No place like dome, says MP

Dome greenhouses designed in Wairarapa should be ``sprouting up all over New Zealand'', Green MP Sue Kedgley said at the official opening of  Domegrown on Sunday.
Mimimiki couple Gavin and Michelle McArthur finished their first dome earlier this year and
 have set up in business  to sell to others.
After cutting the green ribbon, Ms Kedgley said New Zealanders needed to ``be getting used to growing our own food and growing it locally''.
Tomato growers, for example, could use the technology instead of burning coal or gas, which would require the purchase of carbon credits.
Ms Kedgley, a safe food campaigner, was so taken with the domes she said she would recommend to councillors in Wellington they construct some as a civic project.
Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell also attended the launch, saying the domes were important not just for Wairarapa but for the wider issue of growing food in a
sustainable way.
The geodesic domes can be 5.6m or 8m in diameter.  They retail in kitset form for $6595  or $11,195, excluding GST and the necessary concrete foundation.
Ms McArthur said the soil temperatures averaged 14-16C right through winter and yesteron Sunday it was a balmy 20C  inside the dome, which she said was ``cold''
compared to the 35C or more  achieved in the past.
Inside the dome, the  20 or so guests could see two 2m-high banana plants, lettuces, radishes and more.
Besides trapping and concentrating sunshine, the domes also have a ``heat bank'' system. This involves an insulated reflective southern wall, which heats black
barrels of water during the day, to release the heat and maintain soil temperature at night.
Ms McArthur has just been appointed general manager at Aberdeen Steakhouse and bar, and is now supplying the restaurant with domegrown organic and spray-free vege
tables.
Wairarapa man David Parr of ``ethical finance'' company Prometheus said it was great to have been able to help Domegrown get started. He said the company supported projects that worked ``for the betterment of humankind''.