Friday, December 16, 2011

Greenhouse update



We have been steadily working on the new greenhouse for the last few weekends. We have been very fortunate that the weather has stayed so nice. Although the warm temperatures meant we were trudging through lots of mud, made a tough job just that much harder with all that extra weight attached to your boots!! The days are getting colder so we have to kick it up a notch. We have had some great help which has really speeded things up. A big thanks to Andrew Waugh, Andrew Chappell, Natalie Woodburn-Heron, Larry Lecky, Gerry Reicheld, Mike Cormier and my Dad, Gordon Waugh. I also can't forget to mention my Mom who has watched the boys so I've been able to help out as well. We are still a fair bit away from being finished but we can definitely see the end in sight. We have to get a trench dug for power and water which is a pretty big job but hopefully I can find someone locally with a trench digger who can do it for us. We could rent one but time is getting to be a bit of an issue!!

The greenhouse is 30X96 and we purchased the kit from Multi Shelter Solutions in Ontario. They have amazing customer service and are always ready and available to help when issues come up. We can't say enough about how great they have been to work with. We are building the end walls using pretty heavy materials but knowing what our Island winds are like we decided to build it extra strong to hopefully sleep better at night during those nasty Island gales!!!

We are very excited about the new greenhouse, it is something we have been wanting to have since we started farming in 2006. We are looking forward to spending time in there basking in the sun during the chilly winter days. We will be able to expand our CSA offerings greatly by being able to add an extended season that the greenhouse will be able to provide. We are also really excited to have so much more space to grow seedlings for early spring sales and CSA plantings.

Here are some pictures of our progress.



Waugh's Construction getting started to level the ground


Working away


Two hours later, almost perfectly level!!


Tractor trailor dropped off alot of material


More stuff


Lots of smaller stuff too


More materials


Getting started


Setting up the hoops


The end of the first day, sure looks impressive for one day



The next day was very cold, poor Mike's fingers were so red while he and Derek started putting up the top level of supports


Derek and Natalie working away on the top layer


Just about finished


Getting the holes dug for the 6X6 end posts


Derek treating the end posts, organic standards do not allow for pressure treated wood, hopefully our homemade recipe will work!!!




Larry Lecky came to help us with the end walls. Carpenter extraordinaire!!


Getting started on the end walls


Roll up side material all installed


Dad working on the header for the man door


End walls going up


Both end walls pretty much done. The west door still needs the header to be completed.



So pretty at sunset


Dreaming of what yummy goodness will be growing in there soon

The weather this weekend is supposed to be rather chilly but we're hoping to have the man door installed, plywood all installed on both end walls and the channel lock installed as well. Hopefully everything goes according to plan!!

We'll keep the pictures coming as progress continues.

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