Can't Stand the Heat!

Yesterday we almost lost 3 months of progress...

Last year we made trellises for all of our vine crops. The trellis is made with T posts driven into the ground and cattle paneling folded over making an upside down U (see pictures). They worked great. Squash, pumpkins, and beans easily grew up the trellis and it was strong enough to bear the weight (All previous year's designs failed. Farming is all about failing and improving, so we celebrate and share our wins).

In the fall we were making plans for the next year and realized that these trellises would be perfect for making a hoop house / greenhouse for hardening the early spring crop. I ordered the greenhouse plastic from ebay and have been waiting for the right time to unfold it and test it out. I must say this material is amazing! This is the first time I purchased real greenhouse plastic and I could definitely tell the difference. Of course this stuff isn't cheap but it is also designed to last 3+ years in the weather.

Easter morning after doing all the fun stuff with the kids, we started unfolding the plastic and draping it over the trellis. The fit was near perfect, almost like I measured it even though I didn't. The hoop house started warming up instantly and we all got excited. After everything was in place and we weighed the edges down, we began bringing all the plants we had been hardening on the the front porch, back to the hoop house. Images do not do it justice, but the smiles were real. The plan seemed to be working.

So you may be thinking, where is the disaster? Everything sounds great. Is this click bait?

As I get home with some dinner from a local restaurant, Gabriel runs up to let me know that the hoop house burned up all the plants and I can see Emily is sitting with her head in her hands back by the garden. I call everyone in to eat because an empty stomach won't make anything better. Emily explainss that the wind blew our flap closed and the temperature inside the hoop house got too hot for the plants. Even though she watered everything yesterday, all the pots were dry and the leaves were crispy.

We started all of these plants off as seeds. We spent thousands of dollars on shelves, lights, soil, pots, trays, and seeds. We weren't even sure if we would make back our initial investment this year, but if we just lost all of our crops we were guaranteed not to make back that investment.

After dinner we headed back out to the hoop house. I had to see the extent of the damage with my own eyes. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as bad as I expected, but it still wasn't good. Emily jumped into action as soon as she discovered what had happened. She of course opened the flap and began watering everything. By the time we finished dinner some of the plants had already started bouncing back. As mentioned in Jurassic Park 'life finds a way.'

While I went out to the land to take care of the pigs, Emily stayed behind and planted extra seeds in the pots that weren't bouncing back. This reduces our available seeds for next year, but this year we intend to properly pollinate and save our seeds for the first time ever. Time will tell if we follow through or not.

Lessons learned: When you try something new, monitor it closely and often. Have an idea of what success looks like and make sure the changes you have made are taking you in that direction. If you have an opportunity to work as a team, do it. You never know where the next great idea or saving action will come from. Clearly Emily saved the day here and I couldn't run this farm without her.

Until next, keep moving!