One of the most valuable inclusions you can make for your home is a greenhouse. If you are someone who likes to be self-reliant, then there is no better way to live your life than with a greenhouse. Regardless of whether it is big or small, it can greatly help in meeting a lot of your goals and needs. You can choose between extending your gardening season and growing plants all year round. In addition, a greenhouse can also provide shelter and food for livestock and poultry.

Many think that greenhouses can be built only in areas with specific weather conditions. Well, while most of us still just imagine about how would it be to live in one, a family in Stockholm, Sweden have made it a reality. The place where this greenhouse in built is considered to be apt for summer homes because there has to be a powerful heating system in homes in order for people to stay there during winter. However, this particular family has built a greenhouse around their summer house, which has made it possible for them to live there all year round comfortably.

Using their greenhouse, they have been able to save enough solar energy to help them remain warm during winter, with no additional insulation. The family has also used their greenhouse to grow some beautiful and useful plants, such as tomatoes, cucumber, and figs, which have made them self-reliant. To grow plants that otherwise cannot be grown in a place like Stockholm due to extreme temperature changes is possible only with the help of a greenhouse.

Obviously, these aren’t the only benefits you get to enjoy from greenhouse living. This family serves as an inspiration to many of us thinking about constructing a greenhouse but hesitating for some reason.

To inspire you more, here are a few more benefits you should know about:

• You can never deny the many economic benefits you could get from a greenhouse. Greenhouses are usually built with durable materials that last for longer durations and eliminate the costs of regular maintenance and replacement. Also, these houses consume less energy, thus leading to reduced energy bills.

• The next viable advantage is the quality of indoor air. Green generally means low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in all the construction products used, including paints, finishes, sealants, etc. This means that there will be no smell and the chances for respiratory illness are very low. Greenhouses also bring in fresher air indoors, which means that the very air you breathe is completely fresh and clean, thus preventing a lot of different health issues, which in turn helps you save on medical costs.

• Greenhouses have positive influence on the environment you live in. You tend to rely less on fossil fuels and other such resources and start using clean and renewable energy sources.

What more?! The greenhouse we discussed about earlier also has its own rain water harvest system and a sewage system like no other. This makes them even more self-sufficient.

Now if this has inspired you to take your first step in building a greenhouse, there are different types you should take into consideration: attached, cold, hot, warm and solar are to name a few. Based on your budget, a greenhouse can be built expensively or cheaply, the only difference would be that the many facilities you get to add would vary. You can choose to make it in glass or plastic, give it an adorable transparent look, or have it serve a simple practical purpose. Whatever may be your choice, always remember, a greenhouse is an excellent investment you would ever make in your life, and possibly, something that you could proudly pass on to your children.