I can't not plant stuff!

If you spend even a few minutes with me, you will quickly find out that I have an addiction....an addiction to growing things. You see, I love plants! I have them all over my house. I have them all over my yard. I even have them in my classroom. And I especially love plants that double as food for my family!

But, baby it's cold outside! And most of the plants that I enjoy growing for food cannot

grow in these colder, winter temperatures. So, what's a girl to do?

My solution to this problem is two-fold.

1) I installed a small greenhouse just off of my back patio.

I was perplexed at first because some of my tropical plants that I moved in there to protect them seemed to be doing well. But, none of my seeds were germinating. Not a single one! I was a little frustrated.

I started meditating and thinking about a reason for this and that's when I had an epiphany. Seeds need warmer soils to germinate and sprout...whereas my established plants could tolerate cooler temps. My solution was actually a simple one....put a small heater in the greenhouse! It worked like a charm and now I have tomatoes, peppers and a variety of flowers and herbs that have begun to grow in there. We had snow flurries here 2 days ago, but my plants are doing just fine!

2) I installed a hydroponics system in my kitchen bay

window.

For those who don't know what hydroponics is... it is basically growing plants without soil. You use water and a nutrient solution to feed your plants. It's much cleaner and easier to harvest. It also allows you to grow in a small space, like a kitchen window.

Hydroponics is a new experience for me so I'm still learning a lot about how to grow using a system like this. I will share a video on our youtube channel later this month and explain more about how I set this up and any obstacles I had to overcome.

I'm excited to learn how to do this, though because this is a potential option for those living in an apartment or renting a room that might allow you to move towards food security without having space to plant an actual garden. If this works for me, I'll be able to grow 180 plants in that relatively tiny space.

The more I'm able to learn, the more I can help each of you in your journey. Here's to growing together!

Dayna Lopez