Building (digging?) a greenhouse

There used to be a little house (camp) on the property. It had burned out and the owners bulldozed it down, but there was enough evidence to tell where the edges were. There was also quite a bit of debris - old bed springs, stove parts, glassware, bottles, etc. Since I wanted my garden on that section of the property we've been slowly clearing it out and cleaning it up. This actually required quite a bit of digging as the land is uneven and the stone foundation walls of the old camp are still present in places.

We'd already cleared the main cabin area and left that as a step-up from what will be the main section of the garden. This was, unfortunately, the best photo I could find of the step-up. It's the view from the east and the main garden will be to the north of that. Chris built up the stairs and restacked the wall that separates the step-up from the main (it's covered in debris and grass in the photo - oops).

Chris was working on leveling the main part of the garden when he found another wall edge. And as he was digging it, the ground sort of collapsed a bit, and he found an old stairwell. He kept digging and clearing and pushing and eventually found the edges of a basement. Cool! We immediately decided that was too good to pass up and decided to build...something. But what? Root cellar? Too far from the house. Plus I do still want the garden there. So we decided on a greenhouse. Specifically a pit greenhouse. Stone walls below grade, then either stone or cordwood knee-walls, then glass upper walls and roof. Needless to say, this will be a slow moving project.

Original walls and destroyed stairwell behind Chris

Remember this area had been burned out and bull dozed so there was a tremendous amount of clean up to do. 

Cleaning out

And then Chris got started building the other walls from stone we scavenged from around the property.

Defining the walls

 He replaced the stone slabs for the stairwell first.

New old stair treads

And then started building walls.

Lots of stacking going on

You can see the chicken coop just behind the tractor and the chicken pasture / fruit garden is there too. This is going to be quite a complex when it's done - upper garden/patio, vegetable garden, greenhouse, chicken coop, and fruit garden.

He got about 2/3 done with the below-grade walls before other tasks and weather pulled him away. So this will move to the top of next summer's project list. Maybe I'll be able to plant some cold weather crops next year! Kale in December! Ah, to dream.

More pics from the game camera

Deer: shy, aloof, quiet shadows passing through the woods...

Yeah, right. Our deer blow, call, and stamp. They also love to pose for the camera.

Nice buck enters stage left

"Is that a camera?"

"It is! It is a camera!"

"It clicked! Run!"

Same buck, re-enter stage left 

"Ignore camera" 

"Did it get me?"

"My left side is my best. I look so noble."

"Hee hee hee." 

Same deer again?

Nope, this time a doe who also likes the camera

"Camera..." 

"Camera!"

"Get a close up"

"Closer"

"Closer!"

"Oh, too close?"

"Fine" Exit stage right

The east end of the house - Stone Patio and Fire Pit

Way back when we excavated to build the house we ended up with lots of rocks. And since we live in the Adirondacks, when I say rocks, I mean ROCKS!

Lots of big rocks

A lot of them were large and quite a few of them were simply huge. One in particular caught my eye and I convinced our excavator I was not insane for wanting him to carefully place it next to the house foundation. 

The future buffet rock

We worked around that sassafrassing rock all during the build.

No food on it yet

But I had a vision. A clear picture of how I wanted the east end of the house to look and function. And that rock was a big part of it. The east end would serve as our outdoor entertaining area. A natural stone patio, a sand pit with fire ring, comfortable chairs, a pizza oven, and by God, a buffet rock. 

Way back in 2015 we actually got a good start on the stone patio. We even ran a water line to the garden under it.

Then I hurt my shoulder and we took a year off for it to fully heal (yes, it took that long). Then we decided other projects and adventures had priority and we put it off for another year. Finally, we got back to it and got it done! Chris deserves all the credit for the rock laying since he forbade me from helping this time (apparently that shoulder injury bothered both of us). 

Connecting the house to the buffet rock

Then buffet rock to sand pit

The rocks he brought in to create the sand pit were huge. Some are tall enough to serve as seats, others create a smooth transition from the patio.

Sand pit ring taking shape

 The sand pit is about 20 feet in diameter and took close to 7 tons of sand to fill.

Huge sand pit - tractor (and shovel) for scale

You come off the porch onto the stone patio that reaches back 40 feet to the rear of the house. Then it's 18 feet to the sand pit. We seriously depleted the defensive perimeter to lay this thing!

We'll plant grass outside the stones

I dug up some ground cover growing elsewhere on the property and started seeding it between the stones. I have no idea what this stuff is, but it's already starting to spread.

Eventually it'll be an ocean of green with islands of stone

Once we had the sand pit done we needed to create the fire ring. I found the center, did a bit of digging, some stone laying of my own, and then got the ring in place.

Digging the fire hole

Laying the air intake pipe

Stones around to help with erosion

Stones protecting the air intake pipe 

The view from the porch

I put a few chairs around the fire pit, got a good fire going, and enjoyed the evening. It's all coming along quite nicely.

Ahhh...

SaveSave

Spring Update

Typical for our area, the weather has been all over the place - cold and windy, cold and wet, warm and sunny - pick a temperature and you'll probably get it (yes, we hit 86 one day). I like this type of topsy-turvy weather though as it gives me a chance to pick a project based on how looks outside. Spring cleaning is actually pretty pleasant when it's sunny but cold out. And there is no better feeling than getting out when it's finally warm enough to do some winter cleanup. So far I've raked the yards, torn down a raised bed that was in a bad spot, used the lumber to build a cold frame, cleaned out the chicken coop, cleared off the porch, got out the patio furniture, and planted trees. 

The streams aren't running as hard since all the snow has melted off. We had to do a fair amount of maintenance on the runoff area as water had spread out into the woods with all the leaf litter filling in the drainage ditches. Even with all the snow we got over the winter the thaw was quick and the water level has already dropped considerably.

Normally gushing this time of year

Outlet area under driveway

Barely see the waterfall on the left

Cooper and the chickens have been enjoying any chance to get out into the sun. 

Cleaning up after I raked

Don't panic! These chickens are not dead! They're loving a dustbath in the sandy soil of the east yard. 

Rubbing her head in the sand

I have a bench seat out here and they'll gather at my feet, dig into the sand, and coo. Actually coo. It's the most pleasant, peaceful, and contented sound I've ever experienced.

Ahhh...

Indoor projects have involved lots of cleaning. I've dug out most of the kitchen boxes that have been waiting patiently for unpacking and actually managed to empty 12 of them. And, as expected (after all, it has been packed away for 4 years), there is stuff in them that we don't really use. Why do we have so many drinking glasses??? However I have found some items that I've actually been missing. Pans, utensils, fun decorations, it's a mixed bag, er, box.

October duties: planting green manure and carving pumpkins

All summer we've been slowly working on the old camp area. When we bought the property there was a deep hollow in amongst some trees. The hollow was the caved-in foundation of a burned-out camp. Well, actually a wee house as it was lived in full time. As this was the sunniest spot on the property we decided to make it the future garden area. 

Over time we've harvested the trees (one of which is destined to be my dining table), leveled much of the land, and created garden space. The coop is up there, we'll be adding fruit trees to the North end, and we recently found a great section of basement foundation that we want to turn into a pit greenhouse. Much to do and it's all very raw at the moment.

In an effort to actually start to develop good soil we bought some winter seed to amend the soil. Green manure is typically a mix of winter rye, field peas, crimson clover, and similar plants that you plant in late summer/early fall. Then, once it comes in, you either let it die off for erosion control or till it into the soil while still young to help fix nitrogen and provide nutrients for next spring's crop.

We missed the planting deadline for the full mix so just purchased winter rye. We also bought some hay as crop cover. Normally you don't want hay since it still has seed heads which can weed up your soil, but since we're tilling this in anyway it shouldn't do us too much harm. 

Moving hay around

You can see how dry and barren the soil is. It needs help.

Spreading seed

Now, while the seed quietly does it's thing, we decided to enjoy some of the gorgeous fall weather and carve a pumpkin. Cooper and the chickens helped.

Materials inspection

Testing water temperature

The creative process

"Here?" "Yeah, cut there"

Enjoying pumpkin goop

Checking out the end result

Camouflage chicken