We had a WINDY day on Wednesday! With sustained wind speeds in the 30 to 40 mile per hour range and gusts up to 64 miles per hour, it was a full time job making sure our hoop houses didn't leave us. We were lucky and had no major casualties. And now we know our newly construct greenhouse can tolerate such high wind speeds. We found some weak spots and shored them up and can move forward feeling confident.
I am grateful for the modern weather forecasts that allowed us to prepare for this wind event. Tuesday we battened down the hatches, bracing old barn doors shut, lashing down the roll up sides of our hoop house, tying down various tarps, and collecting piles. I scheduled Wednesday to work on our organic application, with an early bird due date of March 13th, and our taxes, with their impending due date. I figured some nice indoor activities to keep me out of the wind. Indoors was not to be for us though.
What an amazing reminder of the power of the nature's systems. On occasion I was almost knocked from my feet. I could lean into the wind as though it would support me. It was so loud I felt like I was at sea. My hair felt like strands of metal whenever the wind lashed them against my face.. I encouraged every bird I saw to stay on the ground. You can see the way the plastic on the greenhouse undulated with the wind from the pictures below, a problem further exacerbated by the loss of electricity, depowering our inflation fan. We stepped inside periodically to give our ears and faces a rest.
I am grateful for the modern weather forecasts that allowed us to prepare for this wind event. Tuesday we battened down the hatches, bracing old barn doors shut, lashing down the roll up sides of our hoop house, tying down various tarps, and collecting piles. I scheduled Wednesday to work on our organic application, with an early bird due date of March 13th, and our taxes, with their impending due date. I figured some nice indoor activities to keep me out of the wind. Indoors was not to be for us though.
What an amazing reminder of the power of the nature's systems. On occasion I was almost knocked from my feet. I could lean into the wind as though it would support me. It was so loud I felt like I was at sea. My hair felt like strands of metal whenever the wind lashed them against my face.. I encouraged every bird I saw to stay on the ground. You can see the way the plastic on the greenhouse undulated with the wind from the pictures below, a problem further exacerbated by the loss of electricity, depowering our inflation fan. We stepped inside periodically to give our ears and faces a rest.
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This week we also got our walk-in cooler closer to being set up. It is a pretty involved job, hefty our "modular" panels about. They are heavy and awkward and prefer to be moved with six people. Our friend Mark helped us get the panels out of the shipping container. I learned a new lifting method, where you put a strap under the heavy item then lift with the strap from an upright position rather than squatting down to risk your fingers and lift from a low leverage, lower back intensive fashion. After all that, Jim and I got it all set up and connected. Next week, after a few finishing touches to the insulation, it will be ready for use!
Jim and I built this walk-in cooler in 2014. It was our first united, large scale project and it came out pretty great. It survived three seasons at Whistling Wolf Farm and 10 hour ride in the shipping container. All the way from New Jersey, we present our Walk-In Cooler! Here to provide many years of excellent vegetable cooling!
Just last week we started our first seeds in the greenhouse! Onions, celery, celery root, leeks, head lettuce, and a bunch of different perennial herbs (rosemary, sage, and thyme to name a few.) This week, we started our cabbage, kale, chard, and kohlrabi. It is worth noting, that as early as it feels, we are actually a little behind on our seeding schedule. This is because the greenhouse isn't quite done. So we are doing it the old fashioned way! We put up a temporary partition inside the house, ran an extension cord out, and plugged in a little heater. It is buffering about 20 degrees. Temperatures at night sometimes drop to close to freezing in there. Because of this we decided to start our tomatoes in the kitchen. Despite this, our onions have already germinated and are pushing out of the soil.
Our greenhouse in a greenhouse! For the times when all the boulders must go up the hill at the same time.
Other things going on:
Fresh from the hoop!
Choi
Chard
Kale
Spinach
Turnips
Markets this week, always rain or shine!
Dexter Winterplace Farmers' Market
Inside the Dexter Senior Center
7720 Ann Arbor St, Dexter, Michigan 48130
9 am to 1 pm
- It is that time of year where we obsessively look at the weather forecast. Much different than the other times of year, haha yea right. But this time of year, it is special. We are watching for our opportunity to "get into the field" to prep the ground for the first time of the season. And this year, it will be our first time ever working this ground. The end of March is looking pretty good and thank goodness for that because we are supposed to be planting by the first week of April!
- Jim replaced the muffler on our Farmall 140! And I got to drive it down our road!
- We have a Giant Ant Hill! I may have mentioned this before but I am really excited to discover what type of ants they are and watch their activity levels change throughout the year. I will be certain to update you.
- CSA sign-ups in full effect! We offer a declining balance model where you pick out what you want at market and we take it out of your account. More information on our CSA here!
- We are Hiring Interns! Check out this ad for more information.
Fresh from the hoop!
Choi
Chard
Kale
Spinach
Turnips
Markets this week, always rain or shine!
Dexter Winterplace Farmers' Market
Inside the Dexter Senior Center
7720 Ann Arbor St, Dexter, Michigan 48130
9 am to 1 pm
Our Giant Ant Hill. Exie the dog for scale.
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