| JULY 5, 2014 -- The gardens should be booming along by now. On each grangers to do list this month should be collection of food from your gardens for the food banks and soup kitchens. Lets give the grange a great showing of our ability to provide fresh vegetables for those in need. Second we should all be thinking about those people we can nominate for: Outstanding Professional Farmer and Outstanding Young Farmer year end awards.
As this years growing season is getting underway, I have been watching my son create some aquaponic beds that he is running off our pool that is filled with decayed leaves, algae, frogs and fish. The strawberries are off to a great start and have been maintenance free since they were planted. If it goes well, that area of the farm will be covered by a greenhouse. We are also looking in to the possibility of adding an indoor fodder (greeen sprouts for animals) growing system in one of our barns. Across the country indoor growing of vegetables and flowers is booming. At the vo-ag schools teaching this type of growing is very common.
When I think about the movement of growing to the indoors I can see many of the same advantages other farmers see: the ability to have a longer growing season, less pest, less use of water and lastly control over the weather. Its the last benefit that has me concerned because I think it is becoming a bigger and bigger motivater of indoor growing. Is this the farmer’s natural instinct to protect his crops kicking in? If it is, what about all the crops we cannot bring inside? |
