Hoop House

I had been thinking about building a Hoop House/Green House. I would like to start my own plants in the Spring and extend my growing season. So I did some research on the WWW and got a feel for what was required to build a Hoop House. Basically the house is built using PVC pipe held to the ground by rebar or pipe.

I happened to have some old pipe handy so I used that, I drove the pipe into the ground with a sledge hammer. The pipe was spaced three feet apart and I made a twelve foot square, I used the pipe on only two sides. I then inserted PVC pipe into the pipe forming an arch. I then added the boards around the perimeter of the house so I would have something to nail the covering to. I then attached board to the end hoops one for a door and the other for a window/ventilation hole. Then the covering was spread over the hoops and attached to the base boards. The covering was folded and trimmed and a hole was cut for the door. The door will be built later. Now I have the Hoop House up and covered, waiting for the door to be built and hung.

The floor space inside is 144 sq ft, 12'x12', this should give me two plant beds 12'x4' one on each side and enough room later in the spring to get my plants started. It took ten hours to build with occasional help of one other person and lots of breaks to think over the next step. One of the frustrating steps was making the covering neat and mostly wrinkle free. Forget the wrinkle free and go for the best you can do and move on or it will drive you nuts. I was surprised at how sturdy it feels once the fabric is in place. How sturdy it is, is another matter. We get some intense storms here and it will be tested well before the Summer is out, I am sure.

Up Date; Door Is Built And On

I thought the door would be a big hassle, but it turned out to be rather simple and as it doesn't have to be perfect the frustration level was zero. I hope it stays together-need to find a latch so I can get rid of the country door stop :)

Oh, I have no idea what the dog is looking at; clouds, bird(s) stretching her neck? Just another puzzle.

The Hay Gets Rolled

The neighbors came here today and rolled the hay that was just cut. The number of rolls was disappointing only nine rolls for six acres. That is way off what should have come from that field. We are way behind in rain for the year and if this keeps up it will be a drought and that is not a good thing. Neighbor lady across the road has one well with a level now below where she can pump the water, around here that is very unusual.

I will just keep on hand watering the garden to keep things alive until it rains, the garden peas are late this year not one blossom so far this Spring, I love those sweet little peas; raw or cooked doesn't matter to me as long as there are lots of 'em.

First Cut of hay this year

This weekend the hay field got cut for the first time. It looks like it will be a good cut, won't know
for sure until it is rolled up and in the barn. There is no rain forecast for the next few days so
maybe the hay won't get rained on like last year.

The garden is coming along, not as fast as I would like, but the past few days have been colder
than usual and that is holding the plants back. For the garden we could use rain, for the hay it would be problematic. It will all work out it usually does.

I went to two auctions today and I didn't buy a tractor, the first tractor was to used up to be a
good buy and the second was to large and powerful for my purposes also to much money.

Just a cool Spring weekend.

Amish Auction

Another weekend and another auction. This auction is a consignment auction, folks bring their goods to sell and the auctioneer takes a percentage-in this case it benefits the Amish school. There were no motorized things like farm tractors or heavy equipment for sale. Usually there are some buggy horses for sale, not this year.

I purchased three guineas these birds are ugly, noisy and flighty. Why did I buy them? They are supposed to be good at eliminating ticks and other annoying bugs, my recollection is that they are annoying in their own right with their calls and squawks they get very excited when something or someone threatens or surprises them, they are not very intelligent birds although some folks like them as do coyotes.

The day started off cloudy and cool, I wish it had stayed that way, around 11 o'clock the Sun came out with a vengeance and I couldn't take the heat. I wanted to stay at the auction, but I was getting very tired and ill from to much Sun and heat so I took myself home and had a nap.

The Guineas are perched in the barn trying to figure out how this all happened to them, this moving from one place to another, I guess. I hope they hang around and do their job feasting on ticks.

The ducks have a little kiddie pool to play in and they seem to enjoy that, jumping into the water and splashing about ducking their heads under the water and flapping their wings.

The garden is doing as well as can be expected, we haven't had much rain and don't have any in the forecast for the next few days, so I will be watering by hand for a few days trying to keep things alive till the rains come. I bet when the rains do arrive it will be to much all at once sort of thing. What can you do, but keep trying.

That's the way it is down on the farm :)

Opps made an error

The last post had a typo that caused a stir, I typed that a farm went for 25K when it actually
was sold for 253K, an astounding amount of money considering that the property has two utility right of ways one for high power electric lines and another for natural gas. This effects the use of the property by the owner. However the land is close to town so there is interest in developing the land for residential use (rumor). I wouldn't want to live under those high voltage lines. Each to their own I guess. If I caused any distress because of my typing error I apologise.

So all you folks that were packing your bags and heading to Kentucky to buy a 25k farm maybe you should think about it cause there aren't any 74 acre farms going for 25k these days. In fact the price of land has been going up. It amazes the locals they remember when there were farms for less than a hundred thousand, working farms at that, those days are gone.

Local auction

I went to a local auction this Saturday morning my goal was to buy a farm tractor. The farm its self was up for sale at the auction and the 74 acres with barns and small house went for 253K. A lot of equipment was up for sale including gates, hay wagons, tools, haying equipment, small vehicles, trailers and my interest, three tractors. One of the tractors a Ford with a front end loader took my interest. I ended up in a biding war with my Vet! I reached my limit and then he was in a contest with someone else, he got the tractor. I got to go shopping somewhere else.

Auctions are a community event, lots of gossip, handshakes, loud talk, renewing of acquaintances and catching up on the local and family news.

Some auctions last all day and are an endurance contest I am going to one this coming weekend, the Amish School Auction, it will last all day. One has to be prepared for such an event and up to it physically and mentally. Oh yes, don't forget your wallet :) At least at the Amish Auction lunch will be available, as the notice says the Amish ladies will provide lunch and refreshments :)

Spring up date

Well things are moving along here at the farm. Spring arrived after a false start and now it is here for good, I hope. We have been busy planting that's for sure. More fruit trees went in so we are up to twelve fruit trees with two more on the way. Thorn less blackberry bushes have been planted (6), rhubarb roots (4), asparagus roots (10), sweet corn three rows, one hill each of pumpkin and gourds, two rows of Irish potatoes, one row of sweet peas, one row of string beans, one row of onions, twelve tomato plants, water melon, musk melon, sweet peppers, garlic, carrots, radishes, lettuce, eggplant, cabbage, concord grape vines (2) and there are sweet potatoes coming that have to be planted and more water melons and winter squash also red raspberry bushes. I also planted some herbs to see if they will take.

The ducks are doing fine getting big, I moved them to the barn, they were in my utility room and the smell was getting to me, so I moved them out to the barn. Only lost one duck to a predator so we are down to ten ducks. They have a nice cage to spend the night in so don't worry about them to much. The ducks haven't gotten enough courage to go outside on their own yet, but they are getting closer to the door every day :)

The goose is sitting her eggs about six eggs I guess, unless she had a visit from the neighbor's gander I think her efforts will be fruitless this year.

The baby goats are doing fine I took them to the vet and had them dehorned. This procedure is not for the squeamish or those that don't like strong smells. The method used to stop horn growth is to use a very hot iron on the horn bud, the bud gets burned the goats scream the smoke rises and you feel either sick to your stomach and or sad for the goats. They also got some shots and in the process my hand got in the way and I got stuck with the needle too. :(

I am still looking for a farm tractor-went to an auction last weekend and got out bid for a rather stout Massey Ferguson tractor with front loader. There is another auction this weekend I hope I have better luck this time.

I was at Wally World today and I checked the prices of canning jars, OMG, the prices are outrageous. Well maybe there will be some for sale at the auction coming up. Got to have jars if I want to put things up for this winter. Peach season will be upon us soon and I want to make peach jam and then there will be strawberry season too! I better get over the price shock and get some jars this week. I am looking forward to using my new canning equipment, I have a new pressure canner and hot water bath canner with all the usual tools to help can the harvest. I also have a " new to me" freezer to help put up some of the harvest. I have to remember to leave room for when one of the calves comes back from the butcher this fall. I hope to sell one of them at auction and sell half of the other after butchering. That will pay for next year's calves or what ever I raise. Gee I wonder where I could put a piglet or two?

It has been raining off and on all day, there is a flood advisory for the county and I am sure that at least one road is impassable to town. Yup, either not enough or to much all at once.

All and all things are going well looking forward to the summer and getting more done around here.