Looking Ahead

I love my pillow. It as a gift from here.

April marks an anniversary for us; eight years ago we bought an old house on the five acres that has become our homestead. I know that ten years is usually considered more of a landmark, but Dan and I have been discussing our progress and goals, and it seems that at eight years we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel I'm referring to is what I called "The Establishment Phase" in 5 Acres & A Dream The Book.  We started with a period of assessment, planning, goal setting, and prioritizing, all with a view toward becoming as self-sufficient as we can: food production (for both us and our critters), energy, and water. This has required planning, research, and experimentation, along with all the ups and downs that come with it.

The largest part of establishing our homestead has revolved around building. Repairs and energy upgrades on the house were important, and so was fencing and housing for our animals. Our old outbuildings were in bad repair, and then there's food growing. It's one thing to grow a year's worth of food, but how and where does one store it? We actually don't need much space to live it, but where do we store a year's worth of food for us, or a year's worth of grain and hay for the critters, or a winter's worth of firewood, or a summer's worth of rainwater? Then there are the tools, equipment, and implements to accomplish all of that. Everything needs a home.

It was our discovery and discussion of the sad state of the carport that got us talking about our goals. As Dan often says, we aren't getting any younger and eventually, we want to be able to get on with simply living. We'd like to have all the projects behind us and develop a seasonal rhythm for our lives. The problem with projects is, there's always another great idea on the horizon, something else to build, another way to expand our homestead. We could probably go on forever with projects, but soon Dan will retire and our income will drop drastically. It was time to decide if and when we could finish our projects, declare ourselves established, and get on with the next phase of our homesteading - a simple seasonal routine.

Of what we need (versus what we'd like), well, since the carport is in dubious condition, Dan needs a workshop. After that we'd like to get our equipment undercover; under an overhang at least. The house is close to being done, so the only other major building project would be a small greenhouse. With all that in mind, I said, "You know, the Little Barn is serving very well for the goats, milking, and hay and feed storage. My dream barn would be nice, but it makes more sense to go with what we've got, simplify the barn plan, and build a workshop with storage." So that's what we're going to do.

Dan's actually got a start on it, so as soon as I get my photos organized and a blog post written, I'll show you what's up. (Click here for that.)

Looking Ahead © April 2017 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

A Project Never Mind

Have you ever done a quicky job on something with a promise to tend to it properly in the near future? And then forgot about it so that you no longer even noticed there was a problem? Our carport has been that way for a number of years now.

Dan had set it up for his workshop but it didn't get very good rain protection so we tarped it. It looks kinda junky, but we've been so busy with other things that we stopped noticing. Last weekend we were doing some general clean-up in the yard and got to talking about the tarp on the carport. That tarp is getting torn and worn and it seemed as though it would be a fairly quick job to replace it with some plywood, add battens like we did on the chicken coop and Little Barn, and paint it to match the other outbuildings. Couldn't take more than half a day, could it?

When Dan took down the tarp and pulled off the fascia board we discovered that double beam on that side of the roof was in very bad shape.

We discussed what to do about that, but then he took a flashlight to get a peek at the ceiling joists. Our carport has a plywood ceiling which hides the joists, and he wanted to see what kind of shape they are in. Most of them are rotted away as well.

This is likely happened because whomever built the carport didn't overhang the roof more than about an inch. There was no flashing, so rain was able to blow in under the roof. Dan could also see where the roof was leaking. We figure the plywood ceiling is the only thing holding the carport together.

In the end we decided to put the tarp back and leave it be. Hopefully it will last long enough for us to finish our outbuilding projects (one more to go) and then we'll just tear it down. I'd kind of like to use the space for an outdoor kitchen, but we'll see.

We've managed to salvage quite a few things on our place, but sometimes things just aren't salvageable.

A Project Never Mind © April 2017 by

Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Shade Cloth & Thoughts on the Hoop House

With our recent bout of spring-like weather I switched the hoop house to shade cloth.

The setting sun comes in this side so I'll need one more piece to shade it.

Our chances of frost decrease to less than 50% by mid-April, so soon it will be time to plant warm weather veggies.

I've never used shade cloth before so this is something of an experiment for me.

Shade cloth is knitted (or woven) polyethylene fabric.
This one by Agfabric gives 60% blockage of the sun.

Because of that I didn't choose a particularly expensive brand. It's a 60% cloth with grommets to tie it to the structure. Of course I had help.

Meowy, log wrestling.

Hopefully I can extend the life of our salad garden so that we can enjoy fresh green salads for longer into the summer than we're usually able.

While I worked I reflected on the hoop house and it's usefulness. In the eight winters we've been here we've had two that were terribly cold and garden unfriendly. Then we've had a few that were extremely mild so that the winter garden was highly productive. Mostly the temperatures fluctuate from below freezing at night to above freezing during the day. This is tolerable for most cool weather vegetables, so a protected growing area is only occasionally necessary. It's just that I never know beforehand if any particular winter will need it.

This winter was unusual in that it was either mild or cold with less daily fluctuation than usual. The poly cover protected from frost but not freezing temperatures, although everything growing in the hoop house bounced back nicely. When we had our warm spells, however, the hoop house trapped the heat and was too hot to keep cool weather plants happy. I had to roll up the plastic and open the door to vent it. Even so, my arugula bolted in February!

My other concern was how quickly the raised beds dried out. Of course the poly cover kept out the rain, but with warm days and drying winds, it seemed like I had to water every day. I suppose the extra work ought to be worth all those salads we've gotten, but still, it's got me wondering if this was the best option and the best set-up for us.

No conclusions have been reached; I'm just recording my thoughts and observations. And I'm curious about your experiences with growing in a hoop house or poly tunnel. Has it gone well? Have you had problems? How have you solved them? What are your best tips? Care to share?

Shade Cloth & Thoughts on the Hoop House © 

March 2017 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/