Outside, the temperature hovers around 20 slushy, snowy degrees. But inside the greenhouse at Scott Richard’s home in Cody, it is a roasty, toasty sunny afternoon.

There, Richard and Elijah Cobb — a friend, volunteer, photographer and consultant for Shoshone River Farms — are gently coaxing seeds into life, even though the outdoor growing season is still months away.

Cobb shows off trays of sprouts, which one day in the not-too-distant future will go into the large hoop houses on the 3-acre farm. These are baby shoots of echinacea, celery and lavender, much of which will be harvested for inclusion in CSA boxes. CSA — community supported agriculture — is a marketing model where the members pay a set fee each week or month and receive a box of goods in exchange. The CSA started in 2009 and now offers members produce 26 weeks a year in an area that only has about 100 frost-free days a year.

Cobb continues his tutorial while Richard takes a telephone call.

“Scott [Richard] has worked out an amazing way of constructing [the hoop houses] with a double layer of plastic sheeting,” Cobb said. “It allows for insulation and it stands up to the wind.”

The greenhouses and hoop houses, also known as high tunnels, are what makes the business continue to grow. The difference is that greenhouses have a heat source while hoop houses do not, although they might  temporarily utilize portable heat sources if the weather becomes too cold.

There are several facets to the work, including the CSA, farmers’ markets, a food hub and plant sales. Planning is a huge part of the undertaking at the farm, Cobb points out.

“Lavender takes a helluva long time,” he says. There are tomato seedlings nearby which, with the herbs, are part of the intended early harvest.

“That’s the whole point of all this: an early crop,” Cobb said. “We can make it work if we have no sudden crop failures.”

Richard said the venture used to rely heavily on a traditional May plant sale, where customers arrived at the farm and selected their plants from the available stock — first come, first served. As in most other businesses, that was changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the plant sales went to order only, although there were some extra plants to purchase at pickup.

The same will be true this year as well, Richard said. “And there might not be any of the variety you want, so it is best to pre-order.”

Under the pre-order system, each customer entered a request online at www.shoshoneriverfarm.com detailing what type of plants, how many and which variety they preferred. The pre-order sale ended March 7, and featured flowering plants, vegetables and herbs. Plant orders are ready for pickup on May 22 at the farm.

Pre-ordering helps the farm know how much of what to grow, in addition to its crops for farmers’ markets, food hub and CSA. The food hub was recently started, Richard said, and is headquartered in Billings. It allows producers who don’t grow large enough quantities of a certain crop — say, spinach — to join forces with other growers. Together, the food hub can offer large amounts of that spinach to area restaurants, schools or grocers, utilizing another marketing tool single growers cannot access.

However, Richard’s biggest crop is soil.

“Scott builds soil. Good healthy soil,” said Cobb. “His first crop is compost.” 

The farm Richard bought between Ralston and Cody did not have the dark, nutrient-rich soil his crops need. So he determined to amend it to suit. He piles “brown” elements like leaves, wood chips, hay, straw and lawn clippings and mixes it with “green” elements like manure and urea, a compound often used in commercial fertilizer.

In the proper proportions, the two groups produce heat and break themselves down into a substance that, when mixed in the existing soil, makes it richer and more productive. Richard has produced more than 1,000 yards of compost in three years. 

“The stack is 20 feet long and about 10 feet deep,” Cobb said. “And it is consistently at 140 degrees.”

“It was up to 160 degrees last week,” Richard adds. 

That enriched soil is under the hoop houses where the sprouts are planted to reach maturity. Even in the indoor environment, early planting can be sketchy.

“Spinach can tolerate cooler weather,” Richard said. “On sunny days the soil heats up and they will be OK. But we use frost covers in cold weather. At [minus 15 degrees], things start dying.”

The tomatoes go in with covers over them and the heat is regulated to about 50 degrees. It is later upped to 65 degrees, with the hope the plants will produce by late June or early July. Peppers are similar in temperature and time requirements. 

Each high tunnel costs about $100 a month to heat; the produce that comes out must bring in $3-4 per square foot to make the endeavor pencil out.

Richard wants to keep his business growing, but not simply because it is good for him.

“Growing these vegetables for local consumption needs to grow so people learn, yes, they can get produce grown locally,” he said.