Dan Spark — Greenhouse a refuge of warmth and life

COLUMN — Two weeks ago my family gave me an early Father’s Day gift.

Jody and the children packed up for the day and visited a friend in Kamloops. Attendance wasn’t mandatory on my part, and given my antisocial tendencies, it may have been awkward even if I did go. So, I was alone on Saturday afternoon with five hours with nothing to do. It seems remarkable . . . five hours!

As soon as the van pulled out of the driveway there really was only one destination I had in mind . . . the greenhouse. And because Saturdays are days of rest for our family, I wasn’t headed that way to pull weeds or to water plants. I was going there to relax.

I grabbed several magazines, opened up the vent flaps on the greenhouse, propped open my lawn chair and chilled out in my climate-controlled environment. It was warm but not hot, about room temperature. A perfect spot to mellow out after a long week at TRU where I’m learning the plumbing trade.

I enjoy many things about my property — the river, the shop, the wide open pastures — but the greenhouse is my new favourite thing.

I built it last year over the summer, and now that it’s in use, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.

Because of its warm climate, my corn, which I started from seed in the greenhouse and transplanted to the main garden last month, is knee-high and threatening to reach my waist in a week’s time. Fresh strawberries have also been available for more than a month, although any time I go to pick one I usually only find stubs where the fruit once grew. Thanks kids.

I also have transplanted sunflowers that are up to my chest, melon plants that are ready to bust out of their beds, pepper plants a foot tall, tomato plants on the verge of a flower explosion, and basil, chard and romaine lettuce ready for salads.

Basically, the greenhouse has given us everything that we wouldn’t have expected to see for another month given the North Thompson climate, in addition to several plantings throughout the year. It seems building the greenhouse is the only mistake I haven’t made on our hobby farm.

There are plenty of paths for gardeners to take when it comes to greenhouses such as using PVC pipe, steel, wood and the option of using glass or plastic. I went the wood-and-plastic route from a plan I found in a gardening book and I couldn’t be happier with it. The plan called for a greenhouse that was eight feet wide, 10 feet long and about eight feet high. Much too small, for my needs.

So I tripled the length and kept everything else the same. It now sits at 30 feet long, a length I was worried may be too big, but figured it was better to be big than too small. After one season of use, it’s much too small. I could easily have doubled its length and width again. While that’s not feasible, with being unemployed and all, I’m trying to get the most of the space by building shelves that will hold potted plants that can double as a drying table.

Walking into the greenhouse, one is greeted with incredible warmth at any time of day, fresh smells and the bizarre feeling of relaxation even though you’re usually there to work.

It is a place of refuge whether your hands are in the soil or you’re sitting back reading a magazine. As Ferris Bueller said on his day off, if you have the means, I highly recommend one.

Dan and Jody Spark are in their fourth year of living their back-to-the-land dream on their small acreage at McLure and they are having the time of their life.