Winter Wonderland, well…kind of.

Hope in Hoops

We started with what felt like big dreams and bare bones—just a set of curved greenhouse rings standing in the grass, full of promise. No plastic yet, no flowers planted, just the quiet buzz of summer heat and the vision of blooms to come. It might not have looked like much, but to us, it was everything: a symbol of what could be. We laid out beds, prepped the soil, and planted with care—knowing full well we were starting late, but determined to start anyway.

Wrapped in Plastic – Wrapped in Possibility

Once the plastic finally went on, it felt real. We had a greenhouse! A place to protect tender seedlings from the unpredictable elements (or so we thought). The space filled with the smell of damp soil and baby plants, the hum of heaters, and our hopes for a late but beautiful first season. It wasn’t perfect—we’d missed prime growing months and fought the wind constantly—but it was ours, and it was growing.

A Twist in the Plastic (Literally)

Of course, nature had its own ideas. What began with excitement ended in a crash—quite literally. After one windstorm blew our first greenhouse halfway across the field, we rebuilt with better supports, more determination, and a portable heater. Things seemed stable until I got that video from my son: the greenhouse roof had buckled in. The flowers, resilient as ever, were still standing, but the structure above them had given up. That’s when we took a breath, laughed (because what else can you do?), and decided to pause the greenhouse plan… for now.