This past weekend we leveled the ground for the greenhouse and began putting it together. I had planned to post pictures right away, but between the arrival of the new babies and the coop room brawl, I had to put it off for a few days. Thankfully things have calmed down enough for me to post those pictures now.
Leveling the ground took a little bit of time. This is where we started:
Thank goodness for Bernie’s backhoe! It did the majority of the work for us, even though there was a fair amount of manual shoveling we had to do to get it completely level.
Once everything was level, Diesel and Dolly conducted a thorough inspection.
Dolly approved of the depth of the hole.
Then they took a break to watch chickens for a few minutes.
With the inspection complete, it was time to unpack the boxes containing the greenhouse parts.
Then it was break time.
We managed to get the front and back of the greenhouse put together. As I mentioned earlier, this is certainly a two person job. It is not difficult, it just requires some you-hold-this-together-while-I-adjust-that. I didn’t take pictures, because nothing is standing yet. We assembled the front and back and they are laying on the ground. The next step is to assemble the sides and then we can put them all together. We had hoped to complete the project over one weekend, and someone that has a fairly level ground to begin with probably could. The leveling took up a good chunk of the first day, so we didn’t get as far along as we had hoped. If the weather cooperates, we should complete this project next weekend. I’ll be sure to post more pictures.
With the new biddies peeping, my garlic starting to break ground, and the unusually warm weather we’ve been having, I am beginning to really yearn for spring. I’m excited to get this greenhouse up and get busy preparing for the vegetable garden. Spring and summer are the most productive on the homestead. We need a productive spring and summer in this economy.
Bee Free,
Penny
Tags: greenhouse
That picture of Bernie and the pups is adorable! Looks like you’re going to have a great site for your greenhouse. You have garlic? I’m so jealous. I think with our high altitude and short growing season, garlic is out.
Sorry to hear about the chicken brawl. I couldn’t help but think that sounded like some cat fights I’ve had to break up! And, just another reason why I think I’ll start out with laying hens only…no roosters, no babies, less drama. Ha!
Hi Lilla – you may be surprised about growing garlic. It likes cool weather. I have a variety that I can’t remember the name of – but I got it from a woman who had garlic that had been passed down through her family for four generations. I survives the winter quite well and is the first thing to pop up in warm weather. If you remind me in early summer, I’ll dig up a few bulbs and send for you to try. That’s assuming the chickens don’t destroy it! I plan to put chicken wire around it in the coming weeks.
And yes! That hen fight did remind me of a cat fight, now that you mention it. It was every bit as vicious. I could go another life time without witnessing THAT again! But I’ll tell you the truth – I can not imagine raising chickens without a rooster or two. They can be a pain, but not only do I love their crow, I love the personality they add to the flock. And I love that they are such great protectors of the flock. I do loves my roosters
And if you collect your eggs every day, you won’t need to worry about babies. But those babies are to die for. What’s a girl to do????
Yay for garlic! Mine is popping up, too! I love seeing that happen.
Okay, so Bernie just has a backhoe sitting around?
The pups are huge!
Hey Frugalmom – what? Doesn’t everyone have a backhoe sitting around? Actually, he got it for a song off of Ebay a few years ago. You can’t imagine how handy that baby has been around here.
And yes indeed – the pups are really getting big! I suspect they are going to be rather large dogs. Kind of sad – Dolly is convinced she’s a lap dog, and is quickly outgrowing any laps we have around here
Not that it stops her…..
Hi, just checking in to see your latest adventures. So you are doing a greenhouse? I am so jealous. We live near 4 huge wholesale greenhouses but I would love to have my own. We always have a big garden, and I so much look forward to it. I even look forward to my rounds watering everyday. I call it my WATER HOSE THERAPY LOL. It takes about 1 hr to make my rounds. I will be doing more mulching that I did last year to helo with holding water. It got really dry around here about June.
I see the pups are growing soooo much. They look very good. Bless you for giving them such a good home. With their sibling Lillian, the adopters Mom fell in love with her and adopted her. She is very pretty to and favors your Dolly alot.
Take care and give the babies a hug for me.
Betty Sue
Hi Betty Sue! Thank you for stopping by. I am really looking forward to the warm weather so the garden will take off too! I love working in the garden. As you probably so from more recent posts, the greenhouse is finished. I’ve got a lot of seeds started in it – all of the herbs are coming up and I’m hoping to see the tomatoes and peppers popping up soon.
I’m so happy Lillian found a good home. Diesel and Dolly are really getting big! Two weeks ago Dolly weighed 29 pounds and Diesel weighed 28! He’s really catching up with her. They are so much fun. They just love running around the yard and I take them down to get mail each day. We end up detouring through the woods and they have a stream they love to play in every day. The really love water and you just can’t believe how they splash and play in it. The end up rolling each other over in it and get soaked to the bone, but it doesn’t seem to bother them. They are losing baby teeth now. And they are pretty good with the chickens – they really want to play with them, but are good about coming back when they get too close. Did you know Diesel smiles? It is the cutest thing and he greets us each morning with a big smile that starts the day off just right. Our vet just has a fit over him smiling at her.
So good to hear from you! Please check in again!!
Take care,
Penny