About

Russ Finch has become well known over the years for his geothermal Greenhouse In The Snow which he constructed in Alliance Nebraska with the assistance and support of his wife, Darlene. Over the past 30 years, through much trial-and-error, they have improved it's efficiency in growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers year around.

Although their first geothermal greenhouse was constructed in 1992, Russ and Darlene designed and built a geo-air home in 1979, after reading about 'low-grade' geothermal heating in the early 70's, while Russ was working for the US Postal Service.  In 1980 they added the atrium to their geo-house which encouraged them to later build the geothermal greenhouse, some years later, in 1992.

In 1972, a young Agriculture consultant named Barry Naef, published a news bulletin called, "Grow In The Snow" which was widely distributed throughout the northeast and midwestern Ag bureaus and greenhouse trade. The bulletin was targeted to alert the agriculture industry, nurserymen's associations, and greenhouse trade, to this very useful 'free energy' which Naef called 'earth heat'.

The 'earth heat' news bulletin from 1972 was the inspiration for many agriculture, permaculture, and free-energy enthusiasts in the 1970's and '80's as the concept slowly began to grow throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and a couple of countries in South America.

Although many thousands read Naef's report on 'earth heat' in the early 1970's, Russ Finch was one of the very first to get brave enough and build a home, atrium, and workshop using this 'Grow In The Snow' concept initiated by Barry Naef. Russ was certainly a pioneer...

This website, "Citrus In The Snow" is dedicated specifically to Russ Finch, who quietly has tested this free 'geo-air' technology using the low-grade geothermal heat 8 feet below, to grow and document dozens of varieties of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, at a time when others were doubtful of Naef's free earth-heat and geo-solar concepts for commercial use.

The Citrus In The Snow publication began in 2009 when Barry Naef asked Russ to allow him to publish the notes he and Darlene had made for many years since 1979, which also included many photos by Darlene Finch, year-by-year.

Citrus In The Snow, of course highlights some of the more popular conversations about Russ, especially his dedicated experimentation with Citrus crops; various types of oranges, limes, and grapefruit.

Almost like a diary, Citrus In The Snow offers important insight on the progress and testing year-after-year, from 1979 to the present in 2023, including his most recent greenhouse collapse in late December 2022--how it happened, why it happened, and what should be done with every greenhouse design to prevent these sad events. Greenhouses and grow-rooms do not need to collapse.