Oh, hi there!
First of all, hello and welcome!
I am thrilled to be starting my blogging journey with all of you! My name is Carolynne and I am the one behind The Hillside Market. I am from a small rural town in Northern Alberta where I live on an acreage with my husband and three young daughters. I would describe myself as a woman who is entrepreneurial and driven but also free-spirited and spontaneous. I love my people with all I’ve got and I always have my eye on the prize.
I pretty much obsess over two things at all times and they are music and my business. But enough about me, let’s get back to why we’re here. You’re here to find out just how my little backyard greenhouse leads to the birth of The Hillside Market.
And just like that, a business was born
After the greenhouse and the raised garden were built I was so excited with seeing my vision come to life so I started sharing some photos online in some home decor and plant groups that I follow. Well, the feedback I received from those photos was INSANE.
I had hundreds of messages and comments from people asking me questions about how we built the greenhouse. At that point, my gears started turning and ultimately I decided to build a DIY guide that would walk people through the process of how to build a greenhouse just like mine. This took some effort and I had to teach myself how to use various online software in order to design digital mock-ups of the building process to be used in my guides.
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My first set of plans that I posted was literally created using Word but they started selling and they started selling fast. My Etsy shop and Pinterest account blew up and the positive reviews and photos of newly built greenhouses started rolling in and it was honestly just the craziest most amazing thing! It still feels absolutely incredible and I am SO grateful for this business.
It is thanks to the overwhelmingly positive feedback and the support of my many customers that I was able to expand and start designing and building more greenhouses. Winter of 2020 we added the 2’x4′ Mini Greenhouse, in the summer of 2021 we then added the 10’x15′ Shed Greenhouse, and come spring of 2022 we will be adding another backyard greenhouse to our roster (Stay tuned!!).
Where do we go from here
This business has been an absolute blessing and I am determined to grow The Hillside Market into something more. I have been taking classes through a college in my province on greenhouse production, landscape design, greenhouse structures and growing environments.
I have also been taking various gardening and seed starting webinars. I have started getting involved in my local greenhouse growers community and have chatted with many mentors in the industry. I am currently exploring multiple different avenues to branch off into but I haven’t quite decided which direction I will be heading from here.
I would love it if you would come along for the ride and come follow me while I build another greenhouse and as I start experimenting with indoor seeds starting and growing cut flowers! I have huge aspirations and many goals in mind for The Hillside Market. I can’t wait to see where this road is going to lead me.
I really do hope you decide to tag along and in the spirit of entrepreneurship I am going to leave you with some wise words from my dad, don’t let anyone tell you your dreams are stupid.
Bye for now!