It’s been ONE YEAR, friends! That’s right. One year ago, this January, we put the finishing touches on our hoop house (greenhouse) and began the growing process. I think some people hear the word greenhouse and they have preconceived ideas of what that should look like. Rows of tables with an intricate watering system, all neat, tidy, and in order. Of course, that would be a dream, but we are not trying to be a commercial greenhouse. We are a simple, homeschooling family trying to live off the land, one step at a time, while providing plants and other resources for the community. I am amazed with how much was accomplished in year one—with limited finances, too. Through God-ordained connections, we met someone who had an endless supply of greenhouse pots that we could have. We have enough to last for years piled outside. Another connection bartered with my husband providing more than enough wood chips to cover the ground of the greenhouse before we began putting things in the ground and in pots. It’s the old adage, “If you build it, they will come.” That always seems to ring true for our homestead. If someone hears that one of my kids happens to be raising rabbits, suddenly someone who knows someone else knows someone with dozens of rabbits, cages, and feed that they want to get rid of cheap or for free. True story. As soon as the greenhouse went up, people were giving my husband goodies for him to grow because they tried growing them, and they were simply done. Case in point, this beautiful lemon tree.
My husband received this shortly after we put up the hoop house last year, and now look at it thriving! Someone else gifted him several banana trees. Some are still in barrels. I will post the others that are in the ground in another post. My husband learned how to grow banana circles while we were serving in Mexico a few years ago, and this method has been proving to be beneficial in the small space that we have.
Growing tomatoes in January has been incredible. We don’t have as many as in the summer, but this is proving to be an incredible winter harvest. I will share soon how we keep our greenhouse warm. We are to the point where we can keep it 10–15 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. We haven’t reached below 20 degrees yet this season, so we haven’t had the hoop house go under 32 degrees yet. It is in the forecast though, so we are working hard to further insulate.
