From previously 3-4 months growing season RIDS-Nepal could extend the growing season up to 10 months per year with the greenhouse. Additional clear plastic (with 75 L/H₂O each) and black HDP pipe (with 5 L/H₂O each) "water sausages" are installed to capture additional solar energy during the day and to radiate the stored energy during the night. Only locally made pesticide is used beside practicing mixed plant cultures.

Each of the plastic "water sausages" contains 75 liter water and lies on a black "plastic sleeve" filled with pin needles which are locally available and create a good insulation to the ground soil. In this way the stored energy is radiated mainly in horizontal and vertical upwards direction, enabling small plants to have a more comfortable climate to grow during the cold seasons. The smaller black HDP "water sausages" can easily be moved around and thus are particularly good to support the growth of young plants and shoots.

In order to understand in detail what kind of the different climate can be created inside the greenhouse through the various construction methods, use of building materials and equipment, a detailed data measurement and data logging system with Hobo data loggers is installed in the HASO greenhouse. Thus inside the greenhouse the air temperatures and humidity is measured at 4 different heights, while outside the greenhouse one ambient temperature and humidity measurement is sufficient. Beside that, soil temperatures at different depths inside and outside the greenhouse are measured and recorded as can be seen more clearly in the following pictures.

Inside as well as outside the greenhouse, each 4 temperature sensors are installed to measure and record the various soil temperatures of the ground top soil, at 200 mm depth, at 600 mm depth and at 2000 mm depth. Once the recorded data is downloaded from the Hobos, detailed, 10 minutes temperature graphs are created for each day of the year. That provides new inside on how the soil temperatures vary inside the greenhouse over the course of the year compared with the outside climatic conditions.

To know the detailed temperature and humidity values inside the greenhouse over the course of the year enables to define what kind of micro climate can be achieved inside the greenhouse with the various design approaches. This will allow the creation of a new annual agricultural calendar, increasing the availability and quality of the food grown. This is a crucial part of sustainable development aiming to improve the permanent food shortages under which the Humla communities are suffering. The greenhouse project is a vivid part of RIDS-Nepal's running Nutrition Programme which aims to increase the availability of nutritious food for mal nourished children and mothers according to the month of the year and the daily tasks and energy spent of the mothers.

Suitable plants growing in the same greenhouse bed, rotational crop planting and the use of only locally made pesticide provide good protection for the growing seedlings and plants.

In the RIDS-Nepal greenhouse seeds are grown, so that the plants will hopefully in the future be more resistive and used to the local climate, compared to the imported low altitude seeds from the cities.

While the research greenhouse at RIDS-Nepal  HASO has adjustable windows and air drafts, the greenhouses thus far implemented in the villages where RIDS-Nepal is working and implementing HCD projects are much simpler. The village based greenhouses are similar. They use the local stones and wood beams, but the UV stabilized plastic is used only during the cold winter months from October to March. The rest of the year the greenhouse is uncovered and used more as a kitchen garden.

In partnership with the local people the RIDS-Nepal staff build the local greenhouse as one part of the "Family of 4 PLUS" HCD project approach. In some villages several families have joined to build one greenhouse together while in other villages individual people have taken the initiative to partner with RIDS-Nepal and built a greenhouse for their own use and business. The aim is that one day all the families in a village will be able to benefit from the increased availability of nutritious food for themselves as well as for a potential new income generation opportunity.

RIDS-Nepal HASO, Humla. It has become more than clear that the greenhouse has to be an integrated part of the long-term Holistic Community Development (HCD) approach we aim to develop as part of our central vision, work and life in Humla. That's why we have not only all the components of the "Family of 4", the Pit Latrine, the Smokeless Metal Stove, Indoor Lighting and Clean Drinking Water, implemented and in use in our office, but as well the greenhouse, the solar drier to dry some of the products of the greenhouse, the solar water heater for hot showers and the slow sand water filter, as they all have proven to be important parts of a long-term HCD project. They have to be implemented and used alongside each other in order not only to bring forth synergetic benefits from the various applied technologies, but in order to enjoy more long-term and sustainable development in the villages. Thus the initially "Family of 4" concept, which is RIDS-Nepal's basis of any HCD project has been extended to the "Family of 4 PLUS" concept, including either one or more of the above identified technologies alongside the "Family of 4" according to the local communities' own identified needs.