Garden Goddess Winter Greenhouse
Tour Jan. 18 in Milan

CONTACT:  Amy Bacigalupo, LSP, Montevideo, 320-269-2105 

12/24/08 
MILAN, Minn. — The owners of Garden Goddess Greenhouse will provide an inside look at their innovative system for raising vegetables in the middle of a Minnesota winter during a special Land Stewardship Project Farm Beginnings tour Sunday, Jan. 18, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., in the western Minnesota community of Milan. A limited number of travel scholarships are available for people from the Twin Cities area who are interested in attending this tour. For more information, contact the Land Stewardship Project’s Amy Bacigalupo at amyb@landstewardshipproject.org or 320-269-2105.

Garden Goddess is a Community Supported Agriculture vegetable operation owned and managed by Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel, graduates of the Farm Beginnings program. Ford and Waibel raise greens and herbs during the winter months in a custom-designed passive solar greenhouse that uses low-tech active solar components. The resulting energy-efficient system enables them to keep the soil temperature above 50 degrees and the air temperature above 40 degrees throughout the winter. This allows them to deliver a combination of fresh vegetables and storage crops weekly to their clients from October through March.

The Jan. 18 tour will cover topics such as successful passive solar design features used in the Garden Goddess greenhouse, the best vegetable varieties to grow in the cool winter, and the expenses and potential income of winter greenhouse vegetable production.

Farm Beginnings provides training to beginning farmers who are seeking innovative and profitable ways to make a living on the land. During 2009, classes will be held in Spicer, Minn., and River Falls, Wis. Classes start in mid-October and run through March. 

For information on enrolling in Farm Beginnings or serving as a mentor, contact Nick Olson in LSP’s western Minnesota office at 320-269-2105 or nicko@landstewardshipproject.org. In southeast Minnesota, contact Karen Benson at 507-523-3366 or lspse@landstewardshipproject.org. More information and application materials are available at www.farmbeginnings.org. 

The Jan. 18 tour is co-sponsored by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency and in partnership with the USDA’s Risk Management Agency.

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