WOODSTOCK — Christy Feeney is in her second year of growing vegetables in her free, high-tunnel hothouse paid for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center in South Paris.

Feeney knows several other locals who have landed the growing shelters either for their business or for personal use.

After she applied in 2022, an inspector came to make sure there was adequate space for the 30- by 100-foot structure. She said she was required to fill out many forms, provide tax records and maps. The process took about a year. The hothouse cost $11,000, which was paid up front and was reimbursed fairly quickly.

At the front and back of the hothouse is a wood facade that her husband, Patrick, a contractor, built, milling the lumber in his sawmill. While he doesn’t garden, if it involves a tractor or a hammer he is out there to help, she said.

District conservationist Jade Gianforte of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and her staff award the high tunnels to applicants. She said it is just one of the programs they offer through the agency, but it’s a popular one since many people qualify.

“People come into the office and apply.” she said. “Your project gets ranked against other people applying for high tunnels in the county … we fund as many projects as we can until the money runs out.

“If you are already providing food to the community, that can help increase your chances of funding,” she said.

The hothouses go over existing cropland and they are not greenhouses, she stressed. “The purpose of them is to extend the growing season.”

Some of the challenges for growers are how to effectively water crops and how to prevent mildew. A future workshop will address those concerns.

“In a month or so it will be a jungle,” said Feeney, who has photos from last summer when her cucumbers grew vertically and her yellow watermelon grew in circles around her table. “I couldn’t even sit down,” she said.

A 50-degree Maine day contrasts with a balmy 70 degrees within Feeney’s hothouse, where she is wearing a short-sleeve shirt while picking spinach. On a recent April day the temperature soared to 110 degrees inside. For that reason, she is up early to plant and harvest. Passersby offer friendly hellos, their cars beeping in acknowledgment of Feeney’s silhouette framed within the structure.

The hothouse allows her to extend her season and do succession planting and quickly rotate crops, too, eliminating excess. She said that last June her mother-in-law stopped by to say her beets had sprouted. Feeney replied,  “I have been harvesting beets for three weeks.”

She sells her produce at Bethel’s Good Food Store and at her popular Route 232 Woodstock farmstand called Christy’s Crops, closed now but opening in late May. Friends and neighbors buy what she harvests now.

Asked what vegetables she grows, Feeney said, “Literally A-Z. Arugula to zucchini. I grow it all myself from seed.”

And what does she love about farming?

“I work by myself. I’m surrounded by fresh vegetables and bees,” she said. “The colors of everything, the smell. It enlivens the senses. It’s like heaven on earth, walking in that greenhouse.”

The deadline for applications is the end of August for the following spring. Applications are accepted at Natural Resources Conservation Service, 17 Olson Road, South Paris.

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