updates, the property, and green house dreaming
It's been a while since I last posted. My opinion of President Obama hasn't changed. I still believe he is one of the worst things to ever happen to this country and I am sorely disappointed in the direction he and the Democrat led congress are taking this country (and unwillingly for a large part). But I am tired of reflecting on that.Since I last posted I have found employment (back in June) and am happy to say that we are doing OK (not great, but OK). We are looking forward to the day when Becky graduates (Mother's Day) and we get to enjoy TWO salaries. Things are still tight financially, but they are manageable.
I am starting to explore options for our 3.6 acres again. The farmer that was leasing our land did not renew his lease. He provided us a name of a farmer that would lease our land, but I think we lost that somewhere. We can probably get it again, but we'll need to contact the previous farmer to get it. We're still mulling over whether we want to lease the land out this year or do something else with the land. We're possibly considering putting a garden on the land and maybe even letting the members in our branch put gardens on the land. I am also looking into permaculture and possibly how I might use it to start a small commercial operation growing produce. We are still a couple years away from building so we need to determine how to use the land in the meantime.
With permaculture, I can grow produce, raise some small livestock, or fish in an aquaculture, and possibly run a still to produce some ethanol. It would be better with more land, but I will make due with what I got and maybe see about leasing some nearby garbage land to make up the difference. It typically goes unused because it frequently floods, but I might be able to rehabilitate it with the proper application of some principles.
I am going to start working on building the geodesic green houses when I get some more disposable income. It may be late summer before that happens, so in the meantime, I am studying up how to build one using the calculator at http://www.desertdomes.com. I would like to raise a floor to the first level of the dome vertices and add the soil on top of that as a fully utilized raised bed. I would have a tunnel under/through the bed from the door to an access point in the middle of the greenhouse. This would allow me to use the entire space for growing (except for where the access point comes up). To facilitate accessing the produce for harvest without crawling all over it, I would like to create a slider on a track that would be elevated above the produce and could rotate around the greenhouse on a perimeter track. The slider track could rotate to any degree around the greenhouse, pivoting at the access point, and slide from the access point in the middle to the outside perimeter.
I may need to get some power tools. I have a chop saw that can cut the vertices and their angles but I will probably need to get a table saw and a circular saw at some point as well. I may also need to have some connection junctions where the vertices join machined. That might cost a little money, but with the economy the way it is, it might be easier to get a good price on them. Essentially, they will be metal polygons appropriate for the quantity of vertices they will be joining (which will be either 4, 5, or 6 vertices) with key holes cut, through which a lag bolt can be inserted and tightened. I would also like to route the edges of the vertices to create a seat for the greenhouse panes and then seal them all with silicon,except for a couple hinged panes used for venting during the summer.
I still have some time so I am sure I will see scope creep make this project ever more complex (I haven't even considered power and water yet). Should be interesting to see how it all turns out. Once I start I will take photos and video and post them so you can follow what I am up to in the project.
Labels: garden, green house, property, updates
posted by bylaw @ 5:46 PM
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