Garden Goddess is a winter CSA operated by Chuck Waibel and Carol Ford, who grow greens in a greenhouse attached to their garage in Milan, MN. Chuck and Carol designed the greenhouse based on years of research. As a result, their greenhouse is much more energy efficient, and it cost less, than “typical” greenhouses or high tunnels.
Chuck and Carol's ingenuity has not gone unnoticed; Chuck and Carol's greenhouse has become a famous “model” for growing produce in cold climates during the winter. A couple years ago they wrote a book detailing how they built their greenhouse -- all printed copies were sold. Chuck and Carol have been hired as consultants on the development of several other greenhouses in cold climates, such as the greenhouse at the charter school in Grand Marais and a greenhouse in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Chuck and Carol also have been featured on MPR.
Recently, my class got to visit with Chuck Waibel and see his greenhouse in person. Chuck is a fascinating polymath who seems to know a lot about everything -- from history to computer programming to literature to engineering. Oh, and Chuck also is the author of a fiction book called Phoenix, MN.
Chuck and Carol are now in the sixth year of their winter CSA. They currently have 12 members, but many more than that are on their waiting list.
Any produce that does not go into the CSA boxes is sold to the local grocery store in Milan. Chuck said other grocery stores are interested in buying his produce, too. However, currently he does not produce enough to meet this demand. Good news for us budding Minnesota farmers!
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