We could have planned it better, but the need for a greenhouse of our own has become pressing, so we decided to build one in our “spare” time. Ideally, it would have been best to wait until the end of the summer when everything is planted and we only have a few weeks of basket deliveries left. Putting it off until then is not an option, though, as the greenhouse we are sharing with a friend and fellow organic farmer is bursting at the seams. After shopping around a bit, we decided to build our own wooden structure, like they used to in the good ol’ days. For seasonal producers such as ourselves, whose intense use of a greenhouse is limited to three months out of twelve, a wooden structure works just fine. The only requirements to start our seedlings are a sheltered spot with good light exposure. That being said, most “sensible” people today buy metal structures and raise a greenhouse in a day. But we wanted something a little more rustic – there is something undeniably more appealing to working in a wooden greenhouse than a metal one, particularly in mid-March. The structure is almost finished – the only thing missing is the polyethylene tarp. We are still debating whether to heat the greenhouse with propane gas or diesel (unfortunately, neither geothermal nor solar energy are commercially feasible solutions for greenhouses in Quebec yet) – a debate that will be practically settled as a function of the best furnace deal we can find…