@quinneaker broke down the important aspects of building a greenhouse in his article (with video): Greenhouses Are One of The Most Important Aspects To a 365 Day a Year Grow Operation. This Article Explains How They Work, Why They Are Important and What Kind You Will Need.

With his guidance, we constructed a temporary winter shelter for our plants! We factored in these important aspects to consider in building a greenhouse:

1. Materials
2. Light
3. Heat 
4. Watering 
5. Location

MATERIALS

@everlove is the strongest one at the GOE - she's more capable than males half her age!

We received a donation of straw bales, so we used them to build the walls of our greenhouse! We stacked them 3 high in the back and one high in the front to make a nice easy slope for resting our glass doors at an angle. We will cover the structure with tarps for extra warmth. 

The back wall started to buckle after a rain, so we added a second row of straw bales for structural support.

Everyone lent a hand to get the task done!

LIGHT

We use repurposed glass doors to allow plenty of light to reach our plants. 

HEAT

Straw bales provide a cozy nest for our plants. While the glass doors amplify the sun's heat, we also covered the straw bales with a black tarp to maximize passive solar energy. We will cover the structure with a layer of clear tarps when it gets colder, and have additional opaque tarps to pull over the whole thing to tuck the plants in on especially cold nights. Here in Texas, it may drop below freezing in the day time, but we generally have to open the structure during the day to cool it down some so our plants don't fry.

WATERING

We designed an opening in one end of the greenhouse to allow Eden Knight entry for water. Additionally, because #1 we will have to open it to release heat on warm Texas days and #2 we made a relatively short design, we have the capability of watering from outside the structure as well.

LOCATION

We choose a nice spot at the back of our property to construct our greenhouse. It faces the south to capture the most heat and light from the winter sun.

Then we filled the structure with our sweet herbs, tomatoes, and young trees!

We found a cool bug shell.

Then we celebrated the protection of our potted plants with a nice lunch!

@quinneaker's Greenhouse Consciousness video:

Cost of materials = $0

We hope you are inspired to create your own sustainable solutions for food production!

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