2019 - The Farm

m1hagen · Apr 6, 2019

Just amazing Trent!

TrentL · Apr 6, 2019

DWB said:
Trent, you continually display an amazing ability to get a breathtaking amount of work done very quickly. Kudos!

Thanks, there's a lot of sore muscles at the end of the day. Wife had to pitch in and water plants this week for a few days, just didn't have enough time to stay on top of everything.

We went through about 40 lbs of 3" GRK construction screws on those tables. Ran out of the first #25 case and had to get more. Went through about 10 pounds of fencing staples on the hog fence. And several sawzall blades trimming the 4x16 sheets down to 3x16 for the narrower outer tables.

The other high tunnels will be SO much easier than this one. Won't be 3 weeks of earth moving to grade, won't bring in any gravel, don't have to build tables, or a screened pollinator isolation entry way, etc. Just set posts, frame it all up, add fans (which requires trenching electrical out to it, pull plastic, build irrigation manifold, and done. I roughed out some estimates on time and it looks like it'll be about 140 hours to build the next one. This one took about 4x that because .. well, that tall 42" bench at the end I built, would have been underground, on the original grade.

m1hagen said:
Just amazing Trent!

Not yet, still missing a beer fridge and some plants.

TrentL · Apr 6, 2019

Floorplan, population, and irrigation

Zippy · Apr 6, 2019

I wish the best Trent. I think you may have to be in touch with a massage therapist after putting up that much tubing though!

TrentL · Apr 6, 2019

Wired up some 1.25" sched 40 UV rated PVC today to use to drape shade cloth.

I drilled and wired the bell ends, so I can disassemble & remove later if I want.

It's tied along one side

The other side got 40" clips designed to clip to the EMT conduit we ran electrical through

Works OK and keeps it over our heads so we don't have to duck under it

Tomorrow we move plants out there.

Ordered the rest of the irrigation stuff for the tunnel

TrentL · Apr 8, 2019

General Tso and Rio

PaulG · Apr 8, 2019

TrentL said:
General Tso and Rio

Could it be dinner time?

A thing of beauty is a joy to behold, Trent.
That is the coolest poly set-up I have seen.

To be able to work at tables standing up
is a real plus, almost a luxury!

Afterthought: Did the Red Rocoto seeds ever
make it to your mailbox? I forgot all about them!

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

PaulG said:
Could it be dinner time?

A thing of beauty is a joy to behold, Trent.
That is the coolest poly set-up I have seen.

To be able to work at tables standing up
is a real plus, almost a luxury!

Afterthought: Did the Red Rocoto seeds ever
make it to your mailbox? I forgot all about them!

Yes they arrived, still sitting on the kitchen table. Once I get the chickens out of the basement, and get caught up with potting up, I'm gonna start them. I'm a couple weeks behind schedule on everything right now.

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

Mixed up about 3 cubic yards of soil yesterday (16x 30 gal bins)

All of those loaded up and taken out to the greenhouse, where we'll do pepper transplants (gotta pot up annuums) and direct seeding of melons, tomatoes, etc.

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

This part is .. bittersweet.

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

Some dumbass forgot to order enough carrying trays for the pots so .. these are the last of the chinense to haul out until more trays show up.

Want pain?

Everytime I turn around, I have more pain.

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

Also even with fans on it hit 92F in that greenhouse yesterday, outside temp was 72F.

I may need to add misters.

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

Tomatoes like our potting soil too.

TrentL · Apr 9, 2019

That greenhouse sure changes things. Last year I was still filling up the upstairs grow room at the farm - had 7 empty tables on 4/9/2018, didn't finish transplanting and moving stuff up there for several more days. Today we've already emptied OUT that many tables after being at capacity for over a month.

4/9/2018

Kennylay · Apr 9, 2019

Everything is looking clean and efficient. Looking to be an amazing year for you!! Can't wait until you start shipping some of these things. Think you'll sell any annuum starts?

Ruid · Apr 9, 2019

How big of a difference does your CBD stuff make when it comes to getting all this stuff done?

TrentL · Apr 10, 2019

Kennylay said:
Everything is looking clean and efficient. Looking to be an amazing year for you!! Can't wait until you start shipping some of these things. Think you'll sell any annuum starts?

Don't think we will be shipping any, but could be wrong, I started annuums pretty late (3-3 to 3-17) so they'll still be fairly small by our plant out date in mid May. I do have some stubbornly flowering in the damn starter trays though, so .. who knows.

The bigger problem is I'm only doing 3" sheet pots for annuums, that way it'll be easier to transplant with the water wheel transplanter behind the tractor. The biggest spikes I could get for that were 3" so I'll do double rows 1.5' apart, staggered 1' between plants. That'll make for some pretty dense planting and we'll go through plants pretty fast. But the 3" size, vs the 4" size for the chinense, makes it a bit more challenging to ship. I'd need two different sized boxes and wouldn't be able to mix.

Ruid said:
How big of a difference does your CBD stuff make when it comes to getting all this stuff done?

Not a lot, I go a few days between doses now (my lower back tells me when I'm due). Realized a month or two ago that it kind of sucks motivation out of you (you don't worry about stuff nearly as much); at this stage of the year I actually feed off of anxiety - keeps me on top of stuff. So I had to cut down on it a lot just to raise the stress level and edge back up enough.

But yeah every other night or every 3rd night it helps before I go to sleep. Lets the muscles relax and I sleep like a log.

TrentL · Apr 10, 2019

48 trays of tomatoes, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe, etc), cucumbers, rhubarb, and other stuff started yesterday.

Meanwhile Joe built some De-Lux-e (tm, patent pending) henhouses in the old stables

Kennylay · Apr 10, 2019

Fully understand the shipping and late start issues, I'm sure by the end of it I'll be just fine anyways. Just more Chinense I can pick up from yah!!

PaulG · Apr 10, 2019

Trent, it is just way cool to see the big
greenhouse up and running full of plants!

Can I come and live in your greenhouse?