Winter Veggie Growing with Hydroponics

Finding fresh produce in during the Cincinnati winter is not only tough, but ass-kicking tough. I already have an incredibly difficult time dealing with the cold gloomy midwest weather. But good news! I've got several leads on some incredible sources for my winter green veggies.

1) Kale (a winter-resiliant leafy green)
2) Greenhouse (extends the growing season past the fall and into the early winter)
3) Hydroponics (brings the growing season indoors and without soil)

It only takes a space about the size of the hood of a car to grow the greens that would sustain my wife's and my daily consumption if I start growing with hydroponics.

My friend-bor (neighbor + friend), Dan, finally got the green light from his wife to set up his hydropic-palooza in his basement. Based on my professional experience in the realm of commercial lighting retrofits, we are experimenting with a couple of cool types of lights-- LEDs and Plasma Induction.

The problem with traditional hydroponic grow lamps is that they suck a ton of electricity, something I'm trying to avoid. They often use metal halide lamps that suck as much 400 watts. That's like Lance Armstrong having to live in your basement on a hampster wheel while pedaling 8 hours per day at time trial pace to generate the equivalent power those lamps suck. And here in Cincinnati, we get our electricity from coal power plants. That's dirty power that we just can't be using.

So, check out the high output of the Plasma Induction lamp. It not only uses a fraction of the energy as a metal halide lamp, but it lasts darn near forever since their are no internal electrodes to burn out...just an energized ball of gas courtesy of Nicola Tesla. Click the link below for a cool example of one of my induction light tests.
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAxk3n0xIU

Both LED's and Induction lamps are expensive, but this will be a long-living investment that will cut our ties to the onerous "spinach and kale grid" of our local supermarket. Dan is partial to LEDs so we'll see how this experiment plays out. The real heart of the matter is, "which light do plants enjoy more?"

Day One

I'm officially committed.(Gulp!)

Yesterday I spent $575 signing up for Ironman Wisconsin 2011. $575--are you kidding me! To get kicked in the face swimming 2.4 miles, ride 112 miles (on my own bike, not in a limo), run 26.2 miles, and receive a medal and T-shirt? Worth every penny-- I can't wait!

More dramatically though, my next 365 days will be defined by my new blog project and experiment in

raw-food-local-economy-home-energy-spirituality-off-the-grid-adventures-in-athleticism

On the other hand, in the words of Ferris Bueller,  A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. So, rest-assured, I will be doing a lot of that, too, believing in myself, and not getting sucked into some kind of religion-of isms.

I've been busy assembling all the practical and logistical groundwork for this project for the last month or so but I've been dreaming it up for about the last year. There is no "step-one", just a whole lot simultaneous gymnastics to slough off some bad habits and overhaul the "system" that has too much grip on my life.

By volunteering at this year's race, I was guaranteed a priority place in the line to sign up for next year's race. So, I guess that is a pretty important task to check off the list. My friend Mike and I road tripped it together on the cheap. Unfortunately, I came home sick from the four-day trip with a cold. It has me questioning the role of sleep and nutrition and climate control and the daunting task ahead of me to do what I keep putting off doing-- going raw, going veg, going local, going green, going pro, going deep, and going and going and going.

I know I'm getting a late start at 30-years-old. I've got a mountain of obstacles and excuses stacked against me, but heck, I'm pretty damn cancer-free, which is better than where Lance re-started. So, here are my goals...

GOALS
-Become a professional triathete
-Do it on completely LOCAL, VEGGIE, RAW, ORGANIC food
-Nourish relationships with neighbors and family
-Support local small businesses
-Get off-the-grid
-Get others off-the-grid
-Learn a lot
-Enjoy life
-Save the planet

RESOURCES
-Studio S (my wife's personal training studio)
-Paradise Found's local organic produce (a friend's business)
-Family and friends close by for support (urban neighborhood)
-Bike, running gear, Ohio River, a couple of lakes within 50 miles
-Friends who are faster than me in every discipline of triathlon
-A few triathlons under my belt, including Ironman Louisville 2009 (11:48:35, respectable but nothing special)
-A home office work schedule that allows me to be flexible
-A resting heart rate of 38 bpm
-Some history in eating vegan-ish (~1yr) and vegetarian (~7 yr)

WHAT I WANT
-More inner and outer freedom
-More time to train and recover
-More access to pool
-More access to raw food expertise
-More skill in gardening
-A better overall mood and energy level
-More family and friends time
-More opportunity for off-the-grid innovations
-More opportunity do cool neighborhood development stuff

A FEW CHALLENGES
-Ankle damage from years of soccer
-Atrophied small muscle groups in feet/legs from years of crappy dress shoes and crappy running shoes
-Always laboring and emotionally anxious (small business owner www.EmotivEnergy.com)
-No pool membership and weak background in swimming
-Limited access to sun for growing my own food
-Shoulder injury (AC separation 2006 from bike crash)
-1920s home is an energy hog in the winter despite my habits of thermostat jockey-ing
-There are not many local raw foodies/athletes
-Few local restaurants that serve raw, organic, vegan options
-Penchant for "junk food" (addiction to coffee and tortilla chips)
-Want more sponsors: insulation, home improvement tools/trades, transportation, bike mechanic and gear,  race entries, coffee-displacement therapy, seeds, access to expertise (coaching, nutrition, carpentry, welding, food preservation, etc).