Assisting Neighbors with Building their Hoop House

Two days ago our neighbor, Judy,  pulled into our drive and asked if we were available to assist them building a hoop house (green house) on their property that day.  She said that the company had some difficulty and their building crew was not complete.  Mark and I agreed - we needed to learn more about hoop houses for ourselves, so we thought we'd learn by helping someone else.

When we arrived on site, the crew was pretty small and most of the folks were volunteers; they only had a crew of five paid folks...and three of those had not ever built a hoop house either.  So, with that said, it was quite an experience for us.  The building team lead, Jeff, I call a jerk (Keva, you would have another word for the guy).  We learned very quickly why he had problems keeping a crew.  You NEVER holler at volunteers - no matter what!  But, for the sake of our neighbor and our knowledge base, we stayed and worked.  Mark was there for almost eight hours, but my knee gave out about four hours in because I had climbed up and down a ladder that day about 30 or more times.

My job was to climb the ladder almost all the way to the top of the hoop (about 1.5 stories up), taking a drill and a metal joining rafter pole with me each time.  Lean over, sometimes WAY over and fight to bend the hoop straight, and bolt the rafter pole between the tops of the hoops, joining them.  I had to put a bolt in, add the pole and nut, then use my drill to tighten the nut (and make sure it was tight).  This creates the skeleton that the plastic cover is stretched over.  If I did not do my job well, the young men who had to complete their jobs would not be able to walk on the hoops to do their jobs. 

Jeff found that Mark had building experience very quickly, so Mark was working all over the project.  Jeff told me later that he would hire Mark as a lead...not like that was going to happen.  Here are some photos of the work we did.

That is me in the back of the picture installing the last of the braces

The frame is complete and the skin is ready to be stretched over the top.  Thank GOD for beautiful weather and low winds.Volunteers would not want to be holding on to THAT kite (if the wind would take the skin as they all were holding on to it with ropes)

The crew is ready waiting for the two layer plastic skin to be dragged up and over the framework

Mark waiting for the skin to be tightened  - watching for wrinkles

This shows the top skin complete and shows you the ladder I was standing on (top step)

Ya know, even though Jeff did not treat me badly, watching him yell at everyone else was tough, because everyone worked very hard that day.  AND I could see they were trying their best!  But, seeing the hoop house finished and knowing that Judy and Bill would now be able to grow their veggies, for themselves and others, longer into the fall and spring made the project very worth while.  We did learn a lot - I now think that when our time comes to build our hoop house, we will have the knowledge to complete the task!

Home Again, Jet Lag and Fall Soup

After a great visit and work day, I left Lauren and Sean's home in Florissant Friday morning about 8:30 and drove until about 4:30.  I finally pulled into a Days Inn in Wausau, Wisconsin.  I walked to a restaurant next door, had dinner, and got back to my room at 6:00 pm.  I didn't realize just how tired I was but when I changed into my jammies, I laid down to watch a little TV, and fell asleep straight away.  I woke up at 11:30 and by midnight was not back to sleep.  By 12:30 a.m., I was WIDE awake so I decided to drive the last three hours home to Houghton.  As I drove across the U.P., I saw only 12 vehicles.  Because of that, I made very good time.  I felt badly that I had to wake Mark up to get in the house.  I had a key to the back door but not to the inside kitchen door from the mud room. 

After sleeping another three hours and having breakfast, we decided to drive to Marquette, MI (1.5 hours south east).  We needed to pick up 9 storm windows and our new front screen door.  SO, after being in a car for 10 full hours, I spent another three hours in one - but thank God Mark drove.  

Today I still feel like I have jet lag even though it's been more than 24 hours and I drove and didn't fly.  While Mark has been working on installing storm windows all day, I spent the day working on my sewing room/office.  The weather here was in the high 40s today, but full sunshine made it very pleasant.  We took our usual 2 mile walk tonight after dinner so maybe I'll sleep well and feel like myself tomorrow.

Keva's posting did make me smile - I also made a fall soup tonight for dinner.  I made up the recipe as I went along as I often do. Each time I make this soup, I try or add something new. Mark and I both liked it - if you're interested, the recipe is below (but I didn't take photos - sorry):

Susan's Fall Creamy Squash & Sweet Potato Soup

1 large sweet potato
1 med butternut squash
1 med acorn squash
1 large carrot
1 small onion
1 large stalk of celery
1 4-cup container of broth (I used vegetable)
1/2 cup of half & half
no-salt herb blend (to taste - see below) - or season how you like
salt and pepper (optional - to taste)

I cut off the ends of the squashes and then split them down the middle, scooped out the seeds, and roasted them with the sweet potato (in skin) and peeled carrot at 350 degrees until fork tender (about 40-50 min).  I let them get a little crusty around the edges to add more flavor.  As they cooled enough to work with, I cut up the celery and onion and cooked them in a little olive oil for about 8 minutes.  I added the broth and let it cook while I scooped out the other veggies.  I then added the sweet potato, squash, and carrot pulp to the soup pot and let it simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes to merge all the flavors.  The last thing I added was the half & half and the spices.  Once you add the h&h, make sure to keep it at a simmer and not boil it.  I used an immersion blender to blend the soup but you can use a full blender as Keva did.  The last time I made this soup I even threw in an apple too.  Yum!!!  This makes enough to serve 5-6, unless you have very hearty eaters.

My no-salt herb blend includes - oregano, onion power, marjoram, basil, savory, garlic powder, thyme rosemary, sage, and pepper.

The Best Use of Bad Weather

Today we had a storm go through - 35 mph winds, 43 degrees, and blowing rain - ALL day.  We really wanted to sit and watch TV all day, read, or sleep; but, we still have lots to do before winter sets in.   So, we took the opportunity to work inside and clean the pole barn painting booth, now that we moved most of the boxes and furniture out.  The pole barn was just that - an open, one story metal and pole barn, until about seven years ago.  The past owner had a boyfriend that cemented part of the floor and put up three walls and doors, turning 1/3 of it into a painting booth.  He obviously painted cars in it.

We are turning it into a workshop for Mark and a gym for us both to use.  I must admit, cleaning it was a nasty job, I had to vacuum the windows, walls, and floors (spiders and webs galore).  I KNOW that nothing had been cleaned in there for at least the last 10-15 years.

Well, we are not finished my any means, but here are a few photos of what we did accomplish.

We still need to sell my big desk so Mark can set up the workout equipment and the universal weight machine

He now has two workbenches

Mark now has shelves and can open all his boxes of tools and get organized

We stopped at lunch and drove to the lake - this is what was going on there.

The waves are HUGE compared to normal

This is the breakers - it protects the canal.  It normally seems very tall and today was almost underwater

A better photo of the wave size

The lighthouse was being engulfed in fog

I asked Mark to stand so I could get proportion for the waves

As Mark and I drove back to the farm (one mile away) and walked back into the barn to work, I told him that I feel alive here.  He agreed with me.  When I say that, I mean that this place is not EASY, the way it is in St. Louis.  The locals here have to live with weather harshness most of the time and because of that, they seem like they don't take life for granted, they live it, both summer and winter.  They are outside all seasons and don't cocoon because of a storm.  I think they are watching us (the strangers from the south) to see how we deal with the weather here.  We are hoping that we can live with it - even if it is for a year, a few years, or a decade, we are having our adventure!

The peace in picking blackberries

Cold Comfort Farm has blackberry and raspberry patches.  They grow next to each other on the north side of the pole bard driveway.  We found them two years ago and last year they provided us with a bumper crop of berries, which I made into delicious pies and jam.  This year, the summer has been so cool that they just started to ripen as we arrived in early August.  Before, the berries were huge - sun ripened and juicy.  This year, they are barely the size of the tip of your pinky finger.

The patches grow along the drive and down into a 12 foot grassy ditch.  The slant is so steep that the past owner, Bob Lahti, lined the ditch with local rubble rocks.  The berry bushes have sent out shoots that love the rock and grow down, like fingers or ropes, all lined with berries.  You can stand at the driveway and look down into the slant and see wonderful sweet berries.  Mark drives the mule (farm work vehicle) down along the driveway in the ditch and then places a two story ladder up the pile of rubble rock, climbs up the ladder, and picks the berries.

I prefer to just climb the rocks like a mountain goat, using both my hands and feet. I am careful and lock my feet in between the rocks, use the vines as ropes to steady myself, and pick the berries.  Either way,  we got enough for blackberry and raspberry cobbler, pies and I've frozen the rest to use in scones, pancakes, and fruit shakes.  I have saved enough to bake into something special when the kids and kidlets visit over Thanksgiving.

To freeze berries all you have to do is rinse them, put them into a 13x9 pan, pop them into the freezer until frozen, then transfer them into a ziploc bag

Picking them has been a joyful task, not a chore.  The weather has been in the low 70s, with a light breeze on the days that I've done the picking.  I am away from all the worries of the world and engulfed in a peace of gleaning free, God given, delicious food.  We are blessed and thankful!

Keweenaw Skies

I've never seen skies like there are here.  In St. Louis, you get two skies, one usually to east or north east and one in the west or southwest.  Here it's totally different!

Mark and I went for our evening walk tonight. As we walked, Mark noticed the sky.  We have a storm predicted to arrive after midnight, but at that time everything was still and a little humid. We noticed that in each direction, there was a totally different and distinct sky.  Right then I wished I had brought my camera.  To the west, there was a spotted yellow/white cloudy sky - just like you took a stencil brush and pounded whitish/yellow paint all over the western sky.  To the south, there were long streaks of clouds, pink and feathery.  To the east, over the canal, an azure and turquoise sky with one flat, solid looking cloud - it sat right over the canal.  And to the north, the sky was cloudless dark blue.  We stood in awe!  Each division melded into each other, but yet they were very distinctive. During the last four years, we've seen some very different skies here...but not quite like this.  I've been able to capture some of the others and I'll share them with you:

I call this the fist cloud

Clouds over Lake Superior

We get fog often, usually in the early morning and it burns off by 9am

We've had a few instances of this sky - I call it the dinosaur sky

just a pretty sunset on the lake

This is a typical sunset here

This is sunset over our house

This is the sunset we saw from the car on our way back from Marquette, MI last week

I hope I never get used to the skies here - they are awesome and make me realize that I am just a speck in the universe!

The Stone Barn storage area finally complete

After much work sorting, organizing, and arranging, the barn storage area is compete.  Thanks to Mark's strength (which I lack) we now have a place to store all the extra "stuff" we use periodically.  All my gardening and planting stuff, canning supplies, camping equipment, Christmas decorations and more are stored here.  Most things are in plastic just in case the roof leaks.  Mark even strung lights for me!

I'm not sure if you can see my saddle stand and saddle next to the bench...waiting for a horse or two.

We will have a true, old fashioned "summer kitchen" in the old milk house.  I will be able to can veggies, applesauce, jams and jellies there.  We hope to make wine and cheese there too. Mark will be able to butcher both deer and cattle in this space.  Not at the same time of course!

Since it was a professional milk house, it has all the appropriate and legal drains in the floor, stainless steel sinks that were necessary to pass FDA milking inspections.  We will add a stainless steel table and shelving system (so it can all be washed down and bleached) for food safety.  We have not sold the huge 400 and 600 gal vats yet, so the photos I have are not what it will look like.  Once we get the equipment out and our fridge, freezer, table, and shelves in place, I'll take a photo so you can see it.

We are still working on cleaning out the pole barn and setting up Mark's workshop and our workout room there.  We hope to have it cleaned out enough that when I'm in St. Louis next weekend, Mark can take his time and get his work benches set up.  Then he'll start with our universal weight machine.

It's been so tough on him trying to find the box with the right tools in it for us to move forward with setting up our home.  In hindsight, we should have set his workshop up first; however, that room is the only space in the pole barn that has a cement floor.  We had boxes and furniture that needed to be on a dry surface (not moisture-holding gravel), so the room filled up quickly. We are now down to just a few items in his way, so after we finish scrapping, caulking, painting and cleaning windows we can move on to that project.

I'm looking forward to my visit to St. Louis next weekend!  See you soon!    

My favorite farm photos

I thought I'd share my favorite photos from the farm.  I have not enhanced any of my photos. Keva took one or two of these and her's may have been altered - I'll label those.  Enjoy!

I was pleased that the sunlight actually captured.

The colors that the "leaf peepers" come to see.

I think Keva took this - Breathtakingly beautiful in reality!

This was last winter - the worst winter in 32 years. The snow is about 5 ft deep in front of the barn.

We call this our "cathedral," it's that heavenly!  It is two rows of very tall pine trees that make up our windbreak just north of the house, with about 15-20 feet in between the rows.  The trees have grown to cover the space so it looks like a covered drive - but it has a bed of pine needles down the center and keeps our home out of the Lake Superior wind.

Rory (right) and Sophie (left) playing in their snow cave last winter.  I love the colors and seeing how much fun then had.

Keva and I went snowshoeing.  She was actually taking a photo of the branch and how the snow falls on them.  When we looked at the photos later, I saw our barn in the back ground.  I love this and our walk in the woods that day.  This provides a great memory. 

Better example of the snow on the pine boughs.

When my friend, Patti, came to visit we drove to the most northern point on the Keweenaw peninsula, Copper Harbor. We stopped at Eagle Harbor and checked out their light house.  This was a beautiful photo from a beautiful day!

You all may see this photo again this Christmas.  I am thinking of making this my Christmas card photo.  This is our logging road and the red that you see to the left is an old wooden truck bed - looks great in the snow!  Once we get rid of the truck bed, I just may put a big red bench there so I can go sit in the snowy quiet.

I know this looks fake or enhanced, but I took this photo and the tree was this beautiful!

Now that I've shared my favorites photos of the farm, Houghton and the Keweenaw, I hope they entice you to come visit!

Shoes of all kinds, jackets, hats, scarves and mittens

I was visiting with neighbor gentlemen the other day, he asked me if we were prepared for living in the UP all year long.  I cocked my head and said, "We think we are."  He then told me that, to be comfortable up here, we would need shoes and boots for town, farm work in rain, snow and heavy snow.  And it would be smart to have a pair of snow shoes as well.  We would need all weights of jackets and coats for wind, rain and snow. 

He continued that we need to make sure that we have one in each of our cars (even in the summer) as temperatures can change quickly and catch you off guard.  Storms can build over Lake Superior and come rolling in like a freight train!  He continued to tell me to make sure to include a hat, scarf and mittens with our coats in the car.  In addition, we should have multiples of each as once one pair gets wet, you will need to change to a dry pair to stay warm and healthy.

I didn't think he was trying to scare me; he was just telling me how it is.  I appreciated his advice.  I then brought him in and showed him our mud room.  He chuckled - you can see why below:

Our boot and shoe rack - we even have a battery operated shoe drier on the bottom left

We have several pair of garden gloves

And gloves and mittens galore!

Work gloves - Marks and mine (leather, rubber and gortex)

Work hats - even though the temp is moderate here in the summer (mid 60s-80s) the skies are very bright and the sun can be very hot

Scarves, hats and additional mittens

Crammed closet with seasonal jackets - winter coats are in storage at the moment

Our neighbor smiled at me and said we looked prepared!  Since we've been married for 38+ years and have vacationed up here in all types of weather, we had to add to our wardrobe.  We also have an awesome resale shop up here and have had visitors that purchased jackets and left them here, so we even have supplies for others. 

Since we live on a farm, weather, temperature and our plans for day drive what we wear. I find that we are going through a lot of laundry.  In the morning, it's chilly, so its long pants, long sleeves and maybe even a jacket or sweatshirt.  Wet outside?  You put on wellies instead of your shoes. By noon, the sun is up and maybe you change into shorts and a t-shirt...and change to shoes.  By evening again, the breeze could come up and you add a jacket or even change back into long sleeves and pants again to be comfortable...because the clothes you had on in the morning are now dirty from your morning barn tasks.  See what I mean?  I'm not complaining, just sharing the facts.  We still love what we are doing and I'm OK with the extra laundry.  Thank God I don't am not doing this and working a full time job - now that would be a tough life - AND I highly respect all who work a farm and a job!  

I thought you might like to see what it is like up here.  The weather drives EVERYTHING up here.  It can be rough and raw but also mild and calm.  As Chris, Mark's brother, said, "It's a magical place!"  We love it here!