Building a greenhouse

I almost should have titled this "Building a greenhouse during a hurricane"  but that was a bit long.

The completed frame of the greenhouse.  2x4x10', cut at the top to form a peak, with a small triangle of plywood at the top, and a bracer about 1.5 feet down.  The entire frame is attached with rope at the top.  I wouldn't recommend this, if you can put wood straight across the very top to protect the plastic. 

Inside the mostly completed plastic cover.

The most up-to-date picture.  The plastic is tight, and the door is framed and cut.  The other end is capped with plywood.  Inside there is no wind, and I will be placing my soil blocks in here, as well as making more blocks.

Close up of the door.  That little flap of plastic will be cut away once I've built a door.

All in all, I wish I had built this greenhouse from PVC conduit pipe, which would have been much, much faster.  The plastic would last longer too.  I also would buy a product called "wiggle wire" which attaches to the bottom frame of the greenhouse, and holds the plastic without puncturing it.  It isn't expensive, and allows you to tighten the plastic from time to time.  

When the plastic on this this finally gives out, I will cover the north end with plywood, and paint it white.  Then, I will put polycarbonate panels on the south side, which will make it much stronger, and it will last many years.

A few days ago I had a few good friends here, and we got a lot done.  The plastic, of course, but we also planted about 160 bareroot strawberries, and collected a bunch of llama manure from my neighbor.  I planted a couple more packages of sunflowers, a bag of potatoes, and found that my neighbor has my favorite chicken, the Buff Orpington!  She also has a turkey, guinea fowl, and a bunch of sheep.

I should mention that the wind has been blowing about 27 kph, but from the east...normally it's north or west. I have no fencing to the east, so it's really irritating!  I have quite a bit more work to get done, but that greenhouse was the major project I wanted, and it's finished!  Sort of!  Needs a door!

Next project, get a brooder heater, and buy 400 chicks from a local nursery.  That's next wednesday.  Then, purchase electronet fencing, and some chick feeders and waterers.  And, a pump action 20 gauge shotgun.  Hey, a man's gotta have a shotgun!

I bet no-one in the world is talking about this right now!

I just got off my Facebook, where just about every single person in my friends list is rejoicing about the apparent death of Osama Bin Laden.  I though I would sound off about that too, although you might not like my opinion once you read it.  You've been warned.

WAR.  WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR.
Absolutely nothing.  Except stimulating the economy.  And keeping peoples attention focused from other, possibly more sinister events.
In 2001, 19 men flew some Jumbo Jets into a couple of massive buildings, and killed a lot of innocent people.  As we find out, the mastermind of this attack was an old man name Bin Laden.  He was not unknown to the world, or the US, nor did he act alone, and neither were his attacks "random" or "unprovoked".  The attacks themselves were horrible, and yet mysterious, and there are more questions than there are answers.  See "Loose Change" for more information about the collapsing of World Trade Centre 1 and 2, which were specifically designed to withstand the impact of an airplane in the 20's.

Ok, enough conspiracy.  Bin Laden fought for the CIA, who trained him to fight the Ruskies in Asscrackistan in the 80's.  He was an ally.  Then he wasn't.
After the 9/11 attacks, the US, and specifically Dick Cheney, and George "Dubya" Bush, went to war with Afghanistan, on the pretext that OBL was hiding there, which was NOT confirmed.

Based on that, the US bombed Afghanistan, and from 2001-present has killed EACH YEAR, the same number of INNOCENT CIVILIANS as the Americans killed in 9/11, about 3,000 a year.  Thousands more die of causes related to the war.  No one weeps for these people, except Afghanistan.
Iraq has been worse.  Millions are dead.  No one can remember why we are at war with Iraq without referring to the admitted lie of "weapons of mass destruction".

This is terror.  It is being waged against these countries by ourselves!  But, the soldiers who fight are not to blame.  They are fighting a politician's war.  Most of them are weary, they want the war to end, but the roadside bombs, shootings, and car bombs continue, and no one knows what to do next!

OBL is dead.  Nothing will change.  The war cannot be won, there is no objective to be taken, no people to be freed.  The people themselves produce "insurgents" who fight our men.  This bothers me, a lot.  A friend of mine just got back from A-stan, and he had no good words or news.  It is a dangerous place, and we should not be there!

VOTING
I don't often have two rants on one blog post, but tomorrow is election day, and I can't help myself.  Come with me down the rabbit hole, if you dare!
Voting for leaders is nothing new.  The Greeks did so, as did many ancient kingdoms, and hundred of countries today hold "elections", most of which are so clearly rigged, that we wonder why those people even bother to try!
In 1767, the original 13 American colonies revolted against King George because he dared to impose tariffs (taxes) on them.  Today, my government takes over 50% of my earnings to pay people to play solitare on thousands of computers, in hundreds of offices across Canada.  $10,000,000,000 goes to the smallest population group in Canada, who themselves pay no income taxes of any kind.  The leaders in these groups earn $300,000 for leading 1,200 people.  That money came from me, and you.
Tomorrow, millions of people will "cast a vote", and try to "make a difference".  None of them will, especially here in Alberta.  Millions of people will decide who will "lead our country".

The real question is this (for me):  Why can't I make my own decisions?  Why must I pick some one to lead me?

Not a single member of any political group in this country knows me.  Yet, they presume to take 1,000 hours of my time, every year, and commit my time to causes that they deem "worthy", but produce nothing.  They tell me that I cannot raise more than 2,000 chickens without buying "quota".  They forbid me to purchase raw milk, which I would like to drink.  They print, borrow, and spend money that no one has earned yet.  They have racked up $500,000,000,000 of debt, in my name and yours.  They have voted themselves pay raises, lavish and extravagant pensions, tax free allowances, and perks of all kinds.  I suppose I should be glad that they don't actually work very often, sometimes less than 100 days per year.  Every day that Parliament is in session, is a day that I should be guarding my pocketbook.

"If I don't vote, then I cannot complain".  It wouldn't matter if I did complain!  Who's listening?  I would rather vote in ways that actually matter.  I buy organic food, voting with my dollars for healthier apples.  I purchase beef from a trusted family source.  Because of the money I spend, people are moved to produce what I want!  I can actually wield that power for my own benefit.

I support the people, their rights, and obligations as God told us in Exodus 20 when he gave us the 10 commandments.  He has never amended His Law, and never will.  His Law can protect you, if you follow it!

If you vote tomorrow, please drive safe.  Traffic accidents always go up on voting day.  I'll be doing something productive.

By for now!

Greenhouse pics!

It's been a busy and productive week!  I've been hammering away at the garden, I built the framework for, and put together my new greenhouse, and I've started training for my part time job counting people.

The frame sections.  2x4x10', cut to an angle at the top, and joined with a triangle of plywood.  Braced with a 2x6, the bottom of the "legs" are cut flat.

The end cap being braced.  I ended up bracing with rope, as you can see in the bottom photo.  It works excellent! 

Just needs plastic, some end plywood, and a door.  I will be putting some padding at the top of each frame section to avoid cutting the plastic on the screws holding the rope on.  I will paint the whole thing white to protect the plastic and reflect light.  

I've already sectioned off the garden with old tires (I'm not using them for planting this year), I've got about 1/3 acre or so this year, including the greenhouse.  Over the next few days I need to build a table, get some planting trays, make some soil cubes, and start some peas in the ground.  The greenhouse plastic will have to wait until I can get some assistance in May.  I will make a temporary shelter for the soil cubes, which are pretty small.  I have a frost blanket too, in case it gets really cold, but it's been pretty decent, no freezing overnite for the last 1.5 weeks.
Well, it's off to work again!

Screw it, I'm starting anyway!

We're past the middle of April...by now I should have been industriously digging, putting down compost and manure, and perhaps planting peas, brocolli, cabbage or spinach.  Instead, there is still 2 inches of snow on the ground, and this early in the morning, the ground is still frozen from last night.  And I am quickly running out of days off to do all of the things I had planned!
So, I'm starting a bunch of stuff anyway.  I'm going to layout the boards for my hoophouse, and maybe build the end pieces from OSB and plywood.  I might try and find some cross bars to start the framework.  The greenhouse plastic is waiting for me in Calgary, I'll be picking that up tomorrow.  I still need a new axle for my trailer, which will cost $188 (not too bad, considering the trailer is $1000), and I will pay for and pick up my garden tractor.  I also have the back of my truck filled with gravel, which I've been using to fill in my driveway, and I'll be making some garden pathways with gravel and some extra soil.


GARDEN
I keep changing my mind, but after doing some research that I have actually done before (I'm a little dense, ok?) I've decided NOT to rototill anything!  Instead, I'm going to lay a couple sheets of newspaper directly on the ground, and pile hay, straw and manure in rows, leaving a tiny gap to plant into down the centre.  I will buy several bags of peat, mix it with manure, and that will be my "soil" for planting.  I might shove a digging fork into the planting row, and wiggle it to try and loosen the clay down below.  I've also got about 200 strawberry plants, and 30 asperagus crowns to dig in, but that can wait for some better weather.

ENERGY
I finally got almost all of my solar panels mounted on some homemade racks, and collecting sunlight.  I had 12 panels total, for some reason one of them doesn't work.  I don't know how I can fix it, and sending it back for a warranty repair would cost as much as the panel is worth...I guess I'll be running with 11 panels then.  I also took down my wind turbine to see if I could fix it.  It looks like I'm going to have to tear it right apart, it might be the bearings that are shot...but the sun should fill in quite nicely for power!
I was surprised at two things over the last two weeks;  the solar panels don't produce as much power as I thought they would, and number two, we don't use nearly as much power as I thought we did!  We're using an average of 3-4 kwhrs per day, which is about half what I expected.  I found this out because the solar charge controller tells me how much power the panels made over that day, and we haven't run the generator for a while, so we're using less than we're making.  In fact, yesterday, the batteries were full at 2 pm, and for the rest of the day were equalizing!  It's too bad our batteries are crap, or we would have several days worth of power.  They barely last overnight now...

MISC
I have a part time job!  I may have mentioned this, but I've got all the details now, and it is a sweet, sweet gig.  I have to deliver census forms to a certain area, which just happens to be on my way to work.  I also get paid mileage for driving there, and also a per/hour rate, only $15, but it's better than minimum wage.  So, essentially, I can drive to my zone a couple hours before I start work, work a few hours, go to work, drive back, and be paid for it!  Well, at least the part from my house to my zone.  The mileage rate is decent too, it more than covers gas in my very efficient Corolla.  The one little difficulty:  The job starts right at the beginning of May, which would be prime gardening time.  Hence, I'm trying to get everything done now...

BUSINESS
I need a website, but I don't have a lot of time right now to set one up.  Watch for it though, at www.sunset-meadows.com in the coming months.  It will be, of course, a work in progress, and the first posts will be my podcast, which will be a once/week thing, eventually going to 2-3 per week.  Eventually, this blog will appear there, and not here.  In time, we will have an online store, zillions of pictures, and articles about all sorts of nutty and cool stuff.
Bookmark it now!  www.sunset-meadows.com

Mud, and "There is nothing new under the sun"

Happy April!  I think some of you lucky blighters are starting your gardens...I must confess jealousy, but on the other hand, I do have a lot of non-gardenish work that is also exciting.  My truck is stuck in the mud, again (yearly tradition) but I have an elaborate plan involving large chunks of wood and jacks that should free it tomorrow.

FAMILY

I must begin with the best...my son turns 1 in a few days!  He's become even more adorable, and is still not walking or crawling (not that I'm complaining) but seems to always find some wood chips to eat off the floor that the broom missed.  He already doesn't like brocolli, but he'll eat wood chips and puzzle pieces...

My daughter is continuing her homeschooling, and I have to admit, it's difficult to stay on track and actually get down to it, but once we get the books out, and start working, it's fun, most of the time.  You MUST have the patience of a rock with a child, but still not let them get away with goofing around too much.  I have learned one thing: 

Learning must be enjoyed, and when it stops being enjoyed, it stops being learned!

So, at various points during our lessons, I let my kid just write some silly word, or draw a picture of a fork, because she enjoys it.  Then, I gently bring her back on focus.

ELECTRICITY
This could be a blog post of it's own, and it's the big non-gardenish project that I am undertaking.
*drum roll*
My solar panels are not just in my possession, they are also (mostly) installed, and producing power!!!
I purchased 12 in total, and I have managed to get 7 up and running.  They are freakin enormous, not to put too fine a point on that, but I can manage them myself if I'm careful. 

Not a moment too soon for the solar panels either.  I'm running out of generators to destroy!  We've got our Honda-engined one that sometimes produces power, and sometimes doesn't.  Mostly doesn't.  The dumbarses who run the parts dept at Champion power equipment Canada, sent me two wrong parts, and not enough of the proper parts to fix my almost new generator that has less than 350 hrs on it.  To say I was angry would not fully account for what happened then...

In better news, I pulled out an older generator that I had tried to start, and failed...and got that running!  I need a different plug socket for that one.  I also discovered that the stripped spark plug socket on my propane generator is repairable with a kit that I purchased off Ebay just now.

So, hopefully in a few weeks I will have 4 functioning generators that I don't need, rather than needing one that I don't have!

Oh yes, my wind turbine is still not producing power, I think there is a major shortout somewhere inside the turbine itself, which will require a takedown and overhaul...booooooo.  It was windy today too, and not very sunny.  It always irritates me when energy gets wasted because of some technical problem.

Stay tuned for pics of the solar installation as it comes along!

One last observation about electricity.  I found out that our fridge was on the "auto-defrost" setting since we moved in...whoops.  It was also set too high, so it was turning on what seemed like every 10 minutes.  I think that fridge has literally wasted 1000 kwhrs because of those two things, because the batteries can last quite a bit longer these last few days.  We just need 1 more laptop and we should be in happy-fun-times-awesomeness-town.

GARDEN/BUSINESS

Well, there's mud and lots of it!  A record snowfall is now melting and there is standing water everywhere!  It should dry up a bit this week, and then it's go go go time!  Deploy rototiller!
I have a couple of experiments I'd like to try.  I'm going to try a few different methods and see what works the best.  I will rototill a section of my garden, incorporating a ton of manure and compost, leaves and wood chips, and maybe some cattle bedding from my neighbor.  That will be the first and only rototilling done there.
On a different section, I will flame off the grass, and pile the mulch directly on the dirt, and plant into that.
Then, I'd like to shred a bunch of wood from the dump, and make some hugelkultur beds (wood covered in dirt) along with some hay for a bit of nitrogen, and plant into that.  I will keep the winners and shoot the losers.
I've also been very seriously examining the idea of raising about 200 chickens in a paddock type arrangement with electronet fencing.  I would sell a bunch, and keep the rest to eat.  If this works, I could increase next year to 400 or so, and use whatever profits to buy calves to raise. If I can, I will do more than 200 this year, but that's my minimum.
There's also my idea to grow buckwheat, hull it and feed it to chickens, then use the hulls to make pillows which I could sell online.
Then, there's all of the neat ideas my wife has been coming up with, namely, making soaps, perfumes, and lotions from herbs and flowers.
We just need to make some solid plans, and follow them through!
It's time to crash, I was up at 3 am to work overtime...it never ends.

Sun power!

This year will not be like the last: I filed my taxes electronically, and I got my refund already! So, what does a homesteader do with his tax return? Solar panels!!

http://www.sunelec.com/ has some of the best prices on solar that I've seen yet, the panels that I ordered were $1.19/watt USD. Never in history have solar panels been that cheap! In Canada, the cheapest panels I've seen are about $3/watt, although there wouldn't be any shipping.

Even with shipping at $700, I'm still getting 1280 watts of solar lovin', along with a top quality charge controller (Outback, of course) and a combiner box. The charge controller will take the very high voltage from the panels, topping at 71 volts, and step it down to 24. I can still add another 400-500 watts to the system in the future without adding more charge controllers.

I've decided to put the panels on the ground level, on a movable, tiltable platform since I may need to move them in the future. Not to mention, the ground is still frozen solid, so digging posts isn't an option...

Which brings me to my next question;

Where the H-E double hockey sticks is spring?? We're still getting temps overnight around -25C, and daytime is running about -10C or less! I guess no spring for us this year. We should be getting above freezing temps in the daytime by this point. It's supposed to warm up in a few days. We'll see if that actually happens. As I recall, by this time last year, we had no snow, and I could already feel the soil warming up. I haven't actually seen soil yet, so we're a bit behind...

Which is why I need a greenhouse!! Lucky for me, I already dug the pit last fall, so I just need a bit of plastic, some framing, and a couple of warm weeks so I can shape the soil a bit. I've started window shopping for garden goodies, and I might have a bead on a garden tractor for $300! Propane powered, not that I care. It could be powered by unicorn feathers, and I would find a way to run it.

I haven't had a lot of pics, because of the difficulty of uploading from the iPhone (might want to work on that a bit, APPLE!) but here's a few.

This is one of the many bizzare snowdrifts that we've accumulated this year. Definitely a smaller one, some of the big ones are 5 feet tall, and unfortunately, just outside the door!

This was once a wind turbine rectifier, now a smoking melted heap of Chinese crapola. I'm making a new one from better parts. I might salvage the heating coils from this, I do need a diversion load. The wind was 80 kph, I honestly thought the turbine was going to explode, but I shorted the wires, as you can see at the bottom, and she stopped.

I guess it's bed time, I'll have another post when the solar panels arrive!

Electricity on the farm

It's almost March! For some people in North America, spring has already begun, and they are hard at work preparing garden beds. It's -25 C here, and there is no garden work to be done.
I am instead working on keeping our pipes unfrozen, and our electricity on.
A few days ago, my awesome Wacker-Neuson generator had some major problems, making it necessary to buy a second generator, just a cheap Champion 3500 watt used one. My Wacker (what a name...) genny is actually running now, and I suspect that the cold weather is keeping it going. Some electrical part kept cutting out when it was warm last week, so I will certainly need to find that and fix it. Now, the new generator was running poorly last night, and I found the problem...a giant chunk of ice in the intake. There is still a bunch of ice in the air intake, so I will need some cleaning on that one.
For those of you who may be considering an off-grid system, and maybe like me you rely on a generator until you can afford solar panels, here is some advice. Two working generators at all times. Having your only generator cut out is NOT acceptable, a backup is a MUST! Even a cheap one bought used is fine, as long as you don't store it with gas in the tank, and run it for an hour every two months.
I had some other electricity related thoughts: I found something on the internet at this site
www.greensteamengine.com and I was astounded at the potential. These boys have invented a steam engine that can run off a pressure canner, is about the same size as a regular generator, probably 1/3 the weight, and produces no exhaust gas (the steam can be recondensed and used again). It can operate off of pressures up to 50 psi, or as low as 10. You can attach a small generator directly to the driveshaft, and tie it into your batteries.
For me, I picture using this in the winter, putting the pressure boiler directly on top of my wood stove! Even if it only produces 2000 watts, on dark cloudy days, it would easily produce all our electricity with ease in just a few hours. It would not be needed in summer, when the days are much longer, and the solar panels could take up the slack.
I tried to contact the website about prices, still haven't got a reply.
I will post any replies I get, in case anyone else finds this kind of interesting.
Adios for now!