I know this is an old post, but just in case someone comes across it later I'd like to add my 2 cents. Currently not many pl do hydro gardening- at least not for vegetables. I think you could make it profitable- but remember growing is only half the equation selling it is the other half. It doesn't matter if you 10 tons of tomatoes but no one buys them, so before you even begin make sure you have a market for it. Now getting back to hydro vs soil. Doing hydro indoors I doubt would be profitable bc you have to pay for the electricity, but if you do it outside the sunlight is free and your only cost is the nutrients, and initial set up cost (trays, pumps, reservoirs, "plumbing", ect). the cost of nutrients will be your main cost vs soil, but many farmers use a lot of fertilizers in their soil, so the price bt fertilizers and nutrients may be comparable. I personally grew vegetables, herbs, strawberries, peppers, carrots, ect on a 4X8 table outside with min care and had good results. At the same time I grew a soil garden with the same care and had ok results. Hydro took a little more time bc I was always mixing nutrients, adjusting the ph, cleaning the table/reservoir, but it was manageable, were as with soil I just turned the hose on to the sprinkler. Both soil and hydro will require some type of pesticide, so no cost saving there. All in all I think some of the biggest reasons pl aren't growing hydro commercially is 1) farmers don't know how- why learn a new way when the old tried n true method is still working. 2) hydro is mainly associated with growing weed- thus has a negative connection with it. Most pl just think it is good for illegal activity so they don't learn it. 3) It does take a little more time/effort and is less forgiving than soil, but easier to fix/make corrections too than soil- your always checking ph/tds, drip lines get clogged, keeping the trays/tables clean, ect. The biggest advantage of hydro that I found was speed of growth. Compared to soil my hydro garden blew it away- it was like a donkey racing a sports car. However, when it came time for "fruits" I didn't see much diff. Soil and hydro produce relatively the same amt. Hydro may have done a little better as the plants were much bigger, but to be honest I didn't see the huge difference I was looking for. It could be the min care I gave them or using a "generic"/standard nutrient formula with a target ph of 5.8. I was growing several types of plants on the same table just to see what would work, so maybe if I worked with just 1 plant and tailored the ph/nutrientss for that specific plant rather than a avg/broad approach they may have produced more. As far as taste goes I didn't notice much diff. I will say (maybe it was just in my head) that I thought the hydro tastes juicer, I got compliments on taste from both hydro and soil. Maybe next time I'll do a blind taste test. Anyway if you have the market for it hydro can make money I think, but it will have to be outside with free sunlight, and lots of space- squash & zucchini did amazing before V.S.B. killed them but they did take up a ton of space, strawberries grew great but I couldn't get them to taste good (thinking it had to do with ph or nutrient strength) if you tuned it in right I think strawberries could make money, and of course tomatoes- the problem with them is they grow so big that every storm or hard wind would knock the over and brake branches- I'd recommend setting up a trellis if you do tomatoes. Any way to end this post I absolutely believe hydro is profitable if you know what your doing, do it outside, AND have a market to sell it- plants rot after picking them, so it's not like you can grow them and then sit on them till they sell like you could with the illegal stuff.

Megan, Congrats on the little sprouts! My first pepper sprout was a "Biker Billy" jalapeno, and he beat every other pepper plant by two days. With a name like Biker Billy, you expect to be "first", I guess. I grow hundreds more tomato plants than I need to grow as well, but never have any trouble giving away the extras. Some of them go to friends in her our neighborhood and others go to work so Tim can share them with his coworkers, but many of them make the trek to OKC in April for the Spring Fling. I had potted up most of the tomatoes from my first round of seedstarting and those are the ones basking out in the sun today. Yesterday I potted up the rest from that round, and today I started seeds for the second round. It always freaks out people who stop by the house for one reason or another in the early spring and see hundreds of cups of seedlings lined up on the patio, on tables, on the sunporch, etc. It is fun to have extras so I can say "would you like some plants?" My poor little plants were shivering in the cold wind when the cold front came through at mid-morning but now that the front, the clouds and the heavy wind have passed, they're sunning themselves and enjoying a beautiful afternoon. Now, if only the soil temps and air temps will hurry up and get to the right level so we can plant them in the ground! Dawn

Jenn, I am completely sold on both stationery bike and outside bike riding. I do spinning (in a club--I don't own a stationery bike) three times per week for aerobic exercise and have reaped numerous health benefits from it. I also ride outdoors, weather permitting, to get moderate exercise (around the neighborhood) or endurance work (long distance rides). So my recommendation to you is to get both! As to what kind of bike to recommend, there are many factors that come to play. I suggest you go to two or three sports/bike shops in your area, check out their stock, and have a salesperson fit you to the bike. Explain what your needs are and note different types of bikes (racing, touring, etc) so you have a sense of the different weights, tire width, handlebar configurations, etc. You can get very few gears but if you are serious about cycling, especially indoors, you'll build up strength and endurance quickly and may very well want to try a longer-distance ride, a trail, a hill, etc--and then you will want gears. It does take a bit of learning, but not a great deal. Newer bikes are much easier to shift than older versions. Anyway, by the time you visit several shops and compare, you'll probably have a very good sense of what to purchase.

I did some climbing years ago, mostly indoors. Based on that I would say avoid the chalk and instead get him chalkless chalk. Many place both indoors and out prohibit the use of chalk because of the marks and the mess it leaves. I forget the brand of chalkless chalk I used. Climbing shoes IMHO would be a tougher thing to buy without him being present than a harness. Harnesses are fairly adjustable, so getting close in size would be sufficient. With climbing shoes though, they have to fit or they are useless. The half-joking rule-of-thumb I remember for selecting the correct climbing shoe was try on progressively smaller size shoes until you are sure that the ones you are trying on are too small and too tight, and then buy a pair two full sizes smaller than that.