A Green Recovery?
I was just reading through a report by the Center for American Progress about their plan for economic recovery that will create green jobs. It is a lengthy read but offers some insight to ideas being considered on a large scale and the pros thereof. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/pdf/green_recovery.pdf
The small 1 1/2 acre domain that is ours has a green recovery plan in progress that will create at least one paying job for now. We’re working on gathering the funds and materials to build our first hoop house greenhouse in the next week or so to sell plants and eventually vegetables and herbs, dried herbs, flowers, landscaping green, and maybe even some trees, who knows? We have excellent road frontage and a rental property next door sitting empty with steady traffic as well as tourist traffic heading to the Daniel Boone National Forest, and it just seems a shame to let my green thumb bless only my four and no more! Especially when natural and organic products are all the rage. I can grow my own wealth and health!
I searched all over the net for free blueprints and plans for greenhouses, but nearly everyone wants to get paid for information these days. Finally I found some free plans here http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/postharv/green/small_greenhouse.pdf where you can build a 12 X 14 hoop house for around $100. I have to give this a shot and then take what I learn to folks who want to be more backyard sustainable but can’t afford the cost of a standard greenhouse. What I like the most about this design is that it is so versatile and can be used directly over garden rows (even on a smaller scale than the plans) throughout the winter to continue harvesting greens and cabbage.
With our system, one greenhouse won’t be enough to produce the amount of plants I want to grow and have for sale so we have selected a spot in our yard where we can build another, and are considering turning an old mobile home frame into one as well. Currently the structure is being used for storage and we believe it will be a simple conversion where we can also set up a rain collection system and eventually solar power as part of our sustainability project. It is sitting in the ideal location in our yard for full day sun and recycling the aluminum siding may just help pay for this project and I’m always on the lookout of excess building materials and postings on my local Freecycle boards for people giving materials away.
We have our work cut out for us and without our truck running, there is no way to haul anything. Hopefully ours will be running and road-worthy by the weekend. Say a prayer for us, we need a break in the worst way.
