“I finally found a hobby that pays for itself. More than that, I hope it helps other people out,” Cindy Helmink said, referring to the greenhouse at her rural Hemingford home — now empty as nearby gardens grow.
This spring I came out to meet an SUV idling in front of the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center expecting a load of boxes or bags to carry. Instead, Helmink had stopped by looking for items to reuse that people routinely recycle. She hoped to gather hundreds of plastic containers to serve as pots for bedding plants. I showed her the assortment on hand that day, gathering a few in a bag to take. Over the weeks we have continued to collect yogurt, sour cream, fountain drink and other containers around a pint to quart capacity. Disposable plastic pots from store-bought plants also fit the bill.
Reusing plastic destined for a KAB bale reflects the environmentally conscious (and thrifty) spirit of the greenhouse, built over the past two years by her husband Mike on the south side of the family’s farmhouse. After growing up near Aurora in southeast Nebraska, Helmink has been gardening for the past 20 years and started looking to add a greenhouse about a decade ago. A bumper crop of tomatoes in early spring 2020 became the catalyst. All of her tomato seeds germinated — 350 seedlings, too many for the house. So the first half of the current structure took shape that March. Old fence boards, used sliding glass doors and windows people were throwing away as well as sheets of tin from an old barn served as building materials. Helmink said a few hundred dollars went to buy “some poly for the roof and green treat lumber to hold the panels in.” This season her husband added a recycled barrel and solar-powered pump watering system. Black barrels filled with water help retain warmth and reduce propane heating costs.
For the first year, Helmink made her own plant cups out of old woven-plastic feed sacks and seed totes. The finished products worked well although the process became too time consuming as she expanded the nursery this spring. While still using some of the fabric cups she began to supplement containers her household would have recycled and those from KAB.
Finding herself with 300 more tomato seedlings than would fit in the garden prompted Helmink to sell plants for the first time. Also, people “panicked because our tomato lady in town left,” she said. Everything sold in two hours.
For 2021, Helmink grew a dozen varieties of tomatoes along with cucumbers, garlic, onions (from seed), melons, pumpkins, squash and others. Her inventory expanded nearly four times with 900 plants sold in Hemingford and the remaining 250 from home. In addition to Hemingford and Alliance, customers came from throughout the Panhandle. “A lot of people, especially in town, say they prefer to buy local. I appreciate that support,” she said.
Helmink emphasized that tomatoes are still the most important crop because they take so much longer to grow. Next year she plans to grow trays of corn, green beans and carrots. Herbs and flowers are also on the list for the February to July greenhouse season.
Helmink saved some money from this year to fund costs in 2022. However, as she works to make the fledgling business more profitable do not expect a traditional pot instead of a yogurt container. “I just want it to be sustainable and less wasteful,” she said. “Gardening is about providing less expensive food for your family. . . . I just love growing things! . . . It’s peaceful, it’s a good feeling, I like it.”