Editor’s Note: Good morning. Thinking local food today is all about date night. Get on the horn to grandma or the babysitter and plan for a great evening of local food at Bisque, Anderton Bistro-Pub, The Great Escape (I am so in the mood for Indian food) or Locals-Food From the Heart of the Island and be sure to take your passport with you to get a stamp AND cast a vote for the Yummy Awards.

We’ll be back here on site later today sharing our first local dining experience of the challenge (oh, it was amazing). Oh, a night out all in the name of food.

Speaking of food with a name, we had an awesome response to yesterday’s post on favourite local finds. The winner of Elizabeth Levinson’s An Edible Journey is Trish. Nice work everybody! Today’s giveaway is below as gardening goddess Kendra Quince leads us on a tour of her new family greenhouse:

My daughter pulls up in her Little Tykes car and steps into the wooden frame of our new greenhouse. Rainy (her doll) needs to buy some food, so she selects a few wooden pieces from the basket, and then I get paid in clover flowers that she has collected at “work.”

We are playing farmer’s market, and already I love our new greenhouse.

Sometimes when I look out the back window I daydream about making it into a little playhouse, but after losing tomatoes to blight two years in a row, and having frost end my gardening season earlier than I intended, I remind myself that it needs to be what it is. Our first greenhouse.

When eating local is all the rage, the greenhouse is great for many reasons, including that you can grow things that otherwise may not make it! Like melons and peppers that thrive in the heat.

Every year I plant peppers with a hopeful spirit, and watch through the season as giant peppers fill out and lengthen and hang from the plants. And then the rain starts, and I am lucky if I can get a yellow splash on the skin. The green peppers are O.K., but I long for the sweet succulence of a homegrown red.

Another unique plant in the greenhouse is the melon. I have grown cantaloupe before, and nothing compares to the flavor and color that bursts forth when you slice open a garden cantaloupe. But melons can be tricky in a climate that is fickle, often with not quite enough heat or sun. The greenhouse amplifies both! And while trying to focus on eating what’s available in our yard, it is really nice to have the option to grow some exotic and typically “far away” foods too.

And yes, I’ll admit to getting my plants in a little late at times, but a greenhouse magically extends your growing season. Now you still have time to grow your plants, and to harvest them too! Great news for busy folks who have the best of intentions each Spring, then low and behold it is Summer and part of your garden is still unplanted.

Ah, greenhouses.

This idea came to us on a blustery day when our seedlings were wilting by the heat of the fire, still not strong enough to stand the weather outside. (Also, we lost a few to children’s excited uprooting explorations). In May we spent an afternoon creating it – men outside hammering away, women cooking up a feast, and cousins running circles in the yard.

Over the next few days we chose a paint to keep the wood from rotting, and then we covered the entire structure in UV protected plastic. While glass would have been my preference, I was worried about so much of it and flying toys.

Also, it was more expensive and needed more planning, but if you have the means, and the courage, then glass is the way to go.

Next we decided to put white wire shelves in (the kind you use in the “build your own closet”). I will admit I was against this at first.

Sure, they were strong wire, which would not rot, and being covered with white they would not rust.

Sure they were a wide open rack so all the leaves, dirt and water could fall through and easily be cleaned up.

They did seem to be perfect as far as function went, but white shelves? In a greenhouse? Call me crazy but I thought we should do rustic wood or muted grey.

Turns out the white looks awesome with the avocado green we ended up choosing for paint! (Really, it’s called avocado!!) Slegg Lumber custom cut the shelves to fit our greenhouse to, so they were super easy to pop in. And now I love my shelves

Anyway…

Now that the greenhouse is finished, the real fun of choosing what to grow in it has begun.

We have been transplanting little seedlings out of our garden and into pots – mostly tomatoes that pop up in random places. We also found a few cute plants from the farmers market (even the seeds are local!!) for our collection.

Aside from tomatoes, which are a must, we’re also growing goose berries, eggplants, peppers, cantaloupe, ground cherries, and herbs. I’m even using the greenhouse to start some of the seedlings I lost earlier – trickier ones like artichokes, lavender, and watermelon.

It is so exciting to admire the new growth and flowers in the greenhouse. Everyday the kids and I go in to check the plants, making sure they have enough water and leaving the door open if it is too hot. It seems to be a popular hide out because yesterday I found a whole family of playmobile hanging around on the greenhouse ledge.

And when friends come over to play it becomes a hot spot for bartering over the cost of wooden bananas vs. strawberries.

Seems our greenhouse is destined to be a playhouse as well, but I do look forward to the day that real food comes out of our little house.

Then we can join the dolls and eat a picnic of homegrown goodness, but for now it seems I’m the only one who notices that the food is a little hard

Today’s giveaway is a set of Preserve storage containers made our 100% recycled #5 plastic. These gems are double great in my book because the tops twist on, making a solid, kid-friendly seal.

So, the question is what would you LOVE to eat local that you have trouble finding local. Would a greenhouse be the solution?

This giveaway is closed. Catherine won. Way to go!