How to Build an Earth-Sheltered Greenhouse

Reader Contribution by Susanna Raeven
Published on December 6, 2013
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Susanna Raeven

Follow these step-by-step instructions to build an earth-sheltered greenhouse that uses passive solar gain.

I had a dream once. I am standing in a vast green summer field looking down into the earth. The ground is a large glass roof in the shape of a cross. I can see tropical plants and seedlings flourish in the warm, light-flooded space beneath. There is a sacredness to the space that is breathtaking. I woke up and remembered both the beauty and impossibility of the vivid dream. Plants growing happily underneath the earth? Can’t be.

I met my farmer friend Verena a few weeks later, and my dream came up during a conversation. She said, “Yeah, it’s called an earth-bermed greenhouse. You can build such a thing and it’s been done before.” Really? Well then, I thought, let’s make a dream come true.

It took me a while to find the person who was willing to embark on the adventure with me. My friend Jesse, a natural builder who is always on the lookout for new territories to explore, gave in to the calling.

What was supposed to take a couple of months at the most turned into a year-long journey. Jesse ended up not only building a practical and functioning earth-sheltered greenhouse, but a piece of green architecture that feels and looks like the sacred space I dreamed about three years earlier.

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