An Update from Our Greenhouse

Jai Ganesha!

Today we visit our greenhouses for an update. The last time we brought you to our newest hydroponic tomato greenhouse, the plants weren't more that a few feet tall. Now we have four full rows of abundantly producing tomato varieties. With this crop in full production we have hundreds of pounds coming in every few weeks. We've been using them in a verity of ways. we of course use them in curries, soups and chutneys, but we have also been dehydrating them for sauces (including some homemade ketchup!). The system can seem immensely complicated, but once the basics are down our monks of the Siddhidatta kulam can work quite efficiently at keeping this operation going. We of course have our other greenhouse as well. It produces many other veggies and greens, including our constant supply of (the world's best) lettuce as well as our daily greens used for our lunches.

Our oldest set of tomato vines are loaded with fresh fruits

Our taller green house is dedicated to these abundant plants. It has many automated controls that help keep the climate inside balanced

Yogi Dayanatha shows us some recently harvested tomatoes

We have a lot!

This small green house is where the plants are started

Yogi shows us around the building where all the nutrient magic happens

In this small storage building we find all the nutrient supplies as well as the automatic control system that adds them.

Today is overcast, so fewer nutrients are being added since the plants won\

t use them unless they have more sunlight.'

We enter the green house. Precautions are taken to not bring in any unwanted plant material or dirt. This reduces chances of aphids or mildews.

Quite an operation!

This is one of the younger rows that is just starting to produce

Yogi gives us an idea of how tall these plants are

Yogi Jayanatha notes how heavy these larger tomatoes are

abundance indeed

As the vines grow up, their lower sections are laid on their side

They are moved to the left over time and the top of the plant remains at the same height

The newest row is producing Roma tomatoes

They are quite small right now

This is the control panel that controls much of the automated functions within the green house, such as shades and fans

Next we take a trip to our older green house

Here we have all our greens

The new plants, started from seed.

A rather large amaranth plant rises above the crowd

Yogi show us some colorful chard plants

And of course, our wonderful lettuce crop. Aum.

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