First off, this is a photo I acquired from the Internet. If this is your greenhouse, I appreciate the idea and craftsmanship put into it, my wife....not so much.

In 2011, we purchased a home out in the country. We had a small garden that year, but I always dreamed of my own greenhouse. The previous owner was a gardening freak and in the backyard, we found a concrete slab where the old greenhouse stood.

This is a story of my greenhouse build. From start to finish, was roughly two years in spurts.

Step 1: Designing

Working from a vision, and my internet photo, I designed a two story, greenhouse monster. I spent many hours on the interweb and at the computer terminal. I designed it off the photo and in the style of a monitor barn from the old farms.

Step 2: Start Collecting

I envisioned a timber framed structure infilled with windows. One problem, windows aren't cheap. I started scouring the city for those old school windows. One problem, they aren't cheap either, or plentiful.

My search brought me to an old friend's place where his dad had a stockpile of these things! Oddly enough, he had acquired them from an old defunct sawmill in the area years before.

Window....check.

Next on the list, 6x6 timbers. these were not as easy as the windows. I picked up a few longer timbers from...you guessed it, an old greenhouse. I was nowhere near having enough though. What to do?

Step 3: Sawmill Build

Yes, you guessed it. I embarked on my first sawmill build. I've seen tons of them on the interweb. How hard can it be to build my own? Very hard, that's how hard. I spent the next winter at my buddies' machine shop, cutting and welding up a frame I could call my own. I had fun doing it and learned a lot about sawmills in the process.

Step 4: Find Wood

Started hauling logs one by one to the house, that got long in a hurry. My brother the prospector, tells me about the promised cedar land he found while out one day. A quick ride out with the truck and trailer, and he wasn't b*******ting. Eight loads later, we had her almost cleaned out. After a month of cutting, it was time to get at her.

Step 5: Actual Build

With the help of the wife and a few neighbors, she went up pretty quick. Three days and I had a structure. Then the window infills, and finally the tin that I scored for nothing from a local tin supplier. They were all mismatched colors, so I flipped them over and they were all the same tin color on the other side.

Then came the painting and sealing and getting everything set up for the following years crops.

I enjoyed the heck outta myself building this things and would do it in a.....glad I only need one greenhouse, lol. I still have to glass in the end, picked up some glass blocks for it last fall. I just tarped ends in for now.

Thanks for looking!!