Thursday, September 7, 2017

Getting Off The Grid - Greens And The Greenhouse


September 7, 2017

The cold front pushed down yesterday and I took advantage of the cooler day to get to yard work, I mowed the backyard and around the garage and the side entrance. When I say cool I mean it was in the 70`s instead of the 90`s!


Finally the area for the greenhouse was decided, it is the easier place to clear off and will get almost 100% sunshine. I got out late in the day and I mowed what I could down with the push mower, most of it was knee deep with weeds towering 4 -5 feet. I have two massive ant beds that will have to be destroyed and I will have to cut down a few very small trees. I got a 14 x 14 area mowed but the greenhouse will be a little smaller, since its my first and I want it portable so if I move I will take it with me.



On Tuesday I stopped by the hardware store and I got prices for everything that I will need. Since I am going with the "hoop" greenhouse I looked at the plastic pipe and the thick mil plastic sheeting. I will have around $100 invested, to build one with wood and glass would be double, maybe triple for the same size. 

I am well on my way on this project. I know the cost and I have just about got the area cleared.

For The Pets :

While at the hardware store buying a heater for the business, I seen the small boxes for an electric fence, I do not like th idea but I also don`t want the dogs hit by a car or shot again, so I bought the lowest current I could just to keep them in the yard and I will be putting all that together this fall. First I want to cut down trees that are trying to take over in the back area and add more fencing. 

In The Garden :



Its been just over a week and I have noticed that the area is full of baby greens!

Read more click here : Fall Planting  

Yes we have had a nice day of rain and more to come so this year I hope to be blessed with an abundance of collards, kale and turnip greens. If possible I would like to have one more bed of greens and since the first field is cleared off the tiller can be ran over it and I can plant it.



I am not really getting anything more than a quart of okra a week now, a few cucumbers for the dinner table. The Spring garden has just about gave all it can, the second planting of tomatoes are not growing much, those are the plants Tony grew. I am still getting a few peppers here and there but not many.


The last quarter of the year is here and moving fast, I hope to try and keep up, If its Gods will get this place back under control.

How is life on your homestead? 


By Andria Perry
Photos By Andria Perry

12 comments:

  1. We are getting a lot of rain here in New Jersey. Everything looks great!

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    1. Thank you. The hurricane will send more rain up to us.

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  2. Cool...way cool! Like 45 degrees Fahrenheit this morning cool.

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  3. I sort of wish I had a greenhouse now. It is still hot, but the garden is definitely NOT liking all the smoke. We've had an inversion for the last 3 days that will probably hold through tomorrow, and it is holding the smoke from the forest fires close to the ground. Most of our smoke isn't even coming from the 10,000 acre blaze just out of town, it is being blown in from Oregon and Washington.

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    1. I thought I seen rain on the radar for arts of all those upper west states, I pray for rain to stop the fires.

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  4. cold here - babying the last of the tomato plants- brrrr!

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  5. Getting hot and steamy here..still heavy rain and some flooding had to paddle to more door at the weekend it just rains so fast that the drains can't cope but drains away quite quickly once the downpour stops. We have asecond crop of passionfruit and the turkeys are getting big and so is the chook who thinks she is a turkey...lol

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    1. I am seriously thinking chickens, if I can find them this time of the year.

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  6. We had an electric dog fence for a long time (in Indiana for 8 years and in Maryland for 2). I ended up turning it off, there were issues. We saved and put in a six foot wooden fence for the dogs instead.

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    1. I would love a six ft. wooden fence BUT I do not want the dogs completely cut off from seeing, they are guard dogs too. However, the electric part wont be forever, just long enough for Roscoe to stop climbing the fence and Harley to stop forcing himself through the hole in the fence.

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