Goals for Food Sustainability Solutions:

We hope to achieve the below crop related goals with our unique solar pit-earth sheltered greenhouse designs and crop production methods:

Far higher yields in far less space;

Lower or no energy use, depending on locality;

More crop yield reliability due to protection from the weather;

Higher profit, less effort, less cost;

Sustainable self-sufficiency;

Higher yields from controlled environment;

Adaptability to environments. Grow crops nearly anywhere - from the tropics to the Himalayas;

Maintaining open lands, the health and natural conditions of land as much as possible;

Water conservation and protection from impurities. 

Better tasting food that's simultaneously higher in nutritional value. 

The ability to grow more profitable cash crops in environments where they normally can't grow.

You can produce more, more efficiently and easily on a few acres, than with hundreds of acres that are at the mercy of the weather and natural disasters.

We're experimenting with unique new environmentally friendly methods of food production that can feed third world families and increase profits of the small family farmer's businesses. We believe that continuing climatic irregularities, and- or the many other food depleting aspects of global changes, will seriously impact normal food production. Then their are the potential global, social and economical changes, that can ruin a farmer's business. It's already happening with cheap imports. While the Earth's resources are not unlimited, if they're used sustainably, they can be virtually unlimited.

Sustainable alternative food production increases the "yield to growing area" ratio. Even locales that were once useless for growing crops, can be changed into  hi-yield greenhouse production areas. 

It can also increase more dependable yields, and thus more dependable profitability for farmers.

For families or individuals, while traditional gardening can make for fresh from the garden occasional treats, our new methods can produce more food than they can eat, and have plenty to share. And in our shrinking open land areas, it can preserve it's beauty and usability for our children's children.

Along with creating a new model of a sustainable living and food production, we want to simultaneously create healthier living conditions for farmers and workers, and healthier food for consumers. 

We will show how well a balanced food production system that recreates the systems of nature that create and recycle life can do. One that is "man-assisted" , as opposed to a "man-made" or "nature dominated by man" systems can do. This system will also be protected from the current imbalances of nature created by mankind’s inharmonious approach. 

We need to go beyond recycling  just bottles, cans, etc., but transforming ALL waste it into an useable, beneficial assets, for the land, and healthy food and plant production. 

This needs to be done through sustainability. Earth-human friendly methods using only appropriate natural energy, such as that available from the Earth and Sun, and methods like the hydrogen power discussed elsewhere. 

Also, as demonstrated on some organic farms, it is natural to allow some of our crops to be food for nature's other "critters" to consume. Rather than us being so consumed by greed that we don't want ANY of our crops sacrificed to nature. All "critters" have some function in nature that eventually impacts humans too.

Finally, the biggy - education. So that others can learn from us and become teachers, who teach other teachers and farmers. Thus, it can have an effect like a computer virus that spreads itself through all computers connected to the internet. It should have an exponential "pass it on" effect (great movie by the way, if you haven't seen it).  

Means and appoach to Accomplishing Goal:

1. Using three, small parcel, solar/earthsheltered "pit" greenhouses with different environments for different crop production capabilities. Such greenhouses protect crops from the weather and temperature imbalances, and will be perfect models of sustainable food growing that can be used in virtually any environment, any adverse weather conditions, with or without power.
2. Acquiring more volunteers. We already have over 20 volunteers, and professionals who are assisting the project. 
3. Fundraising. Our federal and state non-profit status allows us to give tax deductions for professional services, financial or material contributions.
4. Recreating already successful ongoing aquaponics operations based on already profitable working farm models. Aquaponics produces crops using  hydroponics growing beds fertilized naturally by re-circulating water between crops and large fish tanks (this idea is actually a modern version of an ancient Chinese method of creating ponds that provide fish and plants, by using fish waste as natural fertilizer for the plants, and the plants cleaning up the water providing optimal conditions for the fish to live and thrive). 
   
   You can read about this in more detail under the "Methods" link. 
   
   While present systems use electricity, it is totally proven. The purpose of quickly duplicating a higher energy drain system than we will ultimately create, is that it is proven to work, and will get crops growing quickly to pay the monthly expenses of the project (if contributions don't support it sufficiently), allowing us to time with no pressure, to experiment with passive (non-electric) systems, and our other projects.
5. Use of cutting edge new and old appropriate building techniques for greenhouses, such as pumice-crete, straw-clay, ferro-cement, and earth-sheltered domes/arches. 
   
   Besides requiring alternative Greenhouse construction, they will also require earth-sheltering for thermal energy conservation and heat moderation (warmer in winter/cooler in summer).
6. Using passive solar, solar photo-voltaic, and solar hot water systems for all power, greenhouse heating, and hot water needs.

>> Next page, Tools and Methods to implement Sustainable growing goals>>