Not sure if this classifies as diy, but I've gone to the post office before and bought 100 1 cent stamps, so for 1 dollar i covered my laptop in stamps.
Some kind of herb or spice plant would be nice indoors, maybe a rosemarry plant or tyme plant. Something that won't take up too much room and easy to take care of, as well resourceful for cooking meals.
Been wanting to have an indoor plant for some time now. Do you have a recommendation? Preferrably one that does not require lots of maintainance and produce lots of oxygen
You are not saving much unless you grow a whole lot of tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, okra and squash, stuff you can make a lot of meals with. Only then you start saving money. On the other hand, peppers and garlic are great to grow but that won't save you much money because you can buy peppers and garlic for dirt cheap wholesale at any local farmers market. It really depends on the type of food you focus on growing.
What's the cost of the produce. Like considering all the input cost to the greenhouse do you save anything compared to grocery stores?
A small garden and one greenhouse is more like a DIY hobby. It's not nearly enough to become fully self-sufficient. If you wish to live off the land you need hundreds of plants growing on several acres, some livestock on the property and probably be able to hunt and fish too. Although it can be done, most people today are too domesticated and out-of-shape for that kind of hard labor.
That's very true
Overall it is good, you get sunlight and exercise. However there can be days you really don't feel up to it but you have to go out and do it anyway or else you risk your plants withering up and dying. So it can get very redundant. As far as avoiding some chemicals in food, true, but I still have to go grocery shopping. It's not like I have a massive farm to feed myself all year long. It just substitutes maybe 1/5th of what I normally have to buy each year. I can't eat all year long from 60 plants and I can't grow meat, butter, eggs or milk.
Although labor intensive I would think also destressing. I have always seen garden labor as mindfullness. In addition you get the benefits of free organic food that haven't been sprayed with industrial chemicals
Thing is, you have to be dedicated to the project or your plants will die. In the spring and fall you have to water most plants every other day. During the hot summer, every day. It takes me about 30 minutes to water every plant in my greenhouse. I have a sprinkler system set up for my garden thank God for that, otherwise that would be another 30 minutes of labor. Another thing I do is collect compost in a 50 gallon Brute trash barrel. Compost being leftover food, skin from fruit, egg shells, used lemon and lime wedges, unwanted ends of cut veggies, etc. The compost breaks down to fertile dirt as I collect rain water in it. It makes a smelly muddy mixture which is great for fertilizing the plants. Mixing a cup of it with the water I give to the plants helps them thrive.
sounds Idyllic, always wanted a greenhouse
I love my greenhouse and garden every year. A lot of work to keep up on it but it gives me peace of mind, and food I can cook and eat. I also love to cook, I have a shelf in the kitchen I built and installed that has around 40 cookbooks. Many from the old time chefs of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s eras.