High tunnel construction, part 2

My, we’ve had a busy week! Last Sunday, Jane came up for mask-making. She brought all of the fabric and other essentials. I hauled out my sewing machine and craft table. We made ten masks all together, so we each have at least two.

Making masks

Hilda and I have matching masks with chickens on them.

Our chicken masks

When we were done with that, we went to the greenhouse to pot up the lisianthus plants that Jane started from seed in December. They were getting huge!

Lisianthus ready to be potted up

Hilda and Jane in the greenhouse

When we were done, we each had three pots that looked like this.

Mission accomplished

We had a lot of rain in the first part of the week. I went back to check on the creek Wednesday. It was six inches from overflowing.

The creek was close to flood stage Wednesday afternoon

The rain we expected Wednesday night and Thursday went east of us. Whew! We were spared the flood this time.

To start the next step in the high tunnel construction, Terry had to drill holes in the pipes for the rafters.

Drilling holes in the rafters

Each rafter had eight pieces. The ends, as I reported in my last post, were in the ground. Terry put Tek screws in the four parts that made the curved part of the rafter.

Terry laying out the assembled rafters in the driveway

To begin putting the rafters up, we put the second part of the leg in the leg pieces that was already in the ground. We secured them with bolts and nuts.

The second part of the leg bolted to the leg  in the ground

After that, we matched the hoop to the legs. It wasn’t as hard as I feared it would be. It was like a canoe—as long as you’ve got it balanced, it’s manageable. But if it gets away from you, it’s a struggle to get it back.

First rafter up

Terry then put screws in to attach the hoop to the leg.

Attaching the hoop to the leg

After two rafters were up, Terry started putting in the purlins (horizontal supports). The purlins were attached to the rafters with brackets.

Terry putting the bracket on the purlin

There were four purlins all together. As each new purlin was put in place, Terry had to put in a Tek screw.

Screwing two pieces of purlin together

Here’s where we ended on Friday. I now know that this is not just a high tunnel. It is a HIGH tunnel. Twelve feet is higher than it sounds.

End of day Friday--seven rafters and two purlins

Also on Friday, I saw the first Baltimore oriole. Terry checked his notes and discovered that they came back on May 1 last year as well. Almost like they follow our calendar.

The first oriole

It was time to move the hens to the apple orchard. This particular batch of hens did something that no previous chickens had done. They liked to stick their head through the fence to eat the grass on the other side. Look at what they have done to the lawn! There’s a little dent next to every post. I’m not sure how much of this behavior was associated with the hole in the fence through which they regularly escaped until Jane saw where the break was.

A chicken with her head through the fence

We went out at 8:00 Friday night. We have our system down now. I take the hens off the roost and hand them to Hilda. Terry opens the door on the kennel, and Hilda puts the hen in. We reverse the process when we get to the orchard, and I set the girls on the perch in Coop 2.

The fun doesn’t start until the next morning. All that grass! All the mulch around each apple tree! The hens were very busy all day.

Terry had to water the trees in his nursery Saturday morning and couldn’t start on the tunnel until after lunch. I went back to the creek to do more weed whacking and pull box elder seedlings from my woodland garden. The mayapples were unfurling.

Mayapples unfurling

The Dutchman’s breeches were blooming. They are so cute, these little pairs of pants.

Dutchman's breeches

The violets are flowering too.

Violets

Hilda’s favorite part of violets is that if you take the center petal off and look at it from the back, you can see the king washing his feet.

The king washing his feet

Terry started in on the center purlins, beginning with the ones that were the farthest distance from the ground. (The high tunnel site slopes to the northwest.) He got out his tree climbing equipment and hooked a rope around the frame so if the ladder went over, he wouldn’t hit the ground and break his neck. After he got the bracket around the purlin, he put spongy tape and clear tape over the joint so it wouldn’t make a hole in the plastic covering.

Terry, attached to the frame, puts tape over the bracket of the center purlin

I weeded the garlic while waiting for Terry to call for something. It started to sprinkle a bit, although it never really rained. Terry called it a day before the last section of purlin was in. He’ll finish that up today. Next step is to mount the diagonal rafter supports. We’re learning a lot.