High Tunnel Grand Finale

The harvest is gearing up. I take great satisfaction in being able to harvest enough food to make a balanced meal. In reality, we grilled a steak to have with the sweet corn, zucchini, and potatoes and saved the rest for another day.

Saturday's harvest

The chicks have started perching on the windbreak in front of the door to the coop. The Americauna pullet, sitting by herself on the right, has plumage quite different from any other Americauna we have had. She looks like a miniature eagle.

Chicks perching on the windbreak

The lisianthus are blooming profusely.

Lisianthus

Sunday was The Big Day for the high tunnel. Pat, Nancy, and Jane, bless their hearts, got up early so they could get to our house at 7:30. Early morning is usually the calmest, and we absolutely could not get the cover on the high tunnel in any kind of wind. Also it was the coolest part of what soon became the hottest day so far this summer.

Terry had everything worked out. First, we spread the cover on the driveway, measured from each end, and marked the middle.

Measuring and marking the center

Next, we rolled one side to the middle…

Rolling one side

And then the other side.

Rolling the other side

The cover looked like this.

The rolled-up cover

We put tape around both ends and the middle.

Taping the roll

We carried the cover to the high tunnel. Terry put clamps along the east side of the frame to support the cover while we got everything ready to hoist it to the top.

The cover resting on clamps

Terry had put a rope over the center purlin and fashioned a large hook out of heavy wire. Jane took her position on the west side of the frame, holding the rope. Terry and Pat got one end of the hook attached to the rope and the other end around the rolled-up cover.

Jane holding the rope

Terry gave poles to Nancy and Pat. He climbed a ladder on the northeast corner; Pat climbed the ladder in the middle, and Nancy stood by the southeast corner. I took a position at the top of the scaffolding on the north side of the high tunnel.

Terry lifted the north end of the cover to the space between the door frame and the center arch. He put a rope around the north end and handed it to me. He then moved to the ladder in the middle of the south end. Pat took the tape off the middle of the roll.

Terry (on ladder at left) lifts the north end of the roll

Pat and Nancy pushed on the cover with their poles while Jane and I pulled on our ropes. Terry grabbed the south end of the cover. I held the north end. Jane and Pat managed to release the hook from the cover. Jane took the rope down.

Pat and Nancy push while Jane and I pull

When Terry and I had the cover centered, we took off the tape and let the side drop. In theory, gravity should have taken care of it, but we had to do some cajoling and shaking to get it to unfurl.

The rolled-up cover at the top

I held the north end with the center mark over the center purlin. This was my view of what was going on, although I hung on with both hands when I wasn’t taking a picture.

My view after the sides unfurled

On the other end, Terry was temporarily securing the south side.

Terry temporarily attaches the south side

He joined me on the scaffolding, and we put wiggle wire in the channel as far as we could reach. Terry leaned way over the scaffolding to get all the way to the door frame while Pat kept the tension.

Finishing the north side

I thought it would be a good idea to move the scaffolding to the south side to finish, but Terry just about burst an aneurism when I suggested it a few days before. THAT would be much too hard and time consuming. So we did the south end on ladders. The trouble was that the ladders were not tall enough for either one of us to see the top of the high tunnel. Terry stood on the top of the door frame (width = 4”) to get the wiggle wire into the highest part of the channel. I was glad Hilda wasn’t watching. It would have made her very nervous.  I didn’t feel so good myself.

When both ends were attached, we put wiggle wire down the west side…

Pat holds the cover taught while Terry installs the west wiggle wire 

And the east side…

Same deal on the east side

And then it was time to have pecan caramel rolls for breakfast.

Time to break for breakfast

After we were sufficiently cooled down, we went back out to put on the hook for the doors. First, we unrolled the doors.

Unrolling the door

Terry drilled holes and put hooks down the side and an eyebolt at the bottom.

Drilling holes for the hooks

He tied a rope to the top grommet

Tying a rope to the top grommet

And threaded it through the hooks and grommets until it could be tied off at the bottom. This corner is where we have the “rabbit hole” door, which is why some of the hooks are forward rather than on the side.

Lashed down big door by the "rabbit hole" door

The procedure was repeated in the other four corners, where all of the hooks are on the side of the door frame.

Example of the lashing of the other three doors

All that remains is the installation of “anti-billowing” ropes along the sides. We saved that small project for a cooler day. The hard part is done!

A storm came through that evening. Terry and I went out and shut the doors and sides. I was afraid that the plants we have in the high tunnel would bake, but it would be a small loss compared to having the high tunnel rip apart. We will learn over time what it can and cannot take.

High tunnel, Part 9

Everything’s a-poppin’ here! The chicks are eating voraciously. We just had to go out to get another bag of feed. They spend the heat of the day inside the coop. In the evening, they venture out more and lounge in the grass. One of the Americauna spends a lot of her days outside. She’s a loner, always wandering around by herself, eating bugs and grass seeds.

Our loner Americauna

Here’s a picture of the dark brown Americauna.

Another Americauna

And a Wyandotte.

A silver-laced Wyandotte

The meat chickens are getting meatier. Note how much bigger they are than the pullets.

Size comparison of a hen and a broiler

For reasons I don’t understand, the chicks like to hang around the fence.

The grass is always greener....

Hanging out in the corner by the fence

Sitting in the doorway is fun too. Maybe not so much fun for the chicks that are trapped inside.

Three broilers in the doorway

The grape jelly is all gone. The orioles have fledged their chicks and will be moving on soon.

Dad Oriole feeds a baby on the weather vane

A few years ago, they always left at the end of June. We pick a time to stop buying jelly. Too many times, we have opened a jar of jelly, taken one spoonful out, and had the orioles disappear. Then the grape jelly languished in the refrigerator until the next spring. Now we just stop putting it out as an encouragement to begin their trip south.

My Johnny Jump-Ups have gotten spindly but are still blooming their cheerful little hearts out.

Spindly, yet floriferous Johnny Jump Ups

The wildflower seed mix, which started out as a lot of boring white baby’s breath, is expanding its color palette. And look at that massive sunflower!

Mixed flowers with a giant sunflower

I found a white poppy. Who knew? I prefer the red, of course.

I did not know poppies came in white

The bee balm is feeding many bees. I am learning that this plant is kind of invasive. I have to do some serious dividing before next year.

A bumblebee on bee balm

It also attracts butterflies. This is a skipper, named for its erratic flight.

A skipper

The peas have formed pods but are not quite ready for harvest yet.

Peasa

I think we will have sweet corn before the end of the week.

Sweet corn

I picked the first Napa cabbage.

Napa, before

After I cut off all the bug-eaten leaves and got rid of the creepy earwigs that were between the outer leaves, it looked like this.

Napa cabbage ready for stir fry

Terry and I put one side panel on the high tunnel this morning. First, we rolled it out in the driveway and attached a pipe to one side and secured it with clams and screws. I handed Terry tape, and he taped over all the screw heads.

Pipe inserted, screwed in, and taped

We took it to the high tunnel and attached the panel by snapping wiggle wire into a channel. It went faster than we thought it would.

Wiggle wire in channel

Soon it was all done.

The side panel done

And now we can roll up the side!

Terry demonstrates the "flick-of-the-wrist rolling apparatus

 

High Tunnel, part 8, and chick update

On Tuesday, Terry and I took deep breaths and laid the first high tunnel door panel out on the driveway. We measured the distance to where the top needed to be and 3” down from there. I held the tape. Terry made the marks and drew the line. He took another deep breath and cut the top line. After that, there was no turning back or doing over. Next, we put a pipe through the pocket at the bottom. Terry put clamps on to hold the tape inside the plastic film. He attached the clamp with a Tek-screw.

Terry screws a bracket onto the pipe across the bottom of the door

I tore off lengths of Gorilla tape and handed two pieces, one at a time, to Terry so he could cover the screw.  All along, we have been taping every potentially sharp surface to prevent, or at least slow down, holes getting rubbed in the plastic.

Tape over the screws

And here it is.

The finished pipe

We rolled it up and walked to the north end of the high tunnel, where we put the ends of the door in their brackets.

The door positioned in its brackets

Leaving the pipe on the ground, we unrolled the door and lined it up so the line 3” from the top was in the middle of the beam. Terry put in Tek-screws and washers.

Attaching the door to the beam

We rolled the door up and put two braces underneath to hold it in place. We can’t leave it down until the cover is on because a wind could easily rip it off.

The rolled up door

The chicks are getting bigger every day. I am amazed how tall the broilers are getting.

My, what long legs you have!

The Silver-laced Wyandottes do not yet have their characteristic feathers. Here is a picture of one with one of the Americaunas.

The darkest Americauna (left) with a silver-laced Wyandotte (right)

The Americaunas all look different, as one can see by comparing the chick in this picture to the one above. Note also how much bigger the broilers are than the layers.

Another Americauna in front of two much larger broilers

The chicks rarely venture out in the heat of the day. They love lounging in the grass in the cool of the evening. They tend to pile up by the gate. My hypothesis was that they like to lie on the boards we put there to keep them from ducking under the fence.

Hanging by the gate, possibly because there are boards there to perch on

Terry put more 2x4s in the run yesterday. So far, I have only seen two Wyandottes on them.

Perching on the boards around the kennel, however, is a popular sport.

Broilers by the kennel

As I look back in my posts, I can’t find any mention of the broiler that had pasty butt in his early days. I dubbed him Mr. Poopypants. After five days of being taken in the house and getting his backside scrubbed, his wing feathers got bent. His own fault, really. I told him to hold still! Anyway, as the feathers have grown, they have taken on rather magnificent curls. So now I call him Curly. Curly Poopypants.

Curly Poopypants

The chicks are getting much better at going to bed. They still don’t go in by themselves, possibly because I want to shut the coops on my schedule at about 8:30 rather than at true dusk. Still, when I go into the run, they start heading for the coop door rather than trying to escape out the gate. I haven’t had any escapees since the first day. That’s a relief. It will just get easier as the days shorten. Hard to believe we are halfway through summer already!