Solviva anyone? (Intensive Greenhouse Production)

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Has anyone read Anna Edey's book , "Solviva: How to grow $500,000 on one acre, and Peace on Earth"? If so, have any of you endeavored to emulate her experience? For those who are not familiar with her work, she is, to the best of my knowledge, the originator of the "bioshelter". Bioshelters are greenhouses taken to the nth degree, housing livestock (chickens, rabbits, sheep, aquaculture) which in turn provide heat to the greenhouse. The original Solviva was built at Martha's Vineyard on the Massachusetts coast, and prospered nicely through their New England winters without fuel inputs for heat. If any of you have experience or stories about bioshelters I would like to hear from you. I bought the book directly form Anna and I think it may still be available from Trailblazer Press, solviva @vineyard.net. The phone number I have for the publisher is 508-693- 3341.

-- John Fritz (aeon30@hotmail.com), January 27, 2001

Answers

I have not read the book- did not know there was one. But, I have an old article about Solviva which appeared in Organic Gardening. I will definitely read the book- thanks for the info.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 27, 2001.

This style ecosystem will be the coming standard. The advantages are so great , it makes the traditional greenhouse a dinosaur.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 27, 2001.

What ever happened to that bioshelter experiment in southern US several years ago? Several people, specific plant and animal species were 'locked' into a large dome (or ?) that was isolated from earth's atmosphere. It was billed as research into building survival shelters on Mars. Sandy

-- Sandy in MN (jpevans_56353@yahoo.com), January 28, 2001.

Sandy, As I recall, it was discovered that the biosphere project had some descrepancies in atmoshere isolation. Air from outside the dome was entering the ecosystem in quantities large enough to affect test conditions.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 28, 2001.

The biosphere was located in Oracle,Az. It closed about a year before I moved here,I heard the problem with it was, a build up of carbon monixide and then they did have to pump air in and it affected the test conditions. I wish somebody would try it again, because I think there some good ideas that would work, and possibly be useful on the homestead. Roxanne

-- Roxanne (Roxanne143@webtv.net), January 28, 2001.


Someone on here - I think John Leake - is doing something like this now. Jay, didn't you find a web site about this? I think it's a really neat idea, but I can hardly pry myself away fromt he farm now - I'd never want to leave if I had a set up like that!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), January 29, 2001.

Polly, I'm in the same boat you are, too much to do, too little time. I think I do have something on related sites in one of my notebooks or file diskettes. My homestead guru was the one with the printouts on a setup incorporating rabbits/worms/greenhouse. If I can't find it in my stuff, I'll ask him again. JLS may have some info as they were working in that direction also, if I recall correctly.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 29, 2001.

Jay, please post when you find your info. This has been a long time dream of ours and it would be nice to see other's ideas. We have a late model mobile home with a peaked, shingle roof and have thought about going the length with something that could be passive solar heat in the winter, green house, rabbits, worms etc.-it's a full southern exposure. I tryed to find the book on the website and couldn't figure it out (how the site worked) so I think I will order it from the library.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 29, 2001.

Dianne: FWIW, the mobie home idea is good I think. Theres some stuff used for greenhouse glazing. It comes in sheets up 24'? long and 6' wide. Its a double wall with air space between. Fairly light weight and easy to cut and work with. It seems that would be nearly ideal for glazing the south wall of the mobile home.

I'm working on a poor boy version of the integrated greenhouse system. Early stages right now are 50 young hens in a 11x18 coop attached to an 11x52 greenhouse attached to the south wall of the pole bldg. A 6 inch muffin fan blower will suck air, with heat, CO2, and ammonia, from the coop and inject it into the greenhouse beds, each of which are 42"w x 52' long. They'll be moderatefully effective as a thermal mass and the bottom heating for the roots shoud be good for the plants.

I'm currently making soil in the greenhouse with the chickens scrarching around in a 6" bed of leaves. I'll soon be adding another 6" of leaves. By nxt winter there'll be a warm air intake also at the apex of the greenhouse. When its warm in the greenhouse excess heat will be moved into the beds for nightime thermal mass. In the chicken coop there's a 1500 gallon bulk milk tank I got real cheap. Thats gonna be irrigation water for the greenhouse and a thermal mass sink for the 20 or so solar panels mounted to the roof of the pole bldg.

Eventually hope to operate the greenhouse year round so it gotta stay above freezing.

Did you know a chicken will generate 8 btus/lb/hr? Only a homesteader would have that little piece of info.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), February 03, 2001.


Thanks john, year around greenhousing is our goal also, as well as the potential of bigger living space that includes the things we most love to do, thus totally attached to the current living area with various adjustable air flow controls between the two, depending on temperature and the time of year. I have never heard of the material you were discribing. Where did you find it? I like the idea of the bulk tank-sounds more practical than my idea of building a fish pond, since there are quite a few of those around to recycle. Could still have my fish tank, just in a big stainless steel one. Cool.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 03, 2001.


Diane: I found my glazing used around here but do a search for greenhouse supplies. I don't recall the business name but there's a site that sells all that stuff. I don't even recall the official name for the material but its a hi-tec plastic that you can even get with a double thickness air space. I think it's for a twenty year life but I suspect in reality its probably more.

The bulk tank we got looks like a submarine parked in the chicken coop but I know there's tanks out there that are smaller and lower with full tops that would work well for aqua-culture. What I like about them, besides the fact they're stainless is they are also insulated complete with refrigeration coils around the outside of the tank so heat can be introduced or removed thru them.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), February 03, 2001.


Thanks john, if it is hi-tec it is probably out of our range, glazing ourselves will probably be what we end up with, I will try a search though. With time (lots of it) we can end up with something we can afford. Let's see now 8btus/lb/hr x how many chickens would it take to heat it????

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 03, 2001.

After reading this post I got this book from the library and am reading it.

What a facsinating concept. I can't seem to find info in the book about how she managed to get around building codes on some of it and how much it cost.

Is she still living pretty much the same way?

I can't see how with the proliferation of people growing salad mix that you could still earn that much, I would be happy with much less if I could cheaply, simply grow my own food year round (as well as living "lightly". Amy

-- Amy Richards (tiggerwife@aol.com), February 16, 2001.


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