Leelanau Hoop Houses & CSA Farms

Northern Michigan farmers Nic Welty (Black Star Farms) and Jenny Tutlis & John Watts (Meadowlark Farm) got some national play in Farmers go low-tech to grow in winter on the public radio program Marketplace.

A hoop house is little more than big sheets of plastic stretched covered-wagon-style over a series of metal arches. As the program relates, these no-tech greenhouses can trap enough heat from the sun and soil to keep things like spinach, kale, and even salad greens growing well into the winter.

Here’s a cool video on Hoop House construction from MSU.

Click that photo for a larger view of Nic Welty in the hoop house at Black Star Farms…