because Mars is further from the sun, light there is less intense than on earth. Scientists must find a way to boost the light to the proper earthly intensity to support terrestrial plants. My basement has even less light than Mars, as you can imagine. It would also need extra light sources. The experts suggest using mirrors to magnify light. Also, electric lights powered by wind and solar energy could be used to increase light. I would want to keep my electric bills at a minimum so looking into similar solutions right here on Red Rooster Acres may be an option.

Water

On Mars this is a tough issue, Scientists are not positive it even exists outside the polar caps. Of course, I have a nice well that provides plenty of water. If it were so cold that our well freezes – it’s time to migrate south!

Whether the next ice age is coming, I don’t know. But, I wouldn’t mind having fresh argula or Romaine lettuce all year round. A bright sunny basement would certainly be a welcome addition to Ohio’s cold wet winters and the best part – I could garden ALL YEAR LONG!!!

In Ohio, winter will soon fade into spring. At Red Rooster Acres that means the basement will soon transform from the “Man Cave” – where the boys play video games in the winter – to the vegetable nursery. The farm females will invade what has been for the past four months a masculine space. We will clean it, deodorize it, and then spill dirt all over the floor. The boy’s won’t complain – they will happily move outside to begin the spring activities on the farm, like cleaning up fallen branches, pruning and planting trees, and preparing the barn for a fresh batch of poultry and pork.

            Meanwhile, back in the basement, the girls will feverishly clean dusty walls, floors, and last year’s gardening supplies. The lids of egg cartons will be cut off and tiny holes will be punched into the bottom of the egg holders to prepare them for starting tomato seedlings. Containers and water liners from previous seasons will be washed in a mild bleach solution. Tables will be setup; trays and liners will be laid out to keep excess water from falling on the floor. Bags of potting soil will be placed under the tables for easy access. Heat lamps and growing lights will be hung from the ceiling to provide warmth and light for the new green babies.

            This year, I have purchased 50 Crimson Sprinter tomato seeds from Seeds of Change. This is a medium sized slicer tomato which tolerates cooler conditions like we have in Ohio. I plan to sell (translated: give away) about half of the seedlings in early May and to plant 15 to 20 of them in my own garden. 

Tomatoes grown from seed should be started indoors about seven weeks prior to transplanting into the garden. Since I plan to sell at least half of my seedlings, I plan to grow them in two batches. The first batch will be ready to sell in the first full week of May, so they will be started around St. Patrick’s Day (March 17^th). The second batch will be started around April Fool’s Day (April 1^st) and then transplanted into my garden around May 15^th. I don’t put tomatoes into the garden prior to May 15^th because on the danger of frost in my area. If your frost free date is earlier in the year, calculate back seven weeks from that date to start your tomato plants.

            Depending on your budget, you can start new tomato plants in egg cartons filled with regular potting soil or purchase seed starting kits from your local nursery. They come with plugs designed specifically for starting seeds in order to give your babies the best possible start. A 50 plant tray (with plugs) will cost around $20. I’m experimenting this year. Half of the tomatoes will be grown in egg cartons and half will be in the special trays. I’ll let you know the results in a future Farm Chat.

            After all the cleaning, the planting will begin. One seed will be placed in each “plug” of soil and the tray (or egg carton) will be placed on the water liner trays. The heat lamps and growing lights will be kept on from 8am to 8pm daily. Plants are like people, they need to “sleep”.  While lights are on they make chlorophyll, then during dark hours they rest. Keeping a night and day schedule also prepares the plants for the outdoor garden. 

Proper hydration is essential to growing happy seedlings. Seeds need a wet environment in order to sprout. The hard outside of the seed is softened by the moisture which allows the infant plant to break through. Once germination is complete the soil should be kept moist but not wet or the plant can rot. I have always used a watering can to provide water, but master gardeners also recommend using a spray bottle to keep the soil moist. Germination takes about a week and once the first true leaves of the tomatoes have developed, they are ready to be transplanted into larger pots. The basement will now have a nice long layer of green to cheer up the drab cement walls.

            This year I treated myself to a new invention – cow pots. The tomatoes that I plan to sell (give away) will be transplanted into a four inch pot made of cow manure! It looks and feels like tough brown construction paper, but don’t worry it doesn’t stink. It can, however, be planted right into the garden with the tomato and as it breaks down it provides fertilizer for the plant. They cost about a dollar a pot. I purchased them through a gardeners supply catalogue. The plants I plan to keep for myself will go into old three to four inch plastic containers which I’ve collected over the years.

            About two weeks after transplanting into the pots (it’s been five weeks now) the plants are ready to be hardened off. First, stop using the heat lamps (or heat mats) then take them outside.  At first just leave them out during the day and then on warmer nights leave them out overnight. Watch the whether! Don’t take them outside if the temperature is near frost. Pay attention to the weather reports and gradually let them stay out longer and longer in cooler temperatures. By the end of April, I leave them out all the time, unless, of course, temperatures drop into the forties.

            By May 1^st my basement will be nearing the end of its active family cycle and it will look more like a greenhouse than a Man Cave. It will be rare to see men hanging out down there, it. I’ll begin distributing my tomatoes to friends and family, humbly begging donations, and by May 15^th, fifteen to twenty leftover plants will be moved into the garden. 

Out in the garden, I’ll dig a hole as deep as the roots of the plant. Remove the lower leaves and place the stem just below the surface of the soil. This will encourage root development for a healthier more productive plant. Then I’ll water deeply. (Fertilizer may be applied at this time, if desired.) Next, a layer of mulch will be placed around the plants – I prefer straw. I’ll also take care to keep the mulch about an inch from the stem of the plant. This lets water roll right down to where it is needed most. Finally, I will place a tomato trellis over the young seedling for future support.

Dreams are funny.  They set on the edge of your mind, chiding you as you trudge through life.  Well, I'm not letting my dream of working from home chastise me any longer.  My mind is set.  I'm leaving my $75,000 a year salary to start an organic farm business.  Of course, I haven't told my husband yet.  I've suggested it.  He looks at me sideways, with eyebrows raised high, then smiles.  He's sure that I'm joking.  Only I'm not.  I'm sick of spending hours sitting at my desk with the sun shining on my back while I think of my husband and children having fun outdoors at home on our newly purchased 14 acre farm.  It may be tough.  We may have to sacrifice our annual beach vacations.  But it’ll be worth it to achieve my dream.

Dreams are inspiration.  After finding inspiration from an article in “Farm and Ranch Living” magazine, I decided that a mini-market organic farm was my calling.  No more 8 hour days stuck in front of a computer monitor wishing I was outside gardening. Gardening has always been a passion of mine.  Last summer I grew enough sweet corn that we ate fresh ears for a month.  Then we ate frozen corn from the garden most of the winter.  We also ate homemade zucchini bread from August until Christmas.  The kids were very upset when we ate the last loaf.  My scales weren't.  Zucchini bread is NOT low calorie. All this produce came from two twelve foot long rows of corn and two zucchini plants.  Disappointingly, our pumpkins never came up last year, maybe because the seeds were three or four years old?  This year I purchased brand new organic seeds.

Dreams require knowledge.  I started researching how to make a living from my vegetable garden.  Can't be too hard, right?  Now I just have to figure out how to begin.  I sat down in front of my home computer and began surfin' the net.  Plus, I bought a book on farming small acreages.  Two month's later I'm buried under megabytes of electronic data providing me with a plethora of information on how to get started.  I'm still confused.  Everywhere I look I get conflicting ideas.  Like one website suggested using newspaper as mulch, while another advises this is a bad idea.  I read of a great trick to fend off birds from my apple tree.  I showed off my new found knowledge to my brother-in-law only to extract a long, loud belly laugh, followed by a serious lecture of his tried and true knowledge.  Often I have found advice about adding rock dust or sea kelp to my soil as fertilizer.  Only, I can't find any place locally that sells anything called rock dust or sea kelp.  My dad suggests buying Lime.  Well, lime sounds like rock dust.  Only I'm not so sure that it's something that can be used in organic farming.  So again, I hit the internet to find out.

        Dreams are hard work.  The fondest part of my new career has been purchasing the seeds.  I agonized for a week deciding what to plant.  Then I spent another, trying to find organic seed in local stores.  Nothing.  Then I hit the internet -- again.  I found an online seed company and placed the order.  Whew.  Two weeks to planting time.  Now what to do while waiting for my seed to arrive?  Internet research, of course.  I continue reading about how to plant, how to get certified organic, how to guard against plant predators, how to setup a farming business in my community, how various plants can benefit each other while others, do not.  I sit at the computer reading document after document online, because I don't want to waste paper or ink.  My back is aching and my head is pounding.  The seeds and planting weather will be here any day now.  So I don't have much time left to plan the marketing of my new business.  How we will sell the produce and how we will sell "the farm experience".  We need a name, logo, vision, mission...  The list goes on and on.  I plan to create a website and find a place to host it after seeds are planted.  But, all of this means more hours in front of the computer.  Since I have decided to follow my dream, I have spent more time in front of my home computer than my work computer.  Go Figure.

        Dreams are memories re-visited.  All of this "desk" work has me reflecting on my grandpa's life.  He owned a dairy farm from 1950 to 1970.  No computers, no pdf files, no internet and no rows of books chocked full of inspiring marketing ideas.  How did he do it?  Memories of bending over rows of my grandpa's big, juicy strawberries in the June sunshine -- picking one for me, one for my bucket -- still make me want to go dig in the dirt.  He always had enough to supply his seven children and their families.  He didn't have sea kelp or rock dust.  My grandfather now lives in town. His entire backyard is the most beautiful vegetable garden.  I look forward to the jars of "Pappy's Preserves" that are handed out to the grandchildren and their families every summer.  All without computers and technology.  He is my hero.

        Dreams are sacrifice.  But, I will not give up.  I did not expect this dream to come easy nor do I expect to become a millionaire while I sit around.  I do expect to spend the summers outside in the hot scorching sun fighting bugs, weeds and wildlife.  I do expect to spend as much time on my computer as I spend at the office.  I do expect to say goodbye to those lazy vacations at the beach.  I do expect to enjoy my life more by spending extra time with the kids and spending the summers outside. My husband is now on board with my new business idea.  He has confessed that living off our farm is also his dream.  I have convinced him that we can do this by agreeing to keep my job for at least another season or two.  He is excited and has plans for chickens, pigs and cattle.  I'll be in charge of the garden.  He'll be in charge of the animals.  So here we go... at age 40 it's time to make our dreams come true.