Hello! My handle is Plain 2 Grow Jim, but my real name is Jim Flavin. No, not the guy in Ireland who owns about half of the mother country. Just plain Jim who grows stuff “magically” out of water and microscopic stuff that you can't see.
I am rushing headlong into my sixth decade hiking around on this ball of dirt. Either the path has started to ramp uphill, or the gravity has increased, because I have become slower, more cautious, and less likely to skip breakfast to rush willingly into a long and stressful work day!
I am married with children. My lovely wife supports (tolerates) my crazy hydroponic ideas and experiments. I believe I have convinced her that I am saving the world and in the process I might eventually be making a living from this. Or she's just laughing behind my back. Whatever. It's my hobby, my avocation, my passion. I don't drink (hardly), I don't smoke, and I don't play golf. I'm not a big sports fan ( mostly motorcycle and auto racing), and I'm quickly approaching that special age, over "60."
I spent my formative years in Japan and California. I have lived all over the USA and I have visited several other countries. I served in the military. I was born in the South and I choose to be a Southerner. The American South has IT ALL. If you aren't a Southerner, then it is just a geographic location -south- and a lower case “s.”
I have a plethora of college education; I just never finished. I paid off my student loans and decided that the “college of life” was my better bet.
I owned a successful business with my deceased first wife. We received three patents in the textile arts. When she passed, I tried half-heartedly to run the business (she was the genius, I was the “gopher”), refusing sound advice from everyone. Splat! Face first. In the dirt. Hard. I went back to work, and I've been working ever since.
I hope that my efforts in hydroponics may teach others to grow stuff “magically,” and for me to possibly make a living from it as I approach retirement. I am going to turn you all (or y'all, here in the South) into rabid Plain 2 Grow fans and successful growers! I aim to entertain you and teach you, and to sell you goodies! And by the way, it's science and God's creation, not magic, that makes this all possible.
Why did I start growing hydroponic fruits and vegetables? A few years ago my garden plot was deviously infiltrated by furry horned creatures of the night. Yes, DEER! Actually, one of the deer tore into my electric fence and ran off in a panic, likely decorated with the fence. Her buddies thanked her for the sudden gift and chowed down throughout the night. Once the deer were satiated, then the armadillos, rabbits, wild dogs, and birds tidied everything up.
I woke up to a gorgeous, sunny day, ready to pick beans and tomatoes, and instead I saw a plot laid to waste and a bit of stubble here and there. I cried. Then my son Aidan and I began designing a PVC pipe greenhouse and started talking about container gardening and hydroponics. I built. I tinkered. I grew stuff. I killed stuff. I grew stuff again. I was told by some “experts” that my ideas wouldn't work. I guess I'm the bumblebee that didn't know that it couldn't fly! That is how Plain 2 Grow Jim and Plain 2 Grow Systems got started.
My mission is to continue to create “real-world,” easy-to-build and inexpensive hydroponic systems that anyone can build so they can grow great fruits and vegetables. My goals to support my mission are: Make it simple. Make it inexpensive. Use “low-level” technology as much as possible so people who don't have the resources that I do can grow food. Use as much recyclable, recycled and resuable parts as possible in the designs. Provide a blog and forum for the discussion of gardening, hydroponics, microfarming, sustainability, the environment, and food production.
Promote the idea that the various elemental salts-based nutrient solutions (I currently use General Hydroponics) are safe, effective, inexpensive and are USDA-approved; they are made from natural nutrient elemental salts found in the ocean and all life. I will also equally promote any well-known, proven and safe organic nutrient solutions, commercial and home-grown. I will market useful and quality-made general gardening and hydroponics tools, products, and books. I will provide useful information and try to make it entertaining, funny, and understandable. I will use You Tube, the www.plain2growsystems.com website, FaceBook, Twitter and Google Plus to make all of this happen. Let's Grow!
I am rushing headlong into my sixth decade hiking around on this ball of dirt. Either the path has started to ramp uphill, or the gravity has increased, because I have become slower, more cautious, and less likely to skip breakfast to rush willingly into a long and stressful work day!
I am married with children. My lovely wife supports (tolerates) my crazy hydroponic ideas and experiments. I believe I have convinced her that I am saving the world and in the process I might eventually be making a living from this. Or she's just laughing behind my back. Whatever. It's my hobby, my avocation, my passion. I don't drink (hardly), I don't smoke, and I don't play golf. I'm not a big sports fan ( mostly motorcycle and auto racing), and I'm quickly approaching that special age, over "60."
I spent my formative years in Japan and California. I have lived all over the USA and I have visited several other countries. I served in the military. I was born in the South and I choose to be a Southerner. The American South has IT ALL. If you aren't a Southerner, then it is just a geographic location -south- and a lower case “s.”
I have a plethora of college education; I just never finished. I paid off my student loans and decided that the “college of life” was my better bet.
I owned a successful business with my deceased first wife. We received three patents in the textile arts. When she passed, I tried half-heartedly to run the business (she was the genius, I was the “gopher”), refusing sound advice from everyone. Splat! Face first. In the dirt. Hard. I went back to work, and I've been working ever since.
I hope that my efforts in hydroponics may teach others to grow stuff “magically,” and for me to possibly make a living from it as I approach retirement. I am going to turn you all (or y'all, here in the South) into rabid Plain 2 Grow fans and successful growers! I aim to entertain you and teach you, and to sell you goodies! And by the way, it's science and God's creation, not magic, that makes this all possible.
Why did I start growing hydroponic fruits and vegetables? A few years ago my garden plot was deviously infiltrated by furry horned creatures of the night. Yes, DEER! Actually, one of the deer tore into my electric fence and ran off in a panic, likely decorated with the fence. Her buddies thanked her for the sudden gift and chowed down throughout the night. Once the deer were satiated, then the armadillos, rabbits, wild dogs, and birds tidied everything up.
I woke up to a gorgeous, sunny day, ready to pick beans and tomatoes, and instead I saw a plot laid to waste and a bit of stubble here and there. I cried. Then my son Aidan and I began designing a PVC pipe greenhouse and started talking about container gardening and hydroponics. I built. I tinkered. I grew stuff. I killed stuff. I grew stuff again. I was told by some “experts” that my ideas wouldn't work. I guess I'm the bumblebee that didn't know that it couldn't fly! That is how Plain 2 Grow Jim and Plain 2 Grow Systems got started.
My mission is to continue to create “real-world,” easy-to-build and inexpensive hydroponic systems that anyone can build so they can grow great fruits and vegetables. My goals to support my mission are: Make it simple. Make it inexpensive. Use “low-level” technology as much as possible so people who don't have the resources that I do can grow food. Use as much recyclable, recycled and resuable parts as possible in the designs. Provide a blog and forum for the discussion of gardening, hydroponics, microfarming, sustainability, the environment, and food production.
Promote the idea that the various elemental salts-based nutrient solutions (I currently use General Hydroponics) are safe, effective, inexpensive and are USDA-approved; they are made from natural nutrient elemental salts found in the ocean and all life. I will also equally promote any well-known, proven and safe organic nutrient solutions, commercial and home-grown. I will market useful and quality-made general gardening and hydroponics tools, products, and books. I will provide useful information and try to make it entertaining, funny, and understandable. I will use You Tube, the www.plain2growsystems.com website, FaceBook, Twitter and Google Plus to make all of this happen. Let's Grow!
