Post by ncsfsgm on May 9, 2022 20:41:17 GMT -6
Chapter 37
A little over two weeks later, the construction crew was there to put the footing and floor in for the greenhouse.
Diane was now taking frequent excursions to garden centers gather gardening tools and getting ides for plantings. Spring fever was cursing through her blood. Hank sometimes went with her but mostly let her take the reins in the planning of what they would plant. He turned his focus to the glade and planting of grasses and animal attractants. After he talked to the greenhouse experts, they took his idea of using a wood fired outdoor furnace with reluctance, after all, they were a renewal energy company. After he show them the specifications of the furnace he had in mind they showed interest, when they read the actual emissions of the unit. With the catalytic element, there was little to no smoke, if carefully attended. They took his plan and ran with it, asking his permission to use his idea in further testing and asking to monitor his setup as one of their test beds. Hank began tilling and seeding the glade and fine tuned his placements of mineral blocks. He not only used the mineral blocks but also used granules and liquid attractants also. Used either alone, or in combination, he seeded several different plots and placed trail cameras on them to see what the deer in the area liked the best.
Hank stayed so busy during the day he would not see the progress done by the installers until the evenings. When they started assembling the sides and roof structure, things moved rapidly, with technicians checking and double checking electrical connections and doing systems tests every step of the way. True to their word, on the third day of the actual installation, the final tests were done. The outdoor furnace had been installed and they had devised a thermostat the would keep the heat in the greenhouse at a constant level and in conjunction with other thermostats for the exhaust vents, would keep the greenhouse at a constant coolness in the summertime when needed. Hank reminded them he wanted a complete set of working instructions when they completed the contract.
The day the "keys" were turned over to Hank and Diane, several of the greenhouse company high muckety-mucks were on hand. Hank had allowed them to take pictures throughout the installation and signed releases, but made sure the release did not allow for them to give out the location of the installation and asked the location ability be turned off on all cameras and phones. They readily agreed and took hundreds of pictures that would be used by their advertising and PR people.
After everyone had left, Diane and Hank took the plastic off the beds one by one. The spring warmth, multiplied by the plastic covering, had caused the weeds and forest vine roots to sprout and stick up above the soil. They carefully removed each sprout until a bed was cleaned, then moved on to the next one. When they had cleared all the beds, Diane went over her list of things to be planted. it was still early in the spring to plant but with the furnace heating, there was no danger of the young plants and sprouts being damaged by cold weather and frost. Diane had ordered heirloom vegetable seeds from a well-known company and planted peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, onions, a bed of Honeydew melons, and potatoes, but the potatoes they planted in boxes that Hank had built. Diane had found the picture and description of the boxes in a homesteading magazine and Hank made them so the screws that held the boards on the sides of the boxes could be removed and the soil and potatoes could be removed with little mess. The boxes were placed along the southeast side of the greenhouse. They had to hand water everything right then, but Hank was going to put up a modified version of a wildlife waterer he had seen in the Negev Desert. There, they had built a cone-like rainwater collector, camouflaged it to look like the surrounding rock, that fed into a tank that distributed water to the animals. Hank was going to use a 1000-gallon agriculture tank with a large sheet metal rain collection cone on top. The water would be gravity fed into the greenhouse. Should the tank ever overflow, the excess water would be piped down to an intermediate stream on the east side of the ridge.
As soon as the gardening centers begin to receive plants, They bought onion sets, tomato plants, pepper plants (both sweet and bell). The beds, except for the melon bed, were planted in stages so the vegetables would ripen in stages and give them a long harvesting season. Hank also built two strawberry towers placed on the west end of the greenhouse. He built them so they could be rotated if one side wasn't getting enough sun. Hank had to special order the number of stainless steel screws he needed for that project. They were off to a good start.
"Are you going to pick up the tank today?" Diane asked.
"Yes, I've got the stand ready. I can lift it up with the tractor bucket to get it in place."
"Is that going to be enough to water the greenhouse?"
"Mostly, but in case we don't get our yearly average of forty inches of rain, I'm setting up a fill pipe from the well. We'll have enough water."
Hank got the tank in place. The hardest part was putting the rain collector together. He'd had the sheet metal cut and then he had to drill and pop rivet the pieces together, then wait for a day with little or no wind to put it into place. He came up with a breakaway fastener that would release the large cone collector in case the wind caught it and before it could drag the tank off the stand. If that happened, all he would be out would be the collector cone, if he couldn't repair it.
Diane didn't go completely organic, she used blood meal but also Miracle Gro. The plants were flourishing. Toward the end of April, she had Hank till up a forty foot patch below the greenhouse to plant blackberry plants. With a liberal application of compost, they shot up and were soon starting to bloom. Hank put up trail cameras around, covering the greenhouse, to see who was visiting. Max was always on intimidation patrols to keep the curious away.
Both Hank and Diane got their turkeys during the Spring hunt. One was roasted right away and they froze the other one. They caught the flock with the toms strutting in the open glade and took what look to be the two oldest toms. There were plenty of jakes in the flock so they weren't worried about the continuation of the flock. When Hank had planted the glade he had planted things both deer and turkeys foraged on. Although the plants weren't mature yet, the turkeys word eating what bugs they could find.
"Come go with me to Walmart." Diane said
"What's up?"
"I called and they have denim fabric, I want to make some work aprons for the greenhouse."
"All righty. Let me get my boots on."
"You could wear these." Diane grinned, holding up a pair of moccasins with rubber soles.
Hank slipped them on and tied the leather laces. "These feel good!"
I sewed in Dr. Scholl's pads in them. I hope they are comfortable."
"Oh, they definitely are! Better than sneakers!" Hank replied.
They drove to the Walmart Supercenter in Cassville and while Diane was shopping in the sewing notion area, Hank browsed through the sporting goods and camping section, not buying, just looking, until Diane came and found him. She led them into the kitchen wares area and picked up four cases of Mason quart jars and three cases of pints."
"Why are you buying jars now?" Hank asked.
"Because when canning season gets here, you won't find any in the county." Diane responded.
Diane also picked up a 5 Piece canning set that included Tongs, Jar Lifter, Jar Wrench, Magnetic Lid Lifter and a Wide-mouth Funnel.
"I've already ordered an All American pressure canner. It doesn't need a gasket. I want to get at least 20 dozen quart and pint jars to make sure we don't run out."
"Where are we going to store them?"
"We could use the other bedroom in the cabin." Diane answered.
Hank shrugged. "Well, let's do the canning in the cabin. It will be hotter than blue blazes come canning time. We can put a fan in the window near the stove and get some cross ventilation."
Diane nodded and added two cases of jelly jars to the cart.
"Cart's full!" Hank announced.
Diane smirked. "Go get another one, please. I'll wait here for you."
Hank sighed and went to get another grocery cart.
"Want to cook on the pit tonight?" Diane asked.
"Sounds good to me."
They went over to the meat section and got two choice rib eye steaks, went to the produce area and picked out baking potatoes and picked up a bag of salad mix. Diane made a U-turn and went back to the dairy section and got sour cream and butter.
They got home and Hank carried the canning supplies into the cabin while Diane put the food away but left the steaks out to warm up to room temperature. Hank went out and swung the grill to the side, built a fire out of oak firewood and uncovered the tables and chairs. The sun could still shine through the developing leaves and a nice little breeze occasionally fluttered the leaves. The fire was coming along nicely so Hank went over to the battery bank building and checked the meters. Everything was in the green. This system was really amazing. Yes, it had cost them, but he felt it was worth it to be free from the power conglomerates. He had more than enough power for the house and cabin and was considering adding another circuit to the cabin for a possible surprise for Diane.
Hank walked back to the pit and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs. Diane came out with two camper goblets of wine.
"Woah! What is this?"
"It's a Catawba, made by a winery up in Fredricktown." Diane replied.
"It's a nice, semi-sweet wine. Pretty good for an afternoon like this. How is the exhaust fan working."
"Excellent! the house is comfortable. Of course, I have windows open so it's drawing in the shaded outside air too."
Hank had a D.C. fan installed over the wood cookstove to suck out the hot air from around the cook stove in the summertime. With the addition of vents in the roof, walls and foundation, the house stayed cooler in the summer and got rid of moisture and pressure also.
They sat there enjoying the afternoon, sipping wine and talking about their garden. Deciding to have an early supper, Diane wet the potatoes, covered them in Kosher salt and wrapped them in foil. Hank sprinkled salt, pepper and garlic powder on the steaks and let them rest. They took the potatoes out to the grill to let them cook, refilling their wine goblets on the way out.
"So, how are you planning to preserve the strawberries? Hank asked.
"Well, I want to freeze some, make jams and jellies and if we could get a freeze-dryer, freeze dry some."
"Do you have a particular freeze-dryer in mind?"
"Yes, I've done some research."
"Well, go ahead and order it. We could freeze-dry a number of things. When they have those #10 cans of corn on sale at Walmart, You can drain and freeze-dry those things too. Properly packaged, they would last longer in storage than in the can. You'll need to order those mylar bags and a sealer too."
'I'll look into it." Diana said, turning the potatoes.
A little over two weeks later, the construction crew was there to put the footing and floor in for the greenhouse.
Diane was now taking frequent excursions to garden centers gather gardening tools and getting ides for plantings. Spring fever was cursing through her blood. Hank sometimes went with her but mostly let her take the reins in the planning of what they would plant. He turned his focus to the glade and planting of grasses and animal attractants. After he talked to the greenhouse experts, they took his idea of using a wood fired outdoor furnace with reluctance, after all, they were a renewal energy company. After he show them the specifications of the furnace he had in mind they showed interest, when they read the actual emissions of the unit. With the catalytic element, there was little to no smoke, if carefully attended. They took his plan and ran with it, asking his permission to use his idea in further testing and asking to monitor his setup as one of their test beds. Hank began tilling and seeding the glade and fine tuned his placements of mineral blocks. He not only used the mineral blocks but also used granules and liquid attractants also. Used either alone, or in combination, he seeded several different plots and placed trail cameras on them to see what the deer in the area liked the best.
Hank stayed so busy during the day he would not see the progress done by the installers until the evenings. When they started assembling the sides and roof structure, things moved rapidly, with technicians checking and double checking electrical connections and doing systems tests every step of the way. True to their word, on the third day of the actual installation, the final tests were done. The outdoor furnace had been installed and they had devised a thermostat the would keep the heat in the greenhouse at a constant level and in conjunction with other thermostats for the exhaust vents, would keep the greenhouse at a constant coolness in the summertime when needed. Hank reminded them he wanted a complete set of working instructions when they completed the contract.
The day the "keys" were turned over to Hank and Diane, several of the greenhouse company high muckety-mucks were on hand. Hank had allowed them to take pictures throughout the installation and signed releases, but made sure the release did not allow for them to give out the location of the installation and asked the location ability be turned off on all cameras and phones. They readily agreed and took hundreds of pictures that would be used by their advertising and PR people.
After everyone had left, Diane and Hank took the plastic off the beds one by one. The spring warmth, multiplied by the plastic covering, had caused the weeds and forest vine roots to sprout and stick up above the soil. They carefully removed each sprout until a bed was cleaned, then moved on to the next one. When they had cleared all the beds, Diane went over her list of things to be planted. it was still early in the spring to plant but with the furnace heating, there was no danger of the young plants and sprouts being damaged by cold weather and frost. Diane had ordered heirloom vegetable seeds from a well-known company and planted peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, onions, a bed of Honeydew melons, and potatoes, but the potatoes they planted in boxes that Hank had built. Diane had found the picture and description of the boxes in a homesteading magazine and Hank made them so the screws that held the boards on the sides of the boxes could be removed and the soil and potatoes could be removed with little mess. The boxes were placed along the southeast side of the greenhouse. They had to hand water everything right then, but Hank was going to put up a modified version of a wildlife waterer he had seen in the Negev Desert. There, they had built a cone-like rainwater collector, camouflaged it to look like the surrounding rock, that fed into a tank that distributed water to the animals. Hank was going to use a 1000-gallon agriculture tank with a large sheet metal rain collection cone on top. The water would be gravity fed into the greenhouse. Should the tank ever overflow, the excess water would be piped down to an intermediate stream on the east side of the ridge.
As soon as the gardening centers begin to receive plants, They bought onion sets, tomato plants, pepper plants (both sweet and bell). The beds, except for the melon bed, were planted in stages so the vegetables would ripen in stages and give them a long harvesting season. Hank also built two strawberry towers placed on the west end of the greenhouse. He built them so they could be rotated if one side wasn't getting enough sun. Hank had to special order the number of stainless steel screws he needed for that project. They were off to a good start.
"Are you going to pick up the tank today?" Diane asked.
"Yes, I've got the stand ready. I can lift it up with the tractor bucket to get it in place."
"Is that going to be enough to water the greenhouse?"
"Mostly, but in case we don't get our yearly average of forty inches of rain, I'm setting up a fill pipe from the well. We'll have enough water."
Hank got the tank in place. The hardest part was putting the rain collector together. He'd had the sheet metal cut and then he had to drill and pop rivet the pieces together, then wait for a day with little or no wind to put it into place. He came up with a breakaway fastener that would release the large cone collector in case the wind caught it and before it could drag the tank off the stand. If that happened, all he would be out would be the collector cone, if he couldn't repair it.
Diane didn't go completely organic, she used blood meal but also Miracle Gro. The plants were flourishing. Toward the end of April, she had Hank till up a forty foot patch below the greenhouse to plant blackberry plants. With a liberal application of compost, they shot up and were soon starting to bloom. Hank put up trail cameras around, covering the greenhouse, to see who was visiting. Max was always on intimidation patrols to keep the curious away.
Both Hank and Diane got their turkeys during the Spring hunt. One was roasted right away and they froze the other one. They caught the flock with the toms strutting in the open glade and took what look to be the two oldest toms. There were plenty of jakes in the flock so they weren't worried about the continuation of the flock. When Hank had planted the glade he had planted things both deer and turkeys foraged on. Although the plants weren't mature yet, the turkeys word eating what bugs they could find.
"Come go with me to Walmart." Diane said
"What's up?"
"I called and they have denim fabric, I want to make some work aprons for the greenhouse."
"All righty. Let me get my boots on."
"You could wear these." Diane grinned, holding up a pair of moccasins with rubber soles.
Hank slipped them on and tied the leather laces. "These feel good!"
I sewed in Dr. Scholl's pads in them. I hope they are comfortable."
"Oh, they definitely are! Better than sneakers!" Hank replied.
They drove to the Walmart Supercenter in Cassville and while Diane was shopping in the sewing notion area, Hank browsed through the sporting goods and camping section, not buying, just looking, until Diane came and found him. She led them into the kitchen wares area and picked up four cases of Mason quart jars and three cases of pints."
"Why are you buying jars now?" Hank asked.
"Because when canning season gets here, you won't find any in the county." Diane responded.
Diane also picked up a 5 Piece canning set that included Tongs, Jar Lifter, Jar Wrench, Magnetic Lid Lifter and a Wide-mouth Funnel.
"I've already ordered an All American pressure canner. It doesn't need a gasket. I want to get at least 20 dozen quart and pint jars to make sure we don't run out."
"Where are we going to store them?"
"We could use the other bedroom in the cabin." Diane answered.
Hank shrugged. "Well, let's do the canning in the cabin. It will be hotter than blue blazes come canning time. We can put a fan in the window near the stove and get some cross ventilation."
Diane nodded and added two cases of jelly jars to the cart.
"Cart's full!" Hank announced.
Diane smirked. "Go get another one, please. I'll wait here for you."
Hank sighed and went to get another grocery cart.
"Want to cook on the pit tonight?" Diane asked.
"Sounds good to me."
They went over to the meat section and got two choice rib eye steaks, went to the produce area and picked out baking potatoes and picked up a bag of salad mix. Diane made a U-turn and went back to the dairy section and got sour cream and butter.
They got home and Hank carried the canning supplies into the cabin while Diane put the food away but left the steaks out to warm up to room temperature. Hank went out and swung the grill to the side, built a fire out of oak firewood and uncovered the tables and chairs. The sun could still shine through the developing leaves and a nice little breeze occasionally fluttered the leaves. The fire was coming along nicely so Hank went over to the battery bank building and checked the meters. Everything was in the green. This system was really amazing. Yes, it had cost them, but he felt it was worth it to be free from the power conglomerates. He had more than enough power for the house and cabin and was considering adding another circuit to the cabin for a possible surprise for Diane.
Hank walked back to the pit and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs. Diane came out with two camper goblets of wine.
"Woah! What is this?"
"It's a Catawba, made by a winery up in Fredricktown." Diane replied.
"It's a nice, semi-sweet wine. Pretty good for an afternoon like this. How is the exhaust fan working."
"Excellent! the house is comfortable. Of course, I have windows open so it's drawing in the shaded outside air too."
Hank had a D.C. fan installed over the wood cookstove to suck out the hot air from around the cook stove in the summertime. With the addition of vents in the roof, walls and foundation, the house stayed cooler in the summer and got rid of moisture and pressure also.
They sat there enjoying the afternoon, sipping wine and talking about their garden. Deciding to have an early supper, Diane wet the potatoes, covered them in Kosher salt and wrapped them in foil. Hank sprinkled salt, pepper and garlic powder on the steaks and let them rest. They took the potatoes out to the grill to let them cook, refilling their wine goblets on the way out.
"So, how are you planning to preserve the strawberries? Hank asked.
"Well, I want to freeze some, make jams and jellies and if we could get a freeze-dryer, freeze dry some."
"Do you have a particular freeze-dryer in mind?"
"Yes, I've done some research."
"Well, go ahead and order it. We could freeze-dry a number of things. When they have those #10 cans of corn on sale at Walmart, You can drain and freeze-dry those things too. Properly packaged, they would last longer in storage than in the can. You'll need to order those mylar bags and a sealer too."
'I'll look into it." Diana said, turning the potatoes.