By Anna Cooper

For most farmers, fall means that production has slowed down and that harvest season is starting. They know that it’s time to reap the fruits of their labor. Chuck Fenster, however, doesn’t have to wait for anything like seasons when it comes to his produce. When asked, Fenster explained, “Harvesting to me is the culmination of everything I do, all the time.” Fenster started gardening with his grandmother when he was a little kid, “I just fell in love with it.” he told us. When taking a tour of his farm, you could clearly see that he loves what he does. The slogan for the farm also shows that love for farming; “Fresh Produce. From our Farm to Your Table.” All year round Fenster Farms has fresh lettuce and other produce growing.

But how do they do it?

The greenhouses at Fenster Farms are optimized for hydroponic production. Hydroponics is the growth of plants without soil. It uses nutrient-rich water as the growing medium instead of soil. At Fenster Farms, they use Oasis as a placeholder in the troughs where the plants grow, so they don’t wash away. Oasis is made of potato starch and acts as an anchor for the plants as water moves over their roots. In their raised beds, they use a base mix of leaf compost, manure, parboiled rice hulls, and sand as a placeholder. These products are all biodegradable but hold little to no nutrients, which makes them perfect for the roots of the plants in the beds.

There are three greenhouses at Fenster Farms with a fourth on the way. Greenhouse one contains the different varieties of hydroponic lettuce, the remainder of the strawberries that Fenster took to market, some herbs, and a few other varieties of leafy greens. This is the second edition of Greenhouse one. The first collapsed in a snowstorm a few years back; “It took me about a month to rebuild the greenhouse. I got a kit from Atlas Greenhouses. It’s top of the line and called an Atlas Snowarch. I bought that because I didn’t want another collapse.” Fenster then showed us a section of Greenhouse one where you could still see the floor of the old one, telling us “The new structure will hold 90 pounds per square foot. You could stand on it if you spread your weight evenly!”

Greenhouse two has open walls--something he probably won’t do next year because of the problems he’s had with worms. He explained that “I’ll probably just use the exhaust fans; something to keep it as cool as I can keep it in here without burning up my plants.” This greenhouse held the majority of his hydroponic tomatoes. Using his raised beds to grow the fruit, a dirt-less base mix is how he keeps their roots damp and in place. Pointing to his set-up, he said, “I use a Venturi system where the water solution runs through this tube after being pulled from my tank by the vacuum created. I can adjust how much water is pumped by turning a knob. It goes underground and fills the tubes in the beds; it’s a drip irrigation. The system runs twice a day for about 15 minutes, so it doesn’t use a whole lot of water--it barely drips out of the tubes. It doesn’t take a lot of water to get these things fed. We’re trying to be as conservative as possible.”

Greenhouse three is currently a skeleton filled with raised beds. Fenster had a terrible accident while working on the roof of the greenhouse. Pointing to where it happened he said, “I was putting this top section on and I was on a ladder. It had rained the day before and the ground was wet. The ladder went out from under me. I tore my bicep throwing my arm over the top to catch myself. That’s why I haven’t covered it yet.” Fenster continued working in this greenhouse and managed to raise beans, okra, more tomatoes and had cucumbers in that greenhouse. He showed us one bed and said, “And right now I’m growing carrots. But my rattlesnake beans just love this system. I’ve got to get a better trellis for them next year because I’ve never grown them before; they got heavier than I expected. I’m telling you, this system will grow anything; it really will grow anything.”

Make sure you visit Fenster Farm’s Youtube Channel, Fensterfarm Greenhouse to keep up with everything he has going on! Once there you’ll find the collapse of Fenster’s First Greenhouse as well as all of his other greenhouses being built. There are all kinds of interesting and informative videos there so check them out! Fenster Farms has also started selling salad mixes, dressings to go on them, and various amazing baked goods courtesy of Fenster’s wife, Darlene.