I start this interview reading an article that Jason Stuck submitted to me to link on my website. I knew listeners would enjoy it and gain value from the article, but I also asked that someone from Growing Spaces come on the show and talk about their awesome Geodesic Dome Greenhouses.

5 Garden Herbs for Flu Season

Look forward to learning how to garden as I go, and learning from customers.

Well, I can relate to that, we have a lot in common that way.

So you guys are in Montana?

Yes, my show is great because I have awesome guests and they are interested in Green jobs and I call them green future growers, because they are interested in learning about 

they’re kind of visionaries and entrepreneurs who can make a green business as much as growing a green planet.

Agents of Change

I think that fits right in with what we are trying to do here. We call them “agents of change” Where we highlighted some of these green businesses that are 

non-profits trying to build a sustainable feature

how they use the products.

More focused on them and how they use the dome. I think that fits in with some of your listeners.

I was curious how many listeners you have.

Well, I guess when it comes to podcasting, I guess it’s a bit difficult to really tell. I know my stats say that I get about 1500 downloads per episode. But how many actually subscribers I have? I don’t know where you get those stats?

But Google Analytics says I get 1000-1500 people going to my website each month, but then they seem to leave right away. Like 60 seconds and they’re gone.  I think they want more video then audio.

So last Christmas my husband and I put together this Free Garden Course last Christmas break and pounded out the first 6 lessons, but I’m kind of stuck on the other 6. But now I’m close. I did actually reach out on the phone and talk to my listeners and I have had several listeners on the show. Often they have more experience then I do, kind of like my husband who’s goal is to grow as much of our produce as he can. 

We are in the same process, we have

• a lot of words
• need more videos
• infographics

I was listening to a show on promoting your website the other day and he was big on infographics. I go back and forth on my show notes, it doesn’t take much more to do the typing while I am editing the audio. Which I like to do my own audio, I feel like that helps me it’s good for me to listen to the interviews multiple times so I can synthesize what my guests say with what we do here in the garden.

How long are they usually?

Well, my ideal is 35 minutes. But because I am on PRN.fm who needs a file of 53-58 minutes. My listeners like longer episodes because they like the content.

 Welcome to the Show today and here’s Lem Tingley from Growing Spaces!

I’m the owner. We’re based in Pagosa Springs. My wife and I bought the company from the owners Puja and Udgar Parsons they developed the growing dome almost 30 years ago after working with Buckminster Fuller and John Denver at the Windstar Ranch out in Aspen Colorado.

It’s a geodesic greenhouse kit that allows you to grow food year round even in extreme locations like Montana or Colorado!

I think someone reached out to me. I know my listeners are definitely interested in extending their season. One thing I have learned is that in some ways it is actually easier to grow in Montana then a lot of other places because we don’t have the bugs but I am chomping at the bit for some greens. 

I generally don’t have to buy produce from August until about November anymore. I finally bought my first bag of produce the other day and what happens they have the romaine recall.

  Janet and I first met Bjorn Oliviusson

Tell me about your first gardening experience?

My mom, got a plot she would take us there and grow our own vegetables. 

not a whole lot. We would bring those vegetables home and eat them ourselves. It was a short growing season out in Mass but it was nice to have that opportunity in the town that I grew up.

Tell us about how you bought the Growing Spaces 

I’m an engineer

Colorado

48 years old Just kind of always  had that entrepreneurial bug. I realy wanted to do something that helps

something with the

• environment
• sustainable living

Looking at companies that

photovoltaic and other sustainable tech

search

looking to retire

put their business up on the market

The produce being an energy efficient net zero design really attracted me to the product and company to 

help promote a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle through the sale and distribution

growing dome sale

That’s where we got really excited and have had lots of fun working with the staff and meeting our customers as we go. With the hope eventually we will have our own domes here in where we live in Golden, Colorado

incredible experience of the past year.

So many things I could ask there, and my husband was born in Colorado. We’ve been down there several times, he lived outside of Aspen in a little town called Basalt. Of course I’m thinking is your business booming for growing cannabis.

people do use our domes to grow cannabis

Doesn’t really apply to commercial growers of cannabis because of the dome shape but it’s perfect if you are going to grow your own

market to the home gardener

Those plants are very happy in our dome.

Speaking of backyard gardeners, since listeners can’t see the website do you want to tell listeners about the kids.

We sell the dome in 6 different sizes

all the way from 15 feet in diameter to 42 feet so it depends on your application.

If you’re just growing food for a family of 2-3 you could probably grow it in the 15′ diameter dome. Which is about 150 sq foot of gardening space for organic fruits and vegetables.

The 42 foot dome we usually sell to schools and community gardens and it will feed 15 or more people out of that dome. It’s a pretty large structure at that point. 4 different sizes in between.

6 different sizes

• 15 feet in diameter
• 42 feet in diameter

Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership

in Downtown Pagosa Springs.

• Education dome

They’re doing some exciting things with those domes one geared toward education

local school kids to do classes in that dome. 

• There’s another more of the community dome

rent beds

community groups

3rd dome

• innovation domes

farm to table

local growers come in to do more innovation with aquaponics and hydroponics.

Back to your other question what do they look like.

These are geodesic shaped invented by Buckminster Fuller. 

It’s made out of

• glazing pannel
• cut into triangles to form the geodesic shape
• doug fir and lumber

structure

• 2 foot wall structural wall at the bottom to form the circular foundation
• Then we put insulation
• weather resistant siding around the base as well

Now do you install them, or it’s a kit people put together themselves?

Either way.

We ship all over the world

You can install yourself, you just have to be handy with a saw or a socket wrench or you can hire us to install it. We mostly installs here in CO but we’ll go anywhere in the world. 

We can help you find a contractor locally.

Can take 3-6 days depending on the size.

All the instructions online and helpful videos on our website that show you how to install. You can always call us to help guide you through it.

What’s the base made out of? It seemed like they had some rock bases?  Are they all the same?

All the bases are the same that we ship. It’s just a lumber structure 2 foot high but a lot of owners will customize the siding. 

That may be important if you have an

• HOA
• want to match the decor of your house

encourage people to customize the siding

But behind that siding the structure is the same. 

landscaping material

simple lumber structure. 

I’m sure people are curious, can you give us a ballpark price range?

15 basic kit for kit without shipping would be $7800

prices go up from there

22 foot starts at $12k

42 foot dome $39k

That’s really just for the kit itself, then you work with a product specialist about where you are

• located
• shipped
• installation options

owner supplied items

• insulation
• sheet metal
• costs of those

You can purchase those at your local box store before installation.

So, how cold can it get? I know when Mike builds plastic covers etc he figures he can get down to about 27º and then after that it’s just not gonna work. How cold can it get and can you get a heater?

We do recommend heaters for the colder climates where you are not getting so much sun. Like up in Canada you might want some external heat.

You can typically grow year round here without external heat and that’s because there is an indoor pond

During the day it will radiate the heat during the night

It stays typically 25º inside the dome then it is outside the dome even in the dead of night so you can really plan around that and make sure those vegetables are warm and cozy in there during the night.

If you are going to have a long period of time without sun you might need some external heat

We have had experiences where people can grow tomatoes year round

frost hearty plants leafy kale etc you might want to make sure you are optimized for the winter.

That could really pay off if you were not having to be buying produce. I bet you could have fresh tomatoes from June through November which would be awesome for us. I was looking at this house the other day that someone was moving into, that had a giant glassed in porch and I was thinking it would be so nice to sit there at a kitchen table in the winter! 

yoga studios

party spaces in there to have a table

lots of different uses of the dome then just growing food

people get into the spiritual environment of being with the plants.

The other thing I like about it, this was always a big struggle with me with the schools is that when the majority of the work in the garden is going on is during the summer when kids are not in school.

We work with a lot of schools

There are great curriculums not just around growing food but also

• engineering
• STEM
• thermodynamics
• how to be used for different applications
• experiments
• project based learning

fun to visit the schools in the area and see what types of curriculum they are using

Now is there something about that design that makes it more heat efficient and then of course I am more curious about the pond? Did you say there is a pond in all of them?

It comes standard with the pond to act as the thermal mass

We do have customers who use

• geothermal
• other types of thermal mass

The pond is a really nice feature because not only does it act as a thermal mass but you can grow fish in there

• harvest fish
• decorative fish
• use the fish waste for aquaponics
• kids go crazy over the fish as well

aquaponics system

harvesting fish

Key is passive solar design

• polycarbonate panels
• can diffuse the light
• right types of light that plants love

bathes the plants in the light as well as warming the greenhouse

solar powered fans

photovoltaic panels that power some of the fans as well as the water fountain in the dome to circulate the air as well as there is an undersoil fan that keeps the soil warm and humid in the winter time that runs off solar panel

net zero design

don’t need external power unless you want...