Help Tiffany Get A Real Greenhouse

Hi! My name is Tiffany April Raines, owner of Wild Spirits Farm, also known as “The Plant Lady" of Fairfield, Iowa.

For the past several years, I’ve been organically growing vegetable and herb seedlings for Everybody's Whole Foods, the Farmer's Market, and anybody who calls me up and asks for them. I’m also the founder of the Fairfield Gardener's Coalition, a group of nearly 800 local gardeners who support each other, and I enjoy coordinating compost deliveries to help people build fertility in their soil.

I have a different full time job that I love, but I spend my free time on these projects because they're really important to me. I'm motivated by a few simple principles:

1.) Everybody needs to eat.
2.) Eating local food makes sense.
3.) Growing plants is an awesome thing for people to do - for both the body and the spirit.

I involved myself in the creation of an additional project this winter: The Fairfield Garden Initiative. This program is designed to help low-income residents of Fairfield - those struggling to feed themselves and their families - grow fresh produce successfully in their own back yards. A great deal of work was put into applying for grants to launch this program, and one was successfully awarded. I'll be growing thousands of plants for the initiative over the next two years, which will be offered for free to those in need, and the grant will eventually reimburse me for my costs on these plants.

However, a connected grant that we applied for - financing for a commercial greenhouse so I can grow all of these plants - did not get approved, as the grant committee concluded that assembling a greenhouse is a "construction project," and construction doesn't qualify for this assistance.

I’m now on contract to grow 6,000 additional plants over the next two growing seasons - not including the ones I sell at Everybody's and the Farmer's Market - with very limited space and resources. Every square inch I can muster is already used, as you can see below.

With the current price of steel, assembling a large commercial greenhouse with essential accessories and labor would cost over $50,000. Despite applying for multiple avenues of assistance, I haven't had any luck with help. (I did acquire a "caterpillar tunnel" recently, a small hoop house to display plants that are ready for pickup on the farm, but this doesn’t give me the space I need for a full operation.)

By some miracle, however, I was recently offered a gently used commercial greenhouse frame in perfect condition -  the exact size I need and the brand I wanted - for $3,000 plus $1,000 in delivery fees. The total cost to get it up and running, including heating, ventilation, grading the land, and the labor to build it, is only $16,000. This is way down from $50,000, but still outside of my ability to finance with cash, which is why I'm taking a leap of faith and asking for help.

Here's a photo of the frame, an absolute dream come true.

Here’s a breakdown of the costs for this project:

Greenhouse frame: $3,000
Delivery costs: $1,000
Skin (the plastic to cover the frame): $800

End walls and doors: $2,500

Greenhouse-safe heaters: $1,200
Two commercial ventilation fans: $1,000
Plant tables: $500
Irrigation kit: $600
Shade cloth: $600

Grading the land: $1,500
Weed barrier fabric for the ground: $300
Labor: $3,000

Total: $16,000

With this greenhouse in place, I'll be able to launch an official plant nursery in Fairfield, centered around growing organic food and herb starts for everyone in our community for many years to come. I'll also be able to grow plants in the ground for seed saving - I believe a local seed bank is essential for long-term food security - and I'll get to grow some specialty crops for the farmer's market, too.

The revenue generated from the nursery will be used pay its employees, as I'm going to need to hire a few people to help me out. The more hands on deck, the merrier!

This greenhouse will make my dreams come true and also save me tons of time, as I'll no longer have to drive around town watering the plants being fostered in other people's high tunnels throughout the growing season. It's not that I won't keep doing that if I have to, but my work will become so much easier, productive, energizing, rewarding, expandable, and all around POSSIBLE if I have a real greenhouse.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Help me feed Fairfield. :)

With love,

Tiffany April Raines