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Greenhouse 101 with cover crops seeded and mini wobblers irrigating the seed in!
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New washing machine and dryer installed in the barn! (click on the pictures for a full page view!)
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Greenhouse 102 with cover crops seeded and mini wobblers irrigating the seed in!
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We have installed a new washing machine and dryer in our barn apartment for our apprentices and have completed seeding a cover crop in our greenhouses!It has been a month since our last market sale so we have certainly been enjoying a little bit of a relaxed schedule. It seems that once we ‘wind down†from the intense spring and summer schedule, into our winter schedule, it almost brings on a depression because it feels as though we aren’t getting much done. During the Spring/Summer, we can be frequently heard saying about various jobs, “oh, we can do that during the winterâ€, and then once winter arrives, there are only a couple months to complete these jobs, so a part of us wants to take a little breather and work a lighter schedule, but the other part wants to get so many things done in preparation for Spring, because once Spring arrives there is no spare time. I just wonder if other farmers have these feelings.  Perhaps it is only the very small farmer because they are the ones who can’t quite justify the expense of an employee during the winter.  Our winter hours are probably equal to those of someone working a regular 9 to 5 job!
Our first completed job this winter was installing a washing machine and dryer for our apprentices.   When we constructed the upstairs of the barn, our intent was to provide space in the bathroom for a small washing machine, with the expectation that our farm help could use the clothes line in the barn sheds for drying their clothes. This worked well for a couple years, then we had requests for a dryer, so for the past couple of years we have been purchasing used washing machines and dryers from the IWANNA newspaper (our used goods newspaper), and it seems these used appliances only last a season.  So this year we purchased a BRAND SPANKING NEW washing machine and dryer. The only problem… The space we allocated in the barn was too small for modern appliances.  (We sized the space in the bathroom for old appliances built a littler smaller.) So we just completed making a recessed space in the bathroom wall that required us to remove par of the wall and re-wire the bathroom so the wiring could be routed away from the washer/dryer, finally reframing the recessed area so that it looks OK. Thank goodness we had a 2×6 wet wall which provided enough space to recess the washer/dryer enough so that the bathroom door closes; however, we had to change the direction the bathroom door swings so that it closes. It is a little awkward because when entering the bathroom, the light switch is now behind the door, but once you know your way in the dark it isn’t so bad. We did wash a load of towels and the washer/dryer works great!Â
Our second completed job was seeding cover crops in our greenhouses. This requires that we pull out the plants, trellis (cattle panels and T-posts), roll up drip tape, seed the cover crop, and install our mini-wobblers to water the cover crop in. This year we are trying a bi-culture using mustards, crimson clover and Austrian winter Pea. This is our first attempt at trying to use mustards which we hope will act as a soil fumigant for Pythium which is a soil born disease that just this past season was the cause for us to loose a third of our greenhouse cucumber crop
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