March 7, 2018 The first planting is done.

The greenhouse is finished and we have begun planting.  All and all, the thing went up almost exactly as I had thought it would. The only real change was adapting the thing to compensate for the slope of the land.

It was cool today, about forty nine degrees, but inside it was a steady sixty-five for nearly the whole day. When the sun did break through the inside temperature jumped to eighty degrees. Yesterday, prior to this morning's purchase of a thermometer, I assumed it to be over eighty inside the greenhouse for most of the day.

The temperature of the air inside the structure is not so important as is the consistency of the level of heat in the soil underneath. The higher high temperatures during the day store heat in the soil, convincing plants that it is growing season. The heat hangs around for quit a bit longer into the evening, keeping the interior of the greenhouse warm, and then never goes as low as the soil outside. So the plant grows better at the beginning of the growing season. For those plants which bear fruit late into the Fall fruiting continues a longer than do plants grown outside.  December tomatoes?

This is the north side of the greenhouse.
For the time being it will be used for storage.

The east side has a larger opening for cooling and moving things.

A view from the East side.
The tables are the work area.

I spent the day planting the first flight of plants. These were mostly tomatoes and peppers, but also nasturtiums, marigolds, and chives. There is a complete replanting of the cold frame every two weeks or so and the planting will continue all through the year once we get going.

This is my invention. A sprouting table with a heating system.

Even on a cold day, this frame stays a comfy seventy-seven degrees.
The babies are safe and warm, even on the coldest days.
Under the trays is a coil of tube which circulates
warm water and keep the ambient temperature constant.

March 3, 2018 The First Greenhouse.

The first green house is nearing completion, though probably not where it will ultimately be placed since the Garden it sits in is not in the right place either. Eventually the market garden and greenhouse will both be moved to their planned places, but this might take a year or two.

This was an ambitious project for a number of reasons. The first reason being that I had never built a greenhouse prior to this, or seen one built for that matter. The second reason was that any greenhouse of this size would likely cost around three thousand dollars, mine cost less than six hundred. If you take these two points and add my propensity and ability to build these things from my head without written plans it is a wonder that the thing got built at all.

It may be that the entire idea was poor, but as of today the thing seems solid as a rock and large as a cathedral. Now if only it handles high winds and snow, all will be well.

The ladder at the center of the picture, at the bottom, is six feet long.
This might give you a human scale to view the image.
The thing is sixteen feet wide, thirty feet long, and twelve feet tall at the center.

February 21, 2018 A Necessary Update.

We have been very busy since the last real update. We're nearly ready to make our move to Camp Creekside in a near permanent way.

Since I last wrote and entry we have:

• Nearly finished a 16 x 30 foot greenhouse in the market garden site.
• I built a custom heated sprouting chamber so that I can accelerate germination.
• We ordered, bought, or received mysteriously, almost all of the seeds for the year's growth.
• We finished filling the entire Cabin with everything it may need for us to move.
• Built a custom doghouse with a heated floor. (They have yet to use it once.)
• We have begun packing the entire house in preparation for sale.
• We have begun renovating the interior of the house.
• And too many other things to metion.

This is Doug the Tree
About seventy feet tall.

Things are traveling along very well. The weather was with us for the most part, this week we got snow. Since we have so many things to do in the next month, weather has not put anything off.

We were ahead on greenhouse building, now we are a bit behind. Once we have the greenhouse we can begin sprouting seeds.

Though the Cabin has yet to be used overnight, it is certainly ready. We have a generator for it which hasn't been out of its box too. Lots of new going on.

February 11, 2018 The Dogs visit Camp Creekside.

The weather  has been extraordinarily mild, and so I began taking the dogs out to the Farm for the day. We had a forty degree day with bright sunshine. The dogs figured out the best place to be about mid-morning. From the front steps they can watch the trail across the road for walkers and bicycles.

February 3, 2018 Steaks at Camp Creekside

We brought steaks, potatoes, and dogs to celebrate a whole day at Camp Creekside. We got three small things done before beer forced us to build a fire and sit around it.

Our intentions were good. We thought of all the work we could do that would get us farther along toward building the Garden. But we drifted and not much got done today.

We cleaned up a bit, enough to start a good fire. And we moved two smallish tarps too. (Part of a garden expansion which will happen some day.) Mostly we sat around, drank beers, and vegetated.

A camp fire and Camp Creekside.

We dragged all four of our Bassets out to the Farm.
A good time was had by all.