It was a recent chilly Wyoming spring day with the wind whipping outside, but inside Lynn Lampe’s greenhouse in northeast Cody, you wouldn’t know it, as the temperature was a balmy 85 degrees.
“It's just wonderful being in this greenhouse when it's so nasty and the wind's blowing Mach 3 outside,” she said. “You can't even tell because you're down in the ground. It aerodynamically suits itself very well to the wind issues we have here in Wyoming. It’s very calming.”
Lampe has always enjoyed gardening but Wyoming’s short season of about 115 days means several fruits and vegetables were a no-go. To extend the season Lampe wanted a new greenhouse, but not your run of the mill variety. She and her husband Karl decided on geothermal.
A geothermal greenhouse uses the earth's temperature, typically warmer than the air, to regulate greenhouse temperatures, providing year-round growing conditions. This is achieved through systems that circulate air to heat or cool the greenhouse space, depending on the time of year.
To bring their vision to life, the Lampes reached out to Mike Poulsen of Alpine Botanica, a local company that specializes in geothermal greenhouses.
“He had a really good mind for heating and ventilation systems, so we put our heads together and we worked to develop something that works a little bit more efficiently,” Poulsen said. “We completely revitalized the air exchange.”
Creating A Greener Future
Poulsen founded Alpine Botanica in 2022.
“I think the passion really started at a young age, working in my grandpa's garden,” he said. “And then I studied environmental science and really enjoyed that, but I never thought it would turn into a business.”
Raised on his family ranch in Cody, Poulsen learned the importance of hunting and gardening for food and developed skills in construction from his father, western artist M.C. Poulsen.
In college he bounced around through several majors before finally pursuing environmental science and construction management studies at the University of Utah and Utah Valley University. Poulsen worked on various green projects, including farm-to-table programs and sustainable building designs.
Following his studies he returned to Cody, working in construction and a few other jobs, including as an EMT, before combining his love of nature and eco-friendly living to create his company.
“We want to make [greenhouses] as approachable as possible to anyone that has interest,” he said. “We're really looking at empowering people to be self-sufficient, to be able to enjoy their passion of gardening.”
He said geothermal greenhouses continue to grow in popularity as people better understand the value. While setting up and maintaining a greenhouse requires initial investment and ongoing expenses (such as heating, ventilation and water), the potential financial benefits — both in terms of cost savings and income generation — can make it a worthwhile investment over time.
“It’s more expensive up front, but it pays itself off quickly because it’s functioning with zero other inputs to maintain the temperature range necessary,” Poulsen said. “It’s even better than solar panels in that you make your money back in a shorter amount of time.”
Along with extending the growing season, greenhouses can also reduce food costs and can provide additional income if surplus crops are sold locally.
Alpine Botanica has a variety of kits depending on a person’s needs, whether commercial or for a hobbyist. Poulsen is also looking at offering different off-grid designs in the future.
“We can pick what kit or framing to facilitate whatever their goals are,” he said. “Whether they're looking to grow citrus or anything tropical, or just looking to extend the season. There are less expensive options that aren’t as labor intensive.”
Poulsen also does travel consulting, doing site surveys and creating design plans for customers around the U.S. He recently returned from Texas, but said he spends most of his time consulting in Utah, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
“I love being able to sit back and experience the remarkable joy of clients as they go along on the journey to being more self-sufficient,” he said.
Lynn and Carl Lampe worked with Mike Poulsen of Alpine Botanica to build a geothermal greenhouse at their home in northeast Cody in the fall of 2023. The Lampes now grow fruits and vegetables year-round. (Courtesy Photo) 
Michael Poulsen founded Alpine Botanica in 2022 and specializes in designing and constructing geothermal greenhouses. (Courtesy Photo) 
Michael Poulsen founded Alpine Botanica in 2022 and specializes in designing and constructing geothermal greenhouses. (Courtesy Photo) 
Unlike other geothermal setups, Carl Lampe (pictured) designed an enclosed system under his greenhouse with the help of Mike Poulsen. The modifications allowed for better cooling in the summer months. (Courtesy Photo) 
Mike Poulsen has consulted on greenhouse builds around the U.S. including Texas, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. (Courtesy Photo)
Taking It To Another Level
The Lampes’ journey first took them to Nebraska to tour a greenhouse built by Greenhouse in the Snow, a company that specialized in geothermal greenhouses.
“We researched a lot of different greenhouses and found Greenhouse in the Snow,” she said. “We went to Nebraska and looked at it and decided, engineering-wise, it was the structure that we needed, but we knew we were going to take the geothermal to a different level.”
Lampe said at Greenhouse in the Snow, the tubing was used mainly for heating, not cooling, something she and her husband wanted to change.
“It's pretty difficult to cool a greenhouse because you've got your Lexan, or windows, and you get solar gain through there,” she said. “You need the sunshine, but in the summer, it gets way too hot.”
The Lampes’ 1,836-square-foot greenhouse, which was completed in the fall of 2023, uses a circulation system that filters in not only hot, but also cooler air from the ground and is self-controlled automatically. It has separate distribution systems for hot and cold air, which flow out small adjustable tubes. Dampers control which way the air flows.
“I can plant on the ground, on the floor, I can plant in the beds, it just provides such a wonderful environment that the plants are just growing gangbusters,” she said. “I have pollinators that come and go, and a lot of times when it's wintertime they just stay in here.”
During the coldest months, temperature in the greenhouse hovers around 45-50 degrees at the lower end. In the spring and summer temps stay around 85. It costs around 50 cents to $1 a day to operate.
“I grow year-round and my greenhouse temperature stays completely adequate to sustain the vegetation that I have in there,” Lampe said. “I think the coldest it ever got, and that was when we had 40 below for a few days, was like 39 degrees. Plants can tolerate that for a period of time. They don't necessarily like it, but they can tolerate it.”
Underneath the greenhouse are 10 tubes that are 100 feet long that are buried 10 feet below the ground. Those are covered with two feet of pea gravel. There are then 10 more 100-foot-long tubes buried eight feet deep. Those are covered in more pea gravel and then with dirt to make it level with the ground.
Often geothermal greenhouses have a box located about 50-100 feet from the greenhouse which allows the ambient air to come in. The Lampes’ is a closed system, with the air inside being recirculated.
“It goes through the tubes and down into the ground, 10 feet down and produces a climate battery (earth is used as "thermal battery" for storing excess heat generated by the structure),” she said. “We can dump some of the hot air outside if we want to, and we can draw cooler air into the greenhouse if we want to. Like at night when it cools down, if my greenhouse is getting too warm, I can pull cool air from outside into the greenhouse.”
Growing Gangbusters
Lampe said the sky's the limit when it comes to growing. She has several citrus trees like oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and pomegranate. There’s also olive, fig and peach trees.
The plants she grows change depending on what they'd like to eat. Recently that has included lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, tomatoes, strawberries and peas.
“I planted all my lettuce in January, and then I had to cut it all back in February because it just goes crazy because we have such great sun here,” she said. “It's amazing to me when I get spinach coming out of there with leaves that are a foot in diameter. They're huge for spinach.
“I start most of my stuff by direct sow seeds into my planting beds, it grows, and we eat everything. When it's done, I pull it and then amend the soil and start all over again. And I can do that any time of the year.”
And she can spend as much or a little time there as she wants.
“You can make it pretty self-sustaining,” she said. “We have all of our trees on a computerized watering system. We have my beds on a timed watering system. So I don't really have to do anything other than pluck the fruit or pull the vegetables. But I go in there because it's such a wonderful place to be and you’ve got to keep an eye on bugs, humidity and all the things that all gardeners have to do.”
Lynn Lampe has a variety of flowers in her greenhouse as well. (Courtesy Photo) 
There are a handful of fruit trees in the greenhouse including limes, lemons and grapefruit. (Courtesy Photo) 
The Lampe's grow various vegetables including artichokes, swiss chard, lettuce and tomatoes. (Courtesy Photo) 
The Lampe's grow various vegetables including artichokes, swiss chard, lettuce and tomatoes. (Courtesy Photo) 
There are a handful of fruit trees in the greenhouse including limes, lemons and grapefruit. (Courtesy Photo) 
Strawberries were starting to ripen in early April in the Lampe's greenhouse. (Courtesy Photo) 
ynn and Carl Lampe worked with Mike Poulsen of Alpine Botanica to build a geothermal greenhouse at their home in northeast Cody in the fall of 2023. The Lampes now grow fruits and vegetables year-round, along with a variety of flowers. (Courtesy Photo)
Focus On Our ROOTS
As part of his passion for sustainability, Poulsen also runs the non-profit ROOTS, with the goal of building community through sustainable agriculture and green spaces development.
“I think my biggest interest is empowering communities and developing food resiliency,” Poulsen said. “I think that's the biggest motivator for me.”
ROOTS has a strong emphasis on education. Poulsen hopes to offer a variety of classes such as Master Gardening, food preservation, plant varieties and different soil conditions. Currently a series of workshops on greenhouse building and design are in the planning stages. The workshops will allow interested community members to learn how the process works.
“We're also looking at doing a kind of a community garden aspect and get to a point of offering edible estates – being able to turn lawns into something as simple as raised garden beds,” he said. “If we learned anything from COVID, we realized that we don't have the strongest food distribution. So it's a way to weather the storm more comfortably than other places.”
ROOTS is working on providing a community compost system to reduce food waste as well.
“We're really excited about the compost program,” he said. “There's so many other places around the globe that have really awesome systems. Salt Lake City has a fantastic waste reduction system. I think it’s important for the community to become educated and understand the importance of good, whole, natural soil, and the benefit for everybody.”
