It’s a big plastic igloo on the side of the road, but there are multiple Wyomingites flooding out of it with fresh fruits and vegetables. Even more puzzling is that a little ways down the road there is a crowd of people with PVC pipes and plastic for no apparent reason. That’s the start of yet another hoop house with the purpose of extending the fresh crop business in order to bring produce to those who may be going hungry during Wyoming winters.
Hoop houses are essentially cheaper green houses that produce year round fruit and vegetables for the people of Wyoming and the nation. Typically they are 12 feet long and 6 ½ feet high, and they are built on flat, rich land where produce can easily grow. The PVC pipes form the structure of the hoop house and the plastic covers the top of it to insulate the designated area. The PVC pipes are extra thick for the purpose of holding together in the windy western climate, and the same goes for the strong plastic that is wrapped around these pipes. A filter and heating component are also added to the structure to help regulate the growth of produce.
One of these new hoop houses is at the Kids Kastle Daycare and the other at the First Christian Church Community Garden both of which are in Wheaton, Wyoming. This was done through the UW Extensions Program and the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center. The latter program, SAREC, is another University of Wyoming program that began its work in 2006 with the goals of researching the enterprise, serving the state, and being efficient.
Each house took only 11 hours to put together through the span of July 16 through July 19; typically they take closer to forty-eight hours to put together.
The individual hands that held the pipes in place and kept the plastic from flying away were UW Extension Specialist Jeff Edwards, the Challenge Academy Cadets Bravo Class 37, Ted Craig from the Wyoming Department of Agriculture Specialty Crops Program, and horticulturist Leroy Jons with the Platte County Extension Program.
“This is a fabulous opportunity to teach children where food comes from,” said Mary Evans in a press release. “ Students will have the chance to grow, harvest and try vegetables they may not otherwise see in their daily lives.”
Evans is a Centsible Nutrition Program assistant in Platte County, which is housed within the UW Extensions Program. This is a U.S Department of Agriculture program funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Education Program where UW students can have free classes on healthy food and cooking choices, budgeting groceries, and more.
This is only a start of the rise of hoop houses here in Wyoming. More are scheduled to come in the future in order to constantly help feed Wyomingites.
