The Greenhouse is Ready!

I spent today getting the greenhouse ready for spring. It took a while, but it's good to have it out of the way.

I set the strings for the floating row cover on each side. Typically we only have one side of the greenhouse covered, but it looks like it is going to be a busy year for our seedling business.

I took some time to replenish the raised beds in the greenhouse with some fresh compost. 

Before tilling in the fresh compost, I found some seedlings still hanging on from the winter. I had planted a ton of lettuce in the fall, but I was too late and they never really grew. There are several plants that stayed at that small size over the winter, and are apparently growing again. I pulled them out and quickly put them in a raised bed that has been freshly watered and loaded with compost. It amazes me that there is growth in the greenhouse already after not being watered for 3 months and dealing with freezing temps. These are some strong lettuce plants I guess!

We also have a couple of onions sprouting up from an onion that we planted from our pantry that had decided to sprout. We planted this guy at least 4 months ago and it is coming up strong.

The large tomato bed at the end of the greenhouse became overrun with grasses. They sprouted through the bottom layer of bricks and traveled to the top. This choked out our carrots last year and gave us a pitiful harvest. I had to completely empty this box in order to eradicate the grass and their roots. This box is 16cubic feet. So it was a huge loss in terms of soil. I had to dump it in the field. Luckily for us, we have a hundred cubic feet or so of fresh compost to replace it with. I still have to putt down some sort of weed barrier before refilling it.

I didn't do all the work alone... I had some help from my pal Julies.

Seems kinda silly that our greenhouse is ready for the first few trays of seedlings and I am wearing my rain boots because there is 3inches of snow on the ground still. At least we are ready I guess!

Our digital thermostat has died, so we need to replace it. If the temp is good for the next couple days then we are going to send the onions outside and free up some room at the grow station. It is pretty crowded in there.

Thanks for reading!

Expanding Grow Light Room: Using Space Beneath a Folding Table.

We are running out of room underneath the grow lights. It seems that every year we are doubling in size when it comes to vegetable starts.

With the inevitable solution of adding more grow lights to our grow room, I have been pondering where and how to add more room. We have the "grow room" in the office which is very small and cannot fit another table. After pondering or days, the solution finally came to me.

Why not set up the grow lights in the dead space under the table? Solution: we have these bed risers from when we needed to store stuff under our bed. This gives 8inches of lift to the 6ft folding table holding all of  the veggie starts and our current grow light system.

I built a wooden platform that fits beneath the table. This can hold 5 trays across with a little wiggle room on each of the sides. Now I just need to figure out how to mount the light fixture underneath the table and we are golden.

Luckily I have this sweet machine to help me create solutions to all of lifes problems!

Thanks for reading!

Seed Starting 2012, Round 2

We find ourselves consistently looking back at our blog for historical data relating to our seed starting schedule, transplant dates, and so forth. We are going to try to post more of our schedule on the blog in order to better document and track our schedule and successes. So some of this info may not be interesting, but we will use it next year to better help us through this busy season.

Today was the day for cold weather crops and tomatoes. In total, nearly a thousand seeds were sown at The Halpern Homestead today. 

Tray 11: Tomatoes. 72 pods. 6 varieties.

Tray 12: 36 pods of tomatoes, 3 varieties. 12 pods cauliflower, 12 pods cabbage, 12 pods broccoli.

Tray 13: Lettuces, 12 pods of each variety, 6 varieties. 

Handful of cauliflower.

Handful of lettuce.

Peppers day 30.

Onions day 30.

Thanks for reading!

Day 10 of incubation

Fully loaded with 42eggs. No signs of distress, all is well at the half way point. We will be selling the chicks when they hatch. So let us know if you are interested. 

Thanks!

The Halpern Homestead Animal Haven. Olive

Meet Olive. She came to us from the home of a cat hoarder. She was one of more than 25 cats taken from a home in Spokane in January. 

She came to us very frightened. This picture was taken moments after arriving at our house. She quickly ran behind our messy toilet and was very scared.

Her next hiding spot was behind this cooler. She stayed behind the cooler for 2 days. She would hiss at us when ever we came near. 

We would sit on that bucket with the blanket on top each day and just talk to her to try and ease her fright.

Each day we made a little progress. On day 3 or 4, Olive decided that the kennel was a suitable place to hide. She would alternate between here and behind the cooler on the floor as her comfort changed.

She wouldn't let us pet her, just looking at her was a challenge for her nerves.

She had a lot of visitors while she was hiding. Especially Maybelle. She was persistent. Always waiting for her to come out. All for not. 

By about the 1 week mark she was starting to come out in our presence. At this point we were able to pet here a little bit, but just on the head, and she was quick to swat at you if she didn't like it.

This day was a big day for Olive. She came out of the kennel,  all the way, right in front of me. We used toys to lure her out.

By the middle of the second week she was starting to flirt a little.

She would even let Kelsi hold her, briefly.

Her and Maybelle came face to face for the first time. There was a lot of hissing and then Olive retreated. They played this dance for days. 

She would follow this ball and yarn all around the storage closet.

We used it to get her more comfortable with areas that she hasn't been before. Like the top of this vegetable rack.

She started staying on the rack at night and watching out at us from the darkness of the closet.

She finally left the storage closet on the tenth day at our house.

This is after a month of patient work. Maybelle and Olive hanging out in the living room.

This is Olive in the bed with momma. She has come so far.

She now hangs out with us on the bed and enjoys being pet. It is amazing how far she has come. Kelsi really did a great job with the pet therapy on this cat. She spent hours sitting in the closet, just being near Olive. She was so patient with her, and it really helped Olive become as comfortable as she is now. She still can be timid at times, but she is coming along very well and a perfect fit for our house.

Thanks for reading!

Ice Skating, Halpern Homestead Style!

During the winter the webbed footed gang have been practicing their ice skating skills. The frozen pond was just what they needed.

Depending on the day, you could see all of them sliding around on the ice, trying to keep their balance.

They were getting pretty good.

Julies even got some practice. 

The pond has since thawed and the birds are back to swimming. The fish seemed to have made it through the winter as well. 

Thanks for reading!