Cob: Re: Re: The $0 Per Square Foot House

[Julianne Wilson]

If anyone is really interested in this type of growing, look for information
on "Solviva" - a project by Anna Edey in Mass. -- she has/had an INCREDIBLE
greenhouse, built largely of recycleds and using chickens and solar for heat
in the long winter.  Worked with her for a week some years ago - it was
amazing.  She had a tomato plant that was very healthy and had been
producing for FIVE YEARS!  But mostly she used the pvc method on two levels
to grow edible greens, herbs, and edible flowers . . .so young and
delicious!  Wish I had a partner to work with - I'd love to "grown"
something like that on my land!

on 9/30/02 4:08 PM, toswink at toswink at mindspring.com wrote:

> DOwnUnder they take pvc pipe[trays etc] and grown plants in 1/3 the time
> outside or inside. With hydroponics.
> It is a very fast cheap way to grow a lot. It may be even earthern troughs
> to hold mositure and vermiculite or sand pebbles.
> One person had a bat house and from thier waste it gave him a endless supply
> of nutrients.
> 
> I used trays to grow a large amount of produce. Each day of growing I would
> plant another tray. This way it produced ready to eat fruit every day. The
> only draw backs was that it is not automatic. Unless you consider the humans
> who kept it up:).
> My way to ciruclate the nutrients was to have a five gallon plastic can with
> a hose running to the trays. I lifted it up in the mornings and allowed it
> to drain and then placed the can on the ground.
> 
> Also a friend grew a roll of hybred trees each year. untill he had the age
> and size of tree that would ideal to cutdown for fire wood. The trees were
> of the type that the it regrows from the same trunk. This was twenty years
> ago and to this day they still have trees growing .I think they were popular
> trees from rodale press magazine.
> 
>