Happenings on the Ranch

So, finally, the greenhouse was up.  Sure, there was still a lot to do; roll out ground covers, place the stands, build workbenches, etc.  But it was just about functional.

Slowly, bit by bit, we began to get the inside set up.  By this time it was the beginning of our current season.  Perfect timing.  Our house was full of seedlings that had been started everywhere inside – in the basement, the garage, the sun porch.  Our house was a jungle of sprouting plants that were itching for some heat and sun.  I was anxious to get everything moved outside in one spot.

Early spring showed great promise with increasingly mild days and some good sun.  I began to move seedlings out to the greenhouse while resisting the temptation to put anything in the ground.  The days were beautiful but I know spring in Missouri can be tricky.  It often seems like we don’t even have a spring – it just goes from winter, to wet and cold, straight to summer.  This year would be no exception, except for a week or two of nice warm days.

I took advantage of those warm days by moving the sun loving plants into the greenhouse and getting some cool weather seeds into the ground.  There were some days it was so warm I had to open the sides of the greenhouse in order not to choke the little seedlings growing inside.  That would prove to be my downfall.

One spring day, the weather forcast was showing possible thunderstorms and winds moving in so I was quickly relocating baby birds and bunnies to be sure they were safe.  As I turned to head back outside, the wind suddenly began to howl.  It blew so hard so fast the chickens began to run for cover and were lifting off the ground as they ran.  All at once I realized the sides to the greenhouse were still open.  I contemplated making a run for it to secure the plastic until I saw one of our raised bed covers, which are secured by cinder blocks, come flying through the air – cinder block still attached!  I decided I couldn’t chance running to the greenhouse so I stood at our bedroom window just watching.

There were things flying everywhere!  Raised bed covers, chicken water containers, pools for the geese and ducks – bouncing and swirling through the air, taking flight toward the east fence of the farm.  I could hear the pounding of our horses hooves as they ran for the cover of the barn.  I felt like Dorothy as I watched everything fly by.  I was just waiting for a mean ol’ woman on her bike to fly by and threaten to get my dogs (who were now cowering from the storm under our bed).  Then I looked over at the greenhouse and could see the rolled up plastic sides flapping around like crazy.  I watched as the sides and top billowed out and back in again as the wind whipped through the property.

At that point I had my fingers crossed that the wind would die down before causing the plastic on the greenhouse to tear.  I was not prepared for what I saw next.  The wind began blowing even harder and I could almost see it as it swooped under the open sides of the greenhouse.  All at once the entire north side of the structure lifted up off the ground, pulling the poles off their concrete supports and straight up into the air.  It seemed like slow motion as I watched it suspend in the air for what seemed like an eternity, although it was just a few seconds.  And then it came crashing down.  Hard.  The poles landed squarely on the ground and it was just too much for the top center rail to take.  I yelled, “no, No, NO!!” as the center rail collapsed in and the supporting rails bent in over it.  The north half of the greenhouse now lay collapsed in on itself and everything inside.  I stood and watched helplessly as the wind finally began to die down.  I went outside to assess the damage.

Our east fence was lined with everything that had blown across the front of the property.  Bed covers lay broken, their plastic hanging on the fence.  Waterers and pools were lined up like soldiers in formation, clinging to each other for support.  But my focus was on the greenhouse.  Wooden supports were broken, poles were bent beyond repair, the plastic we had worked so hard to get on was torn and everything inside was demolished.  There was nothing I could do but stand there and shake my head, trying to decide whether to call Arcenio or just let him see it when he got home.  I decided not to ruin his day and just let him discover the destruction that afternoon.

The news reported the winds had gotten up to 70mph in our area.  I guess we were lucky the damage wasn’t worse.  Arcenio surveyed the damage when he got home, threw out a few cuss words, went and changed his clothes and got to work helping me clean up the mess.

Within a few days we had the structure back in place but, again, had to wait for the winds to stop in order to replace the plastic.  It would be another three weeks before there was a day with no wind and we could finally complete the greenhouse – again.  Not too many seedlings on that side of the greenhouse were able to be salvaged, so I had to start them all over again.  In the three weeks we waited, there was no break in the rain, either.  So now everything was behind for the season.

We’re making progress now in playing catch up, but we got the plastic on the greenhouse just in time for it to turn scorching hot.  Instead of seedlings, the greenhouse is housing raised beds with cucumbers and peppers along with flowers and the remaining tomato plants we haven’t gotten in the ground yet.  So much for getting a jump on the season.

Now that the structure is back in place and secured, I’m hoping to be able to use it to extend the later part of the season and do some experimental winter growing.  Who knows, if I’m successful we may be able to start a winter CSA with what I can grow.  As long as the wind stays away.

Until next time,

~Karin

If you missed my first post in the Greenhouse Saga, you may want to read that first to get caught up.

So, we successfully won the bidding for a bargain basement price on our new greenhouse.  Now, the hard part: getting the darn thing home.  See, it was our responsibility to dissamble the greenhouse from its current site, transport it to the farm and reassemble it in it’s new home.  Not a small task.  We had until the end of October to get it off the property.  Since it was May, the beginning of our busy season, we would need plenty of time to get that accomplished.  We took our time.

Slowly, trip after trip, we returned to the property to take apart the greenhouse.  We took down all the plastic, pulled apart all the posts and beams, pulled the concrete out of the ground, rolled up the shade cloth, stacked the pallets and table bases, even the wood rails.  If there’s one thing we’ve learned while building this farm it’s that every little piece of material can be used for something.  We transported the pieces one trailer load at a time throughout the heat of the summer until, by mid-October, all the parts were there.  Then we started the task of re-assembling them.  Actually, this was much easier than pulling it apart.

We chose our spot and decided to only build half the greenhouse.  We would choose a different spot later to assemble the second half as a winter growing house.  The holes were dug for the concrete supports, poles put together, rails put on, and door and vents put in place.  We (meaning Arcenio) also put on a garage door to make it easier to move larger equipment and flats of plants in and out.  After several weeks, the entire structure was in place; except for the plastic.

Did you ever play with a parachute as a kid?  You know, when they lay the parachute on the ground and everyone gathers around the edges and lifts it up and down?  It’s fun, and if you get a really big gust of wind and you don’t weigh so much, you can get lifted off the ground.  If you can picture it, that’s why you wait until the calmest day you can to put plastic on a greenhouse.

The structure is 20′ by 48′.  The plastic needs to be rolled on in one big piece.  Of course, the structure itself is around 18′ feet tall at it’s highest peak.  That’s a rather large piece of plastic.  We waited for a day when there was no wind and went to work.  It took quite a bit of effort to move the plastic into position.  We started at the bottom of one of the long sides and grabbed the edges.  With the help of our neighbor, we slowly began to pull the plastic up the sides and across the top.  Mind you, none of us is 18 foot tall so this was quite a feat.  We shimmied, slid, jumped, pushed and pulled with that plastic to get it up over the top of the structure.  After about 45 minutes in unseasonable heat, we finally got it over the peak and were pulling it down the opposite side when it happened.  The wind.

It wasn’t really wind, per say, just a small breeze.  But, it was enough.  I stand a little over 5 foot, 7.5 inches and weigh around 125 pounds; not much weight when compared to the power of nature.  The breeze came under the loose plastic on the other side of the greenhouse, caught up in the side we were holding and, woosh, up I went.  Our greenhouse-plastic-turned-parahcute lifted me up a good six inches off the ground, but I refused to give in.  Arcenio was yelling, “Just let go!”  Heck no!  After spending 45 minutes sweating my tail off getting this plastic across the greenhouse structure I was bound and determined NOT to let go.  But, as the breeze continued and I bounced up and down off the ground, I finally decided there was no way I was going to be able to hang on without hurting myself or tearing the plastic.  So I conceded defeat and let go.  The plastic slipped back over the way it had come with so much effort just minutes earlier, flapping in the breeze as if laughing all the way.

My husband and I are both Marines and, hence, have a tendency to cuss like sailors when upset.  Let’s just say the bad words were flying freely at that point.  We flopped down on the ground and stared at the greenhouse with contempt.  We knew it was going to take quite a bit of effort to get this accomplished but it was frustrating to be so close to finished and then have to start over again.  As the breeze subsided we decided to give it one more shot.  Desperately, and as quickly as possible, we began to pull the plastic over the top of the structure again.  As the breeze began to pick up again we frantically scrambled to get the plastic in place.  Finally, with almost as much effort as before, we pulled it into place, weighed it down with cinder blocks on both sides and plopped down on the ground in exhaustion.  After a short rest, we set about securing the plastic in place along the wood rails with only the bottoms left loose.  The greenhouse was intact!  And I had managed not to fly up in the air a second time.  In hindsight, that was probably the least of our concerns.

Part three to come!

~Karin

Honestly, I had no idea when we bought our greenhouse that it would take a full year to get it up and functional.  Mind you, there have been a myriad of issues related to this project, including timing and weather.  I’ve briefly mentioned it here and there in previous posts, but now I’ll tell you the complete story.  It’s a long one, so I’m breaking it into multiple posts.  But, oh, what a story.

Last May, we went to an auction.  This was no ordinary auction.  It was taking place at a nursery that had shut it’s doors and was selling off everything.  And I mean everything.  Items ranged from work trucks, forklifts and tractors to rakes, plumbing parts and hoses – and everything in between.  There were also ten – yes, ten – full-sized greenhouses being sold to the highest bidder.  We really had just gone to pick up whatever supplies we could for the farm, knowing full well there was no way on earth we’d be able to afford one of the greenhouses.  These things were in great condition and sell for at least $10,000 new.  I was just hoping to pick up pots, planters, sprayers and maybe some rolls of greenhouse plastic we could use for building our own – eventually.

The auction started with the contents inside one of the greenhouses.  The wood was mostly pallets, along with metal table stands used for displaying the plants.  I bought the entire lot for $50, again anticipating that we would build our own greenhouse from scratch.  We’re famous for taking free or dirt cheap items and turning them into something functional.  We definitely farm on a budget!

The auction continued with selling some benches, concrete blocks and other miscellaneous items.  It was announced that they would begin auctioning the greenhouses in order from one to ten.  If you bought the first one, you could pick any of the others for the same price.  I hung around the crowd gathered outside the first structure, just out of curiousity to see how much they would go for.  The auctioneer started the bidding at $2500; rather low, I thought, but he’s the professional.  He called for bidders but, amazingly, nobody spoke up.  After about a minute of asking for a bidder he dropped the starting price to $1800.  Wow, I thought, what a bargain!  Still outside our budget but I was amazed at what I was hearing.  These greenhouses ranged in size from 20×96 to 30×96.  We’re talking full-sized commercial greenhouses.  The frames alone were worth at least $3500.  The auctioneer still didn’t have any takers, so he dropped the starting bid to, gulp, $900!  Finally he got some takers as the bidders began to wave their bid cards.  The final price for the first greenhouse?  $1695.  The buyer ended up taking two at the price (I would have, too!).

Now, of course, my mind was going ninety miles an hour.  See, the auctioneer had made a statement before he began selling off the wood in the first greenhouse.  There were posts and framing pieces in there that were not included with what he was currently selling because they were the extra parts that went with a greenhouse all the way down on the end.  I noticed that the crowd around him wasn’t very large when he made this statement and half of them weren’t paying attention.  So, as he began to auction off the next structure, I wandered my way down to the other greenhouse he had mentioned.  This one seemed smaller than the others at first glance.  It was 20 feet wide, but only went down about 72 feet, instead of 96 like the others.  If you know me, you know I can be very shrewd when it comes to business and finances and I’m always looking for a bargain.  I began to think about what I could find in the budget to buy a greenhouse.  And, I thought that if most of these people didn’t realize the additional pieces to extend this greenhouse to the full 96 feet were included when you bought it, the price for the structure may go much lower than the others.  So, I mentally moved money around in my head and came up with a figure: $700.  Incredibly low for a greenhouse, I know, but they were going for so cheap I thought that maybe I might have a shot.

I shared the number with Arcenio who thought there was no way on earth it would happen but, knowing my bidding skills, had faith that if anyone could do it I could.  We patiently waited as the auctioneer moved through item after item, making his way down the row of greenhouses with the crowd pressing around him, moving in a mobbed wave like a school of hungry pyrahnas.  As he sold off each structure, the price remained around the same as the first.  He sold smaller items in between the sale of each greenhouse and it was about an hour later that we reached the end of the row where the small structure sat.  It was time for me to move to the front of the crowd.

The auctioneer again announced that the additional poles for this greenhouse were located in the first structure and went with the building.  I was a little worried about this announcement, which could throw a monkey wrench into my plan, until I realized that most in the crowd weren’t really paying attention.  Good, I thought.  And then I spotted her.

There was another woman who had been watching quietly throughout the auction, rarely bidding, who had also moved to the front of the crowd.  I instantly recognized her as my competition.  I’ve been to many auctions and can tell when there’s someone who operates the same way I do.  Darn it, she was my monkey wrench.

The autioneer started the bidding at the same level as the other greenhouses – $1800.  When he didn’t get any takers, he dropped to $1500.  Still no movement.  Now $1200.  No takers.  It was exactly what I’d hoped for.  Even though the parts to the greenhouse were all there, buyers were visually seeing a smaller greenhouse and deciding it wasn’t worth as much.  The auctioneer seemed stumped by this as he dropped the starting bid down to $1000 and asked the crowd what was wrong.  Still no movement.  Then I made my move.  “500,” I called.  The auctioneer looked at me like I was crazy but said, “Okay, we’ve got 500 dollars.”  Then it started.  He called for $550 and my monkey wrench waved her bidders card.  $600 and someone else waved their card.  “625,” I called.  My monkey wrench hesitated and waved for $650.  This was awfully close to the number I had set as my max, but her hesitation was a good sign.  Time to make the increments a little smaller.  “660,” I called.  The auctioneer smiled and asked for $675.  There was a long hesitation and I almost thought I had it when monkey wrench waved her bidder card.  Darn it!  I immediately called for $680.  I wanted to wear her down and let her know I wasn’t backing off, but I had to slow down the increments before they got to $700.

Monkey wrench was having a serious discussion with her husband.  I knew we were close.  They took their time, then waved their bidder card for $690.  This was it, my final bid.  I couldn’t lower the increments any more, but I couldn’t show any hesitation either.  I had to show that I was willing to keep going and that the other bidders had no chance of getting this from me.  I confidently waved my bidder card and announced, “700.”  Monkey wrench looked at me, leaned in to her husband for some more discussion and I saw him shaking his head, no.  I held my breath.  I kept my focus forward at the auctioneer for fear if I looked at the others in the crowd they might see I couldn’t go any higher.  The auctioneer was practically begging for bids at this point.  I could tell he couldn’t believe this greenhouse was going for this cheap.  I stared him down and waited.  Finally, he said it.  “All in, all done.  Sold, 700 dollars!”  He shook his head in disbelief and said, “Now, that’s the deal of the day!”  I put my hands on my hips and, with a big grin on my face, said, “I know.”

Part two next time!

~Karin