Howling Moose Gardens is a go!
Thanks for the name help, all.
I've spoken to all sorts of people, and have decided that fun and easy to remember trumps respectable. So I'll stay with Howling Moose Gardens.
Speaking of which, I'm 99% sure I've found my starting greenhouse.
Since this will be the first (that I know of) greenhouse-based commercial AP system in Minnesota, I'm going to start by leasing space, and then once I've proven the concept (and have the financial numbers to prove it) I'll try to build a custom AP greenhouse with all the awesome passive/thermal sink stuff that has been discussed in the Temperate Climate Aquaponic Discussions on Backyard Aquaponics, by the Garden Goddess winter greenhouse folks and others.
So, here's the space:
(fullsize pics at https://picasaweb.google.com/swanberg/Greenhouse#)
On the north end are 6 greenhouses that run east/west, connected by an almost north/south running "head house". The three buildings running almost north/south on the south end of the complex are:
Left: concrete partially buried root cellar
Middle: greenhouse containing the loading dock and tractors etc.
Right: (biggest building in the complex) a metal fabrication shed.
The fields to the west haven't been sprayed in 20 years and the landlord is willing to rent them out to veggie production (he's been haying it for the last few years). The scruffier space to the north of the greenhouses is space for potentially more greenhouses.
This is what the inside of the 6 east/west greenhouses look like:
They're 30'x96' (roughly 9m x 29m) = 2880 ft^2 (261m^2)
and are connected by this headhouse, which is 20' x 120' (6m x 36.5m)
The landlord is renting the 5 good greenhouses to someone else for 6-8 weeks for the spring seedlings (northern hemisphere, remember), and during that time I'll be in the loading dock space plus the smallest of the greenhouses, building my infrastructure and putting in a small raft system to cycle up.
Once the other guy is gone, I'll move into two of the 30x90' greenhouses, and expand from there as I can.
The place is 25 miles from my house, which is longer than I like to commute, but at the price this space is available for, I'll take it for a few years!
I'm unbelievably excited that this is finally coming together!
I've spoken to all sorts of people, and have decided that fun and easy to remember trumps respectable. So I'll stay with Howling Moose Gardens.
Speaking of which, I'm 99% sure I've found my starting greenhouse.
Since this will be the first (that I know of) greenhouse-based commercial AP system in Minnesota, I'm going to start by leasing space, and then once I've proven the concept (and have the financial numbers to prove it) I'll try to build a custom AP greenhouse with all the awesome passive/thermal sink stuff that has been discussed in the Temperate Climate Aquaponic Discussions on Backyard Aquaponics, by the Garden Goddess winter greenhouse folks and others.
So, here's the space:
(fullsize pics at https://picasaweb.google.com/swanberg/Greenhouse#)
On the north end are 6 greenhouses that run east/west, connected by an almost north/south running "head house". The three buildings running almost north/south on the south end of the complex are:
Left: concrete partially buried root cellar
Middle: greenhouse containing the loading dock and tractors etc.
Right: (biggest building in the complex) a metal fabrication shed.
The fields to the west haven't been sprayed in 20 years and the landlord is willing to rent them out to veggie production (he's been haying it for the last few years). The scruffier space to the north of the greenhouses is space for potentially more greenhouses.
This is what the inside of the 6 east/west greenhouses look like:
They're 30'x96' (roughly 9m x 29m) = 2880 ft^2 (261m^2)
and are connected by this headhouse, which is 20' x 120' (6m x 36.5m)
The landlord is renting the 5 good greenhouses to someone else for 6-8 weeks for the spring seedlings (northern hemisphere, remember), and during that time I'll be in the loading dock space plus the smallest of the greenhouses, building my infrastructure and putting in a small raft system to cycle up.
Once the other guy is gone, I'll move into two of the 30x90' greenhouses, and expand from there as I can.
The place is 25 miles from my house, which is longer than I like to commute, but at the price this space is available for, I'll take it for a few years!
I'm unbelievably excited that this is finally coming together!