Big wind

Hilda and I have been inspired by America’s Test Kitchen to corn our own beef for St. Patrick’s Day. Last Wednesday, we mixed up a brine and poured it over a huge piece of brisket. The only thing we could find that was big enough for the job was one of our pink gardening trays. I flipped it yesterday and will flip it two more times before it gets cooked.

Brisket in brine, weighted down with a plate and bowl. The white things are garlic cloves

Did you ever wonder where the corn in corned beef was? In Britain, “corn” is a generic term meaning “grain.” What we call corn, they call maize. Hence the King James Biblical references to “corn” in the Middle East before Christ even though corn as we know it originated in North America and had just barely made it to Europe when that version of the Bible was written. King James’ corn was likely wheat or barley. But I digress. Corned beef was traditionally made by rubbing corns (grains) of salt on the beef to preserve it. Get it? I give this lecture to my students every semester to illustrate the utility of scientific names. Say “corn” to a European, and he or she may ask you which one. Zea mays avoids all confusion.

My we had some big winds early in the week. Terry fretted and fretted about the plastic on the polyhouse. Alas, the roof blew off Wednesday. “I should have replaced it last summer,” he said.

“You know what I always say,” I replied.

“Yeah. The should-haves don’t count.”

The roofless polyhouse from the south side

He ordered a replacement from Gardeners’ Supply. It was supposed to come on Friday, but didn’t. Winter Storm Stella was predicted to dump up to 5” of snow on us between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. More fretting about that.

The plastic came Saturday. The day was very cold and too windy to attempt the installation. Terry kept busy taking the old plastic off and hoping for no wind if we could get out early on Sunday.

Removing the lath at the bottom of the north side to take off the old plastic

I was surprised to see so many of the hens out on such a day.

Hens brave the cold wind on Saturday

Terry contacted a local contractor that he knew to see if he and another man could come out this morning to help us drag the new plastic over the top of the frame. Terry anxiously watched the weather as soon as he got up. The forecast was for calm followed by light winds, 5 to 7 mph. Perfect.

At 8:00 on the first morning of Daylight Savings Time, I bundled up and walked down to the polyhouse. On my way, I heard car doors slamming. Scott and Randy were right on time. Terry had been out for an hour getting things ready. He had the plastic unfolded and positioned on the ground.

New plastic laid out for installation

We divided up with two persons on each end and hoisted the sheet over the ridgepole and down the other side. 

Plastic over the top

Terry then started screwing on lath that he’d pre-drilled with holes and measured intervals.

Putting lath on the east side

With the east side secured, we all went down to the west side, pulling the plastic as tight as we could get it.

Lath on the west side with the sun still low

Finally, they put a row of lath across the bottom.

Lath across the bottom of the south side

I noticed that Terry crosses his ankles while kneeling on the ground. How peculiar.

Terry with his ankles crossed next to Scott with his ankles straight like a normal person

After 50 minutes, the plastic was secured, and our two helpers went home to get on with their day. I went inside to have a second cup of tea and thaw out my fingers. Terry set to work cutting off the excess plastic. When I checked on the progress after lunch, he told me that the last step was to flip the edge of the plastic over the first lath and put on a second lath. And then he would be in to rest.

Polyhouse with the plastic trimmed

It’s going to be a long day for Terry, but at least all his stuff will be safe from Stella’s snow.

I got a picture of a killdeer on the lawn today. There were two of them, but they separated before I could get my camera. I hope they can find a place to ride out the storm in safety too.

A killdeer on the lawn