Mom's Fort, a.k.a. The Hillbilly Hoophouse

Despite the permanent row system working out so well that we decided to expand them, it appears something is still missing out there...

Yep. There. Right there. That big strip of grass between the Asparagus and Blackberry beds and the garden itself. It needs a greenhouse!

While my plan is to phase out tiller use entirely, our hard-pan soil clay soil won't let us retire the old gal just yet. We tilled the spot multiple times over the season, encouraging all the little weed seeds to sprout to their little heart's content, tilling them under again before going to seed. Had I a little bit of foresight, I would have sown a couple growths of cover crop, ending with a forage crop for the new laying hens I plan on growing out in here over it's first winter. Alas, foresight is not one of my better talents.

Using a bunch of the free 3/4" electrical conduit Hub's got from work, we cut 3' off of the coupling end of each piece, which we pounded into the ground 2'. 

Our property is mildly sloped, and a hoophouse need not be perfectly level. On each coupling piece we made a mark for how far to drive it in, then used a 2x4 laid across the tops from one to the next to keep them roughly straight across.

Laying out the arches and deciding on the fly just how big we wanted this monster to be.

Always hire competent help and be sure to pay them well. For four year old boys, I highly recommend a steady income of matchbox cars and a personal pile of dirt to bury them in. Someone should really pay more attention to this poor child however, I think his hoody is on backwards!

The hoops are up! The cross bars are glued in place utilizing "cross" fittings from the plumbing department. Grey electrical pipe holds up better to the sunlight than the white plumbing kind, but in the smaller sizes electrical and plumbing pipe sizes are interchangeable, and they don't make the crosses in grey.

Our model for scale, sporting his fixed hoody.

We used 2x4 to frame the ends and enable a hinged door, we also used strapping to add a support brace along the sides, which will eventually hold the sides rolled up during the summer...we hope. We haven't engineered that little issue yet.

In my internet travels I came across a raised bed cloche how-to, which the author described his problem with snowfall collapsing his arches until he added a two inch ridge along the top. Well, if some is good, more is better. Right? We one hole strapped a 2x4 on it's side for our ridge, and so far she seems to be shedding snow like a boss, granted we've only had 3" so far, but it seems to be working!

I thought I'd save money by using builders roll plastic one the ends...big mistake. Within a week it was already causing problems. The builders 3 mil stuff might only be a single mil thinner than the greenhouse film we covered the arches with--but that single little mil makes a HUGE difference. 

We bought the arch piece of greenhouse film from Ag Solutions, and it ended up cheaper than the roll of junk! Any guesses as to what we'll be changing out next spring?

Along the bottom is 1x3 board which the greenhouse film is stapled to.

The chicks are loving it, along with the leaves we gave them to use as bedding. The leaves will be shredded by them and mixed with their droppings to make a nice rich humus in our crappy soil. During the day it's running about 20°F or more above outdoor temps. With nothing to hold the heat but a handful of growing chicks though the night the temps stabilize and mirror outside temperature. With a couple of heat sinks, black barrels of water or an actual heated aquaponics set up, she should hold much better. 

Hop on over to the Homestead Barn Hop for lots more great posts from some really awesome blogs!

What's happenin' with the squares...

There has been so many goings on, and with a lack of a camera for so long, I haven't documented a one! So here is a quick wrap up since October, and with any luck I can start keeping up again now that I have a new camera...

We adopted a three legged dog. She's smart as a whip, tries really hard to anticipate what I want, including herding the animals, and is suprisingly agile for a dog missing a back leg!

As you can see, she's come a long way from the picture that tore my heart out when I saw her on facebook last October.

We bought a buck. As intimidated as I was about buying an adult buck since we have human kids, let alone actually owning one of the smelly things on our small lot, I needn't have been concerned. He has turned out to be as people oriented as the girls are. In the off season he really doesn't smell like anything other than a slightly dirty barn...not near what they are reported to be, though come breeding season and rut, he will live up to that reputation I'm sure.
(For the uninitiated, intact male goats pee on themselves during breeding season. Which is, fortunately, during the winter when the neighbors windows are closed! Goat girls apparently find it irresistable. Ick!)

I happened into free almost adult turkeys on craigslist. I thought they'd be my trials to see if I wanted to raise a breeding trio of them. I fell in love with the silly things...

The rabbits are all moved into their new quarters that I built over the winter. Proud to say that, until the roof and the manure shelf, I didn't have a lick of help!

We downscaled, but concentrated the gardens this year. I like the size, and am keeping up with it well enough. (There's way more than this-don't let the pic fool you!)

The first call duck pen built out of recycled wood and feed sacks is done and waiting on a successful hatch. Call ducks are another new venture for us.

We found out our rabbits have a curly haired gene called "Astrex". The most recent litter produced a lilac astrex buck. I'm toying with the idea of trying to isolate the gene, while keeping the size and meat qualities of the flemish giant breed.

As much as I love them, we are down to just a trio of Muscovy now.  My husband hated dressing them, and I certainly won't do it. Hubs pretty much lets me have free reign when it comes to the animals, I figure I'd better keep him happy by keeping the ducks to a minimum.

We built some much needed compost bins from free skids and feed sacks...

We also added bees....

and yes, that's a harvestable hive. I'm going to leave that as a teaser for you because I want to do a full post on it in the near future!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything. Summer was gone in the blink of an eye, like it always seems to do.
  I'll try to do a catch-up post soon. If you were waiting on the strawberry barrel how-to, it was a total bust and killed all but 5 of the 20 or so plants I'd managed to save from the flood. Out of 100 plants and two years, I think we got one. That's one BERRY!
 Oh well, ya' live and ya' learn, and I've still got so very much to learn.


 Right now I want to turn thoughts to Christmas. Now don't groan and yell at me that  "IT'S TOO EARLY!"  I'm going to try and make it easier on you, or at least a whole lot cheaper and hopefully more enjoyable in the long run.

 My family has done semi-homemade Christmases for a few years now, and everyone seems to really enjoy it. Our only problem has been the kids. It's really hard to make crafts and what-not for kids that won't get you an awkward and grudging "Uh, thanks...." as they toss it forgotten into a pile of wrapping paper and move on quickly, looking for the next branded toy that was on their list.

 I am putting an end to it for our family. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say my kids, 6 and 2, just don't play with that stuff. For the fourth year in a row my daughter has asked for a very much coveted and popular branded toy, only to ignore it completely within a month.

 One year she had to have a computerized doll that did all sorts of creepy things, including recognizing it's name. She opened it, gave the appropriate excited reaction: then when we turned it on to program it's name, she was petrified of the fact it was talking to her. She never turned it on again and it went to GoodWill over a year later, completely unplayed with.

 Kids love crafts. Kids also love nature. Entirely too many people, kids and parents alike, have forgotten how to enjoy either one. One of the gifts my daughter got the most enjoyment out of wasn't a toy at all. It was a hummingbird feeder I rarely managed to remember to refill. She however, kept an eagle eye on it and reminded me. It was also pointed out every time we had a hummer visiting by any family member who was near the window. Every single time. The goldfinch feeder was a big hit too.  These gifts were probably similar in price to the Disney Princesses gifts she was so excited about receiving for Christmas last year, but ask her where those princesses are now.

  Though I have to say I personally get a lot of entertainment value out of the zsu zsu pets that were one of last years most requested items. Our goofy dog has claimed them all as her "puppies" and hoards them under our bed. If the kids try to play with them she snatches them up and carries them right back as if they were her unruly children. Though it loses the cuteness when one of them gets a drop of dog slobber on its circuitry and makes little squeally noises endlessly at 3:00 in the morning.
 It gets even more annoying when I throw the offending "puppy" outside so I can get some sleep, but instead have to listen to the dog whine incessantly as she stares out the french doors at her defenseless outcast baby.

 The kids and I are building a fairy house right now, and even my 2 year old can barely contain his excitement when we get out and work on this simple little popsicle stick structure that's hot glued together. Dad and the kids went on a nature walk to the creek and collected sticks, rocks, reeds and moss to decorate it with. It will sit in our garden in the spring, and a fairy will hopefully find it to her liking and move in for the summer. Or a toad. Whatever.

My point is, "Why are we wasting so much money on stuff the commercials have made them think they want?"  I've got a couple ideas for individual family members that I'll share to start you thinking. I'll toss a couple of my own creations and ideas from past years at you too, but I'm throwing down the gauntlet and challenging you all to make your Christmas a whole lot less commercial this year.

 My grandmother, Nana, has a doll shop where she makes, sells, and repairs dolls of all different sizes and types. That's great for my niece who is doll crazy. My daughter tries to like them, but she's just not that into dolls. Since my daughter is into crafts, I've asked her Nana to just get a small tote or plastic bin and start throwing bits and pieces left over from her shop into it. Maybe put a bag of googly eyes and some pipe cleaners in it along with material bits and lace or ric rac. Add a plastic bangle bracelet or old flip flops to customize that we already have, and she has endless hours of craft fun that she will actually use.

My mother's boyfriend is a tinker-er. He's always building or fixing something. Whenever you build something there is always pieces parts left over. I challenged them with taking all the little bits of 2x4's left over and dowel rods, and what not and spending an hour cutting them into various shapes like squares, rectangles and triangles. Sand the edges over the next few nights while you watch t.v. then paint with dollar store cans of spray paint in bright colors and you suddenly have a huge collection of almost free blocks that my son will go nuts over.....for hours on end!

 Those ideas were pretty specific and tailored to the person giving, but with a little thought anyone can make a meaningful gift from home. Some of the things I've made in the past have been eucalyptus swags, Christmas wreaths from stuff I bought on clearance the January before, and recipes in a jar. All went over very well. You don't have to be crafty either, just think outside the box.

 Did you happen on a bunch of sample size coffee packets on clearance? Make a coffee themed gift basket with a thrift store basket and a pretty mug. Melt some chocolate chips in the microwave and dip plastic spoons (or neat thrift store metal ones) in it and wrap with colored saran wrap and ribbon. Congratualtions, you now have a basket worthy of Starbucks for the price of just one of their fancy coffees. My Dad loved this one when I made it for him.

 Teens?
 What teen doesn't like popcorn? A quick internet search will yield tons of recipes for seasonings to shake on popcorn. Make a couple and put them into dollar or thrift store salt and pepper shakers (put saran wrap under the lid to keep fresh until used) and add a bag of kernels and classic stove top directions printed on fancy card stock, then throw it all in another thrift store basket and you've got a hit. I haven't used this one myself yet, but probably will this year since I found some cute striped old timey popcorn boxes on clearance. Toss in a $10 movie rental gift card and you've got a slumber party in the making. Add another $10 gift card to a pizza place that delivers and you're the "cool" relative.

 Got a chocolate lover or two on your list?
 You can dip all kinds of things in microwave melted chocolate and repackage in pretty cellophane and have a few gourmet treat baskets for chump change. These are great for gift exchanges. If you pay attention to detail and package them pretty, it will look like you went way over your alloted price that everyone agreed upon then way overshoots anyway. It's up to you on whether you share that you put together four more just like it for the in-laws and the kids teachers for under the $30 limit!

There are all kinds of ideas and instructables on this big ol' internet. Think of your intended recipient for a minute and the things they like, then put a few key words in a search engine and you should come up with a ton of ideas. .... "Golfer gift basket" gave me those....surely you can take some of their ideas of what to put in the basket and fill your own for the golfer in your life.

People love getting gifts that are personal and prove you were thinking of them. You can do that this year and save money in the process.

Best part...it's only October and you have plenty of time to start watching for sales on items that would be cute in personalized gift baskets or thinking of cool things you could make or put together. Oh wait.... you were busy growling at me about it being too soon.