The Gift Of Growing Your Own Produce Year-Round In Inhospitable Climates – CleanTechnica

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Florida has its share of problems, but our ability to purchase produce year round is remarkable. In my town we have an open-air produce market open seven days a week, and different selections of fresh vegetables and fruits inspire my creativity to design interesting meals.

I was thinking about how fortunate I am to be able to buy varieties of Plant City strawberries across the year. Indian River citrus in the January and February. Even U-Pick crops once the heat of the summer dissipates.

Not everyone is so lucky, of course.

Inuit Learn To Grow Produce Year-Round In A Windowless Environment

Recently I read about a high hamlet in Canada’s Arctic, where local people live through weeks of total darkness during its long winters. I learned that the once-nomadic Inuit have historically drawn their nutrients from raw meat and fish to compensate for the absence of fruits, vegetables, and sunlight. The Inuit have some of the highest levels of food insecurity in Canada. Just two generations away from a migratory lifestyle, today they must rely on what’s stocked in local supermarkets; they need to choose fresh produce judiciously because of its high prices.

A research project is trying to improve Inuit access to fresh fruits and vegetables. And it’s showing great potential.

Intuit citizens are growing strawberries, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, microgreens, tomatoes, and other produce year round. It starts with a high tech greenhouse situated inside insulated shipping containers. Artificial lights and grow plants in soil and water. Wind turbines, solar panels, and a backup diesel generator provide power to the containers, including heat.

It’s the first locally grown fresh produce for the region.

At the request of hamlet elders who wanted a greenhouse, the Arctic Research Foundation helped to make the dream a reality. In 2019, shipping containers were placed on a spot chosen by elders on a hill on the outskirts of the village. It’s true that the greenhouse, which is partially financed by the Canadian Space Agency, yields only small quantities of produce year round. Greens in sandwich bags are dropped off at the hamlet’s community center or donated to the hamlet’s elders and members of its search and rescue team.

The cost of the research project to date is about $3.6 million ($5 million Canadian). In three years, the amount of produce year-round will increase. With the support of a facility to process and export other local products, like Arctic char, the goal is for the project to become economically sustainable and a model for other Inuit communities. That would constitute a tremendous change, as 60% of the people in Nunavut cannot afford to buy enough food of sufficient quantity and quality.

Indoor Produce Year-Round For All Seasons

I grew up in New England, which in the late 20th century had a full frost from September through May. I remember the seasonal joy of eating a juicy red tomato right off the vine in August. During the rest of the year, with our very short growing season, our tomatoes were store-bought and tasteless.

Now that I’m a full-time condo resident, I hear my neighbors yearn for the days when their backyards were brimming with fresh veggies on the vine. My pal has been growing herbs inside for several years, and he is delighted about harvesting his very own year-round supply of herbs.

Then I came across LetPot, which is marketed as a smart gardening device that makes growing greens and fruits easy. It’s described as good for seasoned pros or beginners alike, so that the process of growing plants is simplified through use of technology.

Well, I surely have enjoyed gardening throughout my life, and the idea of having greenery indoors year round was very appealing.

With LetPot, gardening fanatics can enjoy fresh herbs and vegetables throughout the year, reducing waste and carbon emissions caused by market purchases, allowing children to learn and understand the process of plant growth. Bringing the beauty of nature and a green lifestyle to everyone is their mission and pursuit, allowing people who are far from nature to experience the beauty of green living easily, and enabling urban dwellers to have their own green garden all year round.

My model was the SS-Pro. It’s a brand new seed-starter that’s now live on Kickstarter. It’s a new iteration that was inspired by their smart planter, the MP1. The Kickstarter reveal isn’t new to LetPot — they launched their very first product on Kickstarter, and they recognize that it’s consumer support and trust that’s gotten them to where they are today.

The seed-starter germination system came smartly packaged, and like so many devices today, information about assembly was provided in brief on paper but in more depth through an app. I scanned a QR code and signed up. The app required Bluetooth access. Note: As much as I can tell, the LetPot didn’t seem to have an analog option.

I’m not very good at the Way Things Work, so hubby assembled the system and related that it just took common sense.

It was immediately evident to me that I couldn’t move forward with my part of the process until I bought planting soil and seeds for the plants I wanted to grow. A trip to the store was in order, and I planned to continue another day.

The next steps include installing the lamp pole, preparing the water storage and seedling trays, and sowing seeds. The tray goes on the device, and the soil sensor gets inserted into the soil. With the moisture cover on (it gets removed once seeds germinate), all it takes is to plug it in and press the Power button on the device. The system defaults to Manual Mode on startup, with the light working 12 hours on and 12 hours off.

The LetPot folks offer four suggestions for successful hydroponics, which they say isn’t complicated. With even a small kitchen corner and this advice, it’s possible to grow fresh greens all year.

• Light is the energy for plants. Use natural light or LED. Good light keeps plants healthy.
• Water keeps roots moist. Not too much, not too little. Getting it right is key.
• Nutrient solution gives plants all they need, like a custom menu. Oxygen keeps roots healthy.
• Air and water must be balanced.

The LetPot community is now 100,000 strong. Growers who want more info can click on their Facebook page for helpful hints.