Greenhouse Update 2 - "Dirt Work"

Before we put up the sides of the greenhouse, we are building the inside boxes (raised beds), and hauling in dirt for them.   It's a lot easier that way - no walls to deal with!  Harold got some dirt from a wooded hillside with his tractor/loader, and we also brought in 2 pick-up loads of manure/dirt from a neighbor who used to have beef cattle about 15 years ago.   His pile of rotted manure and pasture dirt is so well rotted, it is pretty much beautiful black dirt.  He has more if we want it.   Shoveling dirt into buckets and emptying them is hard work.   I sure wish I was about 30 years younger!   We can't use a wheelbarrow because it won't get over the side boards and is too heavy and unwieldy anyway.    Harold and I emptied dozens of 5 gallon buckets full just for the first box.   Today he is building the middle raised bed box, which will be  about 4 feet wide.   That will take an enormous amount of dirt!  We quickly discovered that the gnat season is here in Minnesota, so any work has to be done before 8 p.m. or you can't stand the gnats! So today and tomorrow will be pretty much taken up with the middle box building and filling.   If we need more dirt, Harold will fire up his tractor/loader and get more base dirt from the woods, and then we will go over to the neighbor's house and he will fire up his tractor/loader and get more of that manure rich dirt for the top layer.  My neighbor teased me that he always gives me "s#*t" about stuff, and  now he can really give me some "s#*t" !  It IS beautiful top soil, though.........

Harold gets soil from a hillside mound that was bulldozed years ago  when Harold farmed this land years ago with his Dad.  They got rid of some trees to make a cornfield.

One bed is finished and we are working on the middle.   One of our pick-ups filled with dirt in the background.

Measuring off a space for the middle box.  We are using old re-bar cut into pieces for box supports.

We filled our other pick-up with more manure dirt.

Progress report on the Greenhouse

We've been working hard on building the high tunnel greenhouse.  Slowly it is coming together.  We ordered the plastic for the roof and it should be here on Tuesday of next week.   It is special for greenhouses, 6 mil thick, and has a 4 year guarantee (we'll see about that!).  Meanwhile we bought some plastic/fabric netting for the sides and some thick plastic (clear) that goes around the sides and rolls up on a long pvc tube when you want air into the building..  A neighbor has a used door we can have (combo storm/screen door).
This morning Harold was tying together the roof panels with wires :

By late afternoon, one side of the greenhouse had the netting on and support boards.

Here is a view from inside:

The roof panels are held inside with fence steeples.

Our ever-present cats were always "inspecting" the progress:

Besides the greenhouse work, today I worked on transplanting some of my seedlings.  The plants are looking very nice:

I turned on the grow lights for the evening.

If you recall, last September I collected a bunch of petunia seeds (see the post for 9-3-14) and wondered if they would germinate.  Well, I had almost 100% germination, and I have been thinning the trays for a couple weeks now, gradually.   Today I transplanted the crowded cell trays, and spread them out into larger trays to grow.  I still had to thin out a bunch.   You know, I just hate tossing out plants!  I tell myself:  "the poor things never had a chance"!  But I know it has to be done.  I must have had 1000 petunia seeds germinate, and several hundred are still around and growing!  For some reason, though, the yellow, white and blue striped ones never germinated.   I am thinking I either harvested them too late (after they froze) or they were too dry.   I'll have to do some internet research to figure out what happened, and if temps or time of collection make any difference.  The red, purple, and mixed colors germinated just fine.  Go figure.

Way too many petunia plants in one pot!  They need thinning and transplanting!

This is much better! Six or 8 plants to a pot. 

At least I proved that a person CAN save petunia seeds, and they will grow, and you can save a lot of money doing it yourself.  Yes, it's a lot of work, but I do love gardening! 

Stay tuned for further progress reports on the greenhouse!   I can't wait to get in there and start planting things!  One thing about having a closed in greenhouse, I can even work out there when it's raining or windy or even at night!  We have built this about 30 ft or so from the plug-in at the power pole, so there will be electricity in the greenhouse.   We need it anyway, as we are putting up a double layer of roof plastic with a small fan to blow air in between the layers.   This will serve as a cushion for any hail and winds that might puff out the roof too much - it will equalize the pressure.   I told Harold that I can already see that I want an extra set of garden tools for out there, a shelf for a radio (so I can listen to political talk radio, also my favorite Christian radio station,  and oldies!), and also some kind of small table for potting and setting supplies on without having to stoop too much.   Yep - this is going to be very enjoyable!


 

Update on everything around here

We finished the maple syrup - we ended up with a pint shy of 11 gallons (87 pints)!  Not bad for a couple of old timers like Harold and I, eh?  It was a lot of work, but we feel a sense of accomplishment.  Now we have to go around and pull all the tree taps and get rid of the sap bags.  AND the ticks are out!!  This will not be a fun job!!

Now, we are working on finishing our high tunnel greenhouse.  If you recall, Harold started this project last November.  Yesterday I took this photo of Harold's progress:

All the posts are in.

Today I took this photo of his progress:

The roof panels are going up.  We are using cattle panels bent to fit.

Harold uses a hammer to bend the edges of the cattle panels.

A close-up of the roof panels. 

I will post pictures of the progress.  Basically the greenhouse will be covered with a very thick plastic, and there will be one inch wire mesh all around the bottom, about 3 feet up, all around.  We will have to install a door, too.  Inside will be long raised beds for the plants - one down the middle and one along each edge.   The sides will roll up for air if needed.  This is our own design based on professional models we have seen.   We have never built anything like this before, so this is all a new experience!  This story is definitely "to be continued"!

The ice is off of the ponds!  Here is the view from our front porch:

As I walked up the driveway after getting the mail, my cats came to greet me.  It was getting close to their dinner time, so I suppose they thought I was coming to feed them.   Since I always carry my camera with me, I thought:  Here's a chance to get a photo of all the cats.  Well, you know cats never cooperate for picture taking.  They just wouldn't sit still!  Here's the latest pictures of the "mouser crew" anyway:

Here are 9 of my 13 farm cats. 

Still trying to get them to sit down and pose - no cooperation here - just TippyToes agreed!

I finally gave up on trying to get a group shot, and so did they!

Maple Syrup - Part 3

Can you all stand one more article about maple syrup?  Today we worked very hard on it.  We finished some syrup and canned it, we boiled all day long, we collected MORE sap, and we had several guests drop by to watch the process, chat a while, help out, and taste some of the syrup - AND get a free sample!  It was a beautiful day.  There won't be many more sap running days, as tonight will probably be the last night of freezing for about a week.   If the night temps do not freeze, then the sap doesn't run very well.  Temps of at least 65 or more are predicted for the next 4 or 5 days, and there is a very real chance of the maple trees budding out in the warmth.  If that happens, sap season is over because "buddy sap" is horrible and bitter.
     We collect the sap in big buckets, and then carry them to a large 55 gal food grade drum that we have on the back of our small tractor.  Then we transfer the sap to a stainless steel bulk tank for holding.

Pouring sap into the bulk tank (2013 photo)

Here is a sap bag nearly full.  Our tractor is in the background. We use it to drive around in the woods.

Here is a close up of our evaporator:

There are 7 sections in the evaporator, and the sap gradually goes through a small hole in each section to the last, where it becomes "near syrup".  The fire is hottest in the front section.

When the near syrup is ready, we open a gate to let the hot syrup out into a large stainless steel pan, to be finished inside for the last few degrees. 

I bring the syrup to 218 deg.  This photo shows it is 214.3 deg and boiling away !

When the syrup reaches the right temp for finishing, we filter the syrup through a wool (or sometimes an orlon) filter and pre-filter insert to clear away sediment (minerals in the syrup).

We support the filter bag on a couple of broom handle sticks. 

Hot syrup draining through the wool filter.

Meanwhile, while I am working in the kitchen with the near syrup, Harold is outside boiling more sap, and keeping the wood fire going.  It takes a lot of wood to boil all the sap.

I told Harold to "pose" - he should have had a log in his hand, right??

And here are some of the finished jars:

Whew!  What a project!  I have more jars, but these are just a few I did today.   The syrup this year is really yummy!

I'm showing this photo just to show off one of my Dutch tablecloths!

And so this is the whole process of gathering, boiling, filtering and canning.   Tomorrow I will be finishing off 5 gallons of "near syrup", and Harold will be boiling outside, and we will both collect whatever sap runs in the tree bags.   Another full day of work ahead...........Yes, it's a lot of work, but SO worth the effort!   AND - it comes from our own back yard!

Sap Running Part 2

Well, the sap is really running now!  I think the ground has thawed enough and tonight we collected a little over 100 gallons of sap!  What a blessing!  It took us 2 1/2 hours working together, and we just finished now around 8:20 p.m.  The other night we collected about 60 or so gallons, so we have enough for making 4 gallons of finished syrup.  Remember that 40 to 1 ratio of sap to finished syrup?
     It's hard work, but things have been worse.  Here's a photo of me collecting sap in 2013 when the snow was up to my thigh.   That was a really hard year for collecting.

Look at the snow in 2013 while collecting sap!

At least this year there's no snow on the ground.  We will probably boil up sap on Wednesday.  Tomorrow we have a church meeting we would like to go to.   Making syrup is something that Harold and I do enjoy, though. for the following reasons:
1.  It's something that we can enjoy together as a couple.  So many couples have a hard time finding interests they can do as a couple and often just resort to watching a movie together.
2.  It is good exercise - all that lifting of heavy buckets, bending, walking through the woods, stooping, etc.  We tapped about 120 trees, spread out over 4 places on our 100 acres.
3.  It is a real blessing to make something that "comes from the farm", from our very own back yard!  We think real maple syrup is what God intended for folks to put on their pancakes and waffles - not that imitation stuff they sell at the supermarket.
4.  It is a source of a little extra income, and certainly a source of pride.
5.  We can "commune with nature".  As we walk around the property collecting sap, the geese and trumpeter swans fly overhead, going from one of our ponds to the other.   We can hear their wings swishing, and the swans make a grand trumpet sound.   I often wonder if their trumpet sounds will be like the trumpet sound of the "second coming of the Lord" and the Last Judgement.    Sometimes those swans are very loud with their trumpeting.  And they fly pretty low - right in front of us.   It's a wonderful sight!

Whatever syrup we make this year is already spoken for and sold, as family, friends, church members, and our own needs will be using up all that we make.  Everyone is just waiting for this year's syrup!  If it all tastes as good as the first 10 pints we just made, we will be in for a real blessing from the Lord!  Almost every bag this year looks like this:

Almost 2 gallons of sap right here.

Edited to add:  Forgot to mention that this year Harold is doing the maple syrup stuff with a pinched nerve in his back, a herniated disc in the neck region, a possible tumor in the mid spine and elbow, a couple of numb fingers, and a torn rotator cuff.   He is either a trooper, or crazy?  But, he says he "has a pill for every pain".  When a person has cancer like Harold does, every day is precious.   He just wants to enjoy life to the fullest as much as he can.   Not only are we making syrup together, we are making memories together.   He is such an inspiration to me and to others about how to live with cancer.  No sitting in a chair feeling sorry for himself.

My Something from Nothing Project

I've been wanting a wreath for the wall in my living room for a few weeks now.   I went to places like Hobby Lobby, craft stores and thrift shops looking for some kind of pretty wreath.  The stores wanted as much as $60-90 for pre-made wreaths!  No way!   So I decided to try my hand at making something from what I could find around here.   This afternoon I took a walk in the woods and cut some little branches off young trees by the pond, and also some pussy willow branches.   It took several tries to get things to stay together and my husband helped me hold the branches and also found some nice thin wire I could use.  I had tried with some thicker wire and just ended up giving my finger a nice metal cut.  Ouch!   Then I remembered that I had a length of paper twist in my craft room.  Not the right color exactly, but close enough.  And years ago my sister gave me some clip-on butterflies and I used them for additional decorations on the wreath.  So, here's the final result - not exactly nice and round, sort of wonky on one end, but I think it turned out pretty nice.  And best of all, the price was right - free!  It's about 20 inches in diameter and the green and white check paper twist actually blends in to look almost light blue against the blue wall. It took me 3 hours to make and I was ready to give up, but hubby told me to hang in there.  Glad I listened to him...........