The Beginning
Our little acre started as a 20x30 garden.
We sifted through layers and layers of rocks (otherwise known as “Bitterroot Potatoes”) to get there.
We planted bush beans, strawberries, peas, and potatoes. Actually, the best potatoes we’ve had to date were from the first year of that garden.
It was really successful for the first couple of years, but after a while, we started to feel like we weren’t doing anything but weeding.
The first actual enclosed growing space was just a 10x10 little metal frame that Paul picked up for $10.
He brought it home and it was a little awkward because it was wrapped in painter’s plastic.
My first question was
“What am I going to do with a greenhouse?”
But within no time it was full!
The first year we had a few flowers and a few different petunias.
And then I realized I could keep my own seeds…
By the second or third year, we had extended the greenhouse by 3-4 feet.
We’d realized it wasn’t enough, BUT buying a greenhouse is expensive.
So we got this crazy idea…
We went a few streets down to Rocky Mountain Garage Doors.
They had just installed new garage doors, so they brought the old ones out and put them in a pile. Some of them still had the glass in them for the windows.
We saw the potential, so we brought them home.
They sat for about a year before we were ready to start construction, but they ended up making great walls for the new greenhouse!
The windows came from the local restore. They are actually out of a mobile home, and they are great because they are large panes of glass in aluminum frames. So they don’t hold onto any water and they allow lots of light into the greenhouse!
The floor is made of the bricks we used from the original 10x10 framed greenhouse.
But true to form, those bricks had a life long before they came to The Acre as well.
They actually came from our neighbor who was remodeling the front of his house. The kids all helped us knock cement off the bricks and we laid them down for the floor of the small greenhouse, then transferred them to the new, larger building.
After all these years, they’re still there!
The wonderful thing is that there’s an abundance of resources all around!
We both like to go around and look at things and ask
“What can we see this becoming?”
This greenhouse has been built from pieces of our wonderful community through the years, and now we are so excited to be able to give back!
