Greenhouse

NEWBURYPORT - An unmarked door in a nondescript industrial park building leads to a scene of surpassing strangeness. A plastic greenhouse has been assembled to fill much of the rented space, and inside this climate-controlled structure hang rows of pale, 4-foot-plus columns sprouting fungi. Alien pods prepping a new "Invasion of the Body Snatchers?" No. They are bags of organic wheat straw popping out gourmet oyster mushrooms to feed foodies from here to Boston and beyond.

The regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency is in Maine to get feedback on the Obama administration's proposed first-ever limits on greenhouse emissions from new power plants. Curt Spalding of the EPA is among the participants in a Maine Leaders Roundtable on Climate Change at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. Other participants include forestry and tourism business leaders, physicians, energy experts, elected officials and scientists. The Obama administration's proposal was unveiled in March.

VIENNA - It's outlived two world wars and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now Vienna's imperial "Sisi Palm" - a tree named for the late Empress Elisabeth - faces the ax. Officials said yesterday that the majestic 170-year-old Chinese fan palm must be chopped down before it breaks through the glass ceiling of Europe's largest greenhouse. The palm has more than doubled in height to 82 feet over the past 18 years alone, and is getting too tall for its enclosure in the iron-and-glass Palm House on the grounds of the Schoenbrunn Palace.

To mark the opening of its first greenhouse, the Wright-Locke Farm is holding a dedication and community open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the farm, 78 Ridge St. The four-season greenhouse is an important addition to the farm, giving a jump-start to spring seedlings and permitting vegetable production nearly year-round by extending the growing season well beyond the first frost. The 48-foot by 26-foot greenhouse accommodates both in-ground planting beds and seedling germination benches.

When I lived in Nutley, N.J., my father and I simulated a much needed greenhouse environment in the only really sunny window in our house - a large picture window right above our kitchen table. Dad built out the sill so that it measured a bit more than a foot wide, installed fluorescent light bulbs directly above it and placed all the seedlings we would need for the vegetable garden on the shelf until it was time to plant them in the prepared beds. Dad always dreamed of having a real greenhouse, but with six children, college educations looming, and a limited income, the windowsill greenhouse remained...

The regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency is in Maine to get feedback on the Obama administration's proposed first-ever limits on greenhouse emissions from new power plants. Curt Spalding of the EPA is among the participants in a Maine Leaders Roundtable on Climate Change at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. Other participants include forestry and tourism business leaders, physicians, energy experts, elected officials and scientists. The Obama administration's proposal was unveiled in March.

SAUGUS - One man died and several people were injured early yesterday when a tanker carrying thousands of gallons of gasoline rolled over through a median on Route 1 and exploded in a towering fireball. The driver of the tanker, Neal Michaud, 59, of Manchester, N.H., was trapped in the cab and died at the scene. He was driving a truck for PJ Murphy Transportation of Methuen about 2:15 a.m. when he lost control of the truck, which crashed and rolled across the guardrail and into the southbound lane of the divided highway, said David Procopio, a State Police spokesman.

WESTON, Vt. - Vanilla beans are the seed pods of an orchid. Widely used for food flavoring and cosmetics, the flat-leaved vanilla orchid (V. planifolia), grown in Mexico and Madagascar, yields the only industrial product derived from orchids, among the world's most popular plants. I learned this from Bob Aldrich, a former cardiologist turned innkeeper, as we toured his greenhouse. In the office of The Inn at Weston, run by Aldrich and his wife, Linda, a former cardiac rehabilitation nurse, there's a sign that reads "It's never too late to change what you...

To mark the opening of its first greenhouse, the Wright-Locke Farm is holding a dedication and community open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the farm, 78 Ridge St. The four-season greenhouse is an important addition to the farm, giving a jump-start to spring seedlings and permitting vegetable production nearly year-round by extending the growing season well beyond the first frost. The 48-foot by 26-foot greenhouse accommodates both in-ground planting beds and seedling germination benches.

Holly Hill Farm has two family events in the works. On Saturday from 1 to 2 p.m., "Stone Soup in the Greenhouse" will feature reading the classic children's story and making soup on a wood-burning stove in the farm's greenhouse. The event costs $5, or $3 for Friends of Holly Hill Farm members, and free for anyone who brings vegetables for the soup. On Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon, the farm will hold a workshop on making valentines and dream catchers. The craft program costs $30 per family, or $20 for Friends members.

When I lived in Nutley, N.J., my father and I simulated a much needed greenhouse environment in the only really sunny window in our house - a large picture window right above our kitchen table. Dad built out the sill so that it measured a bit more than a foot wide, installed fluorescent light bulbs directly above it and placed all the seedlings we would need for the vegetable garden on the shelf until it was time to plant them in the prepared beds. Dad always dreamed of having a real greenhouse, but with six children, college educations looming, and a limited income, the windowsill greenhouse remained...

Holly Hill Farm has two family events in the works. On Saturday from 1 to 2 p.m., "Stone Soup in the Greenhouse" will feature reading the classic children's story and making soup on a wood-burning stove in the farm's greenhouse. The event costs $5, or $3 for Friends of Holly Hill Farm members, and free for anyone who brings vegetables for the soup. On Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon, the farm will hold a workshop on making valentines and dream catchers. The craft program costs $30 per family, or $20 for Friends members.

WESTON, Vt. - Vanilla beans are the seed pods of an orchid. Widely used for food flavoring and cosmetics, the flat-leaved vanilla orchid (V. planifolia), grown in Mexico and Madagascar, yields the only industrial product derived from orchids, among the world's most popular plants. I learned this from Bob Aldrich, a former cardiologist turned innkeeper, as we toured his greenhouse. In the office of The Inn at Weston, run by Aldrich and his wife, Linda, a former cardiac rehabilitation nurse, there's a sign that reads "It's never too late to change what you want to be when you grow up. "...

The Huey family trying gluten free cookies from Mama Micki's at Kennedy's in Scituate. (Photo courtesy of Kennedy's Country Gardens.) By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Locals roam through the Kennedy's Country Gardens greenhouse among vendors and flowers, picking up everything from gluten-free cookies and breads to seaglass jewelry and drawings of botanical flowers. In the past, the Scituate garden center was open just twice a year for the Winter Fest and Spring Art Show.

WASHINGTON - Heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are building up so high, so fast, that some scientists think the world can no longer limit global warming to the level world leaders have agreed upon as safe. New figures from the UN weather agency yesterday showed that the three biggest greenhouse gases not only reached record levels last year but were increasing at an ever-faster rate, despite efforts by many countries to reduce emissions. With world leaders set to meet next week in South Africa to...

NEWBURYPORT - An unmarked door in a nondescript industrial park building leads to a scene of surpassing strangeness. A plastic greenhouse has been assembled to fill much of the rented space, and inside this climate-controlled structure hang rows of pale, 4-foot-plus columns sprouting fungi. Alien pods prepping a new "Invasion of the Body Snatchers?" No. They are bags of organic wheat straw popping out gourmet oyster mushrooms to feed foodies from here to Boston and beyond.

By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff Chef-owner Jeffrey Fournier of 51 Lincoln in Newton Highlands needed to be in the kitchen, but still wanted to hand-pick his produce. The solution? A rooftop garden. With some advice from his friends at Allandale Farm in Brookline, Fournier created a container garden using the 1,800 sq. ft available on his eatery's roof, and even MacGyvered a little pulley system to lower produce to his kitchen door. Growing produce steps away from the kitchen means peak freshness, savings, and no carbon footprint.

Q. I have to replace the rake boards at one end of my house, just under the roof. Also, on that end of the house, about 20 percent of the clapboards need replacing. I would also like to stain that wall, which has all kinds of peeling paint, with something that will last, and not peel. ROB FAHEY, Sagamore Beach A. I think a semitransparent stain job is your best bet. Only one coat every seven years, and no peeling. But it will take a lot of hard work to scrape and sand all that old paint off. Since you have to take off 20 percent of the clapboards, why not go whole hog...

Hingham High School students are making a final push to raise money for their long-delayed $100,000 greenhouse. This time they are willing to barter for it. According to a press release from Hingham High's principal, Paula Girouard-McCann, students are asking for donations, and in return have offered to plant bulbs. The "Bulb Squad," formed by members of the Student Council, will plant 10 bulbs for a $50 donation, 15 bulbs for $75, 25 bulbs for $100, 40 bulbs for $150, and 55 bulbs for a $200 donation to their project.