Our farming season usually starts out gently, with some pleasant sowing of seeds in flats in the greenhouse. But this year we started off with a bang.
It was a literal bang, a bang so loud we winced and ducked our heads. Soon enough there was another enormous bang, and we farmers looked nervously at each other. Our propane heater had a few things to say, and they were mighty loud.
The heater has been with us since our very first year of farming, 25 years ago. It has chugged along, heating the greenhouse from March to May, allowing us to start our own seeds and have sturdy early transplants. It's been lightly to moderately banging for a number of years, and we've had various repair people look it over. It keeps banging and working.
This year, however, the banging was so forceful that it repeatedly blew out the pilot light, which was not conducive to steady heat in the greenhouse.
At first we thought it was the thermostat, and my fellow fiddled around to get the right temperature: set it at 35 and the heater gave us about 75 degrees. We ordered a new thermostat and had a few blissful hours with it until the pilot light went out again after another bang.
We gave in and called a repair person. He shook his head. He said the heater was shot. He said the banging was from rust catching in the manifold. Then the built-up force of the gas would shoot the rust out and extinguish the pilot light. He also said he wouldn't even try to start the heater.
The next day we called a different repair person. He said, “Who put this sticker on it?”
“What sticker?” said my fellow.
“The one that says condemned.”
That person wouldn't try to start it either.
Part of the issue was that we were applying for a grant to replace the heater and the grant wouldn't come through until June. So we really wanted the heater to last for one more season. No, said the heater. No, said the repair people.
My fellow moved a little electric space heater into the greenhouse. We researched supplemental heat sources. We brought our twenty flats of valiant seedlings in and out of our living room morning and evening so they wouldn't freeze overnight but would still get sunlight during the day.
We did mountains of research, from propane to pellet to electric stoves and back again. We talked to the grant person to see if there was any leeway. Maybe, she said, but you have to install a certain type of heater.
We got quotes from hither and yon. The first one was more than half of our bank account balance. The second, including the heater that would have satisfied the grant requirements, was three-quarters of our bank balance. The partial grant wouldn't cover enough of the cost.
We were nearing desperation when my fellow thought to call a friend who has been doing heating and cooling work for thirty plus years. Our friend said, “I'll be there tomorrow.”
He and my fellow went to Griffin Greenhouse in Massachusetts and bought the new version of our old heater (only a quarter of our bank balance!). Then they spent nine hours taking out the old heater and installing the new one. They hooked it up. They tried three times to start it, with no luck.
It was dark by then in the greenhouse. “Maybe we should read the manual a little more?” said our friend, getting out his flashlight. Turns out there was an on/off switch.
Now we've got heat! We can catch up on our sowing. We can work in the greenhouse without wincing and ducking our heads. But the funniest thing? That very first night my fellow could hardly sleep, worrying whether the heater was working. There wasn't a single bang.
Originally published in the Monadnock Shopper News, April 1 - April 7, 2026