Capturing Rain From One of Our Sheds

Capturing Rain From One of Our Sheds
These copper rain gutters are beautiful and help harvest rainwater!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Little glass houses for you and me....

and that is exactly what we have built! Our first greenhouse is 90% complete and I couldn't be happier with how it has worked out. We managed to get all four walls built, transported by trailer and stood in place in just 12 hours! The 12 hours was a lot of learning curve as we needed to make calculations and documentation that will not be necessary for future structures. The roof is on and the door is hung, all that remains is to fill in the open spaces with plywood, install the roof fan and paint. Speaking of the fan, we found a "green" fan that is completely powered by a solar panel mounted on top of the fan! This fits perfectly with our goal to be as environmentally friendly as possible. The plan is to complete the greenhouse except for painting by next weekend!

My sister wants to leave the windows their current color of pale pink and paint or stain the wood around them. The greenhouse is 9'x10' and predominantly glass. Needless to say my sister is absolutely thrilled with her greenhouse and can't wait to get her potting table and shelving in place! She has installed a sink at the back of the greenhouse on the outside of it in order to leave as much growing space as possible on the inside. My greenhouse also has a sink which is a great addition in that it is so much easier to rinse the harvested vegetables before you bring them in the house. Also, it allows me to wash out my pots before I re plant in them to make sure fungus's from prior plantings are killed.

I continue to cultivate business connections to obtain materials. The amount of waste in the construction industry is immense. I will strive to do my part to utilize as much of this waste in order to re-purpose it into something beautiful AND useful!!

We are continuing to discover new uses for our recycled structures. A friend of mine wants to enclose her deck so that she may use it as a studio to paint in. Another friend wants a glass house around his hot tub that would incorporate some privacy glass windows and regular windows. These are two great uses that have been brought to me that I am really excited about! As I mentioned before, A Place to Grow has many meanings as we all continue to grow each and every day in many ways....

Yours in growth,

Dana O'Brien