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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Marcy" <mlynn AT pcisys.net>
- To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse
- Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 22:20:20 -0600
I’m so sorry Curtis. Having been through this I know
how difficult it is – I think I still have PTSD and when the wind blows
these days I’m still a nervous wreck. I don’t even want to think
about my boys that went through it (twice) with me where you’re trying to
hang on to plastic blowing away and a twisted, mangled frame. There’s
nothing like the powers of nature to make you feel pretty insignificant and
powerless. When I rebuilt after my ex-husband left several people in the
area recommended using a double layer of poly with a blower. I’m in SE
Colorado and we get winds coming off the mountains plus some strange currents
through the Arkansas River valley and our little river. The idea is that
the blower is pushing against the wind and it can’t get a grip. The
blower didn’t come with any sort of instructions and it had a little
slide that controls how much air is blowing. A neighbor wired it up for me and
I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t inflating. Well the
little slide door was closed! We have a home-made frame and not the
greatest design. About 10 days or maybe 2 weeks after getting everything
rebuilt we had a nasty storm and tore it apart. Our entire church
came out and helped rebuild – they re-engineered the frame and rebuilt
the rest. I still wish we’d put the corners in concrete. When I
reordered the plastic cover he asked me about the blower and I found out how it
worked. Not sure if it would have helped or not. I also ordered the woven
strapping. Ours is about 12 high in the center. Originally we tied
the woven strapping to rebar halfway in between about half the hoops
(30x100 with 5’ hoop spacing). A year later we had a nice
gentle rain one morning and then the wind started up and just about took off with
the entire thing. The rebar wasn’t working. We started pounding in
T-posts at an angle and tied the strapping to that. I can send pics if
you want. I can’t say enough about the strapping. I really
think it’s the way to go. I’m not running the blower these
days. We’re at 4 years and have too many leaks in the film. The other thing I’m glad I did is made solid ends. Ours
runs E-W and we used 4x8 sheets of exterior siding on 2x4 frame. If it really
starts blowing we close the doors. Don’t know what to tell you on the plants. I had
just started planting and we’re still getting strange things sprouting in
strange places. I’d guess similar to a hailstorm – clean up what you
can, trim things and pray for a miracle. Hang in there! SE Colo From:
market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Curtis
Millsap We got that BIG wind storm Friday here in Springfield MO,
with sustained (30 minutes to an hour) of 85mph winds. I have two questions for
the group. Curtis and Sarah Millsap |
-
[Market-farming] blown over hoophouse,
Curtis Millsap, 05/10/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse,
Celeste Illgner Havener, 05/11/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse,
JOHN A HENDRICKSON, 05/11/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse, Sue Oberle, 05/11/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse,
JOHN A HENDRICKSON, 05/11/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse,
Marcy, 05/12/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse, Liz, 05/12/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] blown over hoophouse,
Celeste Illgner Havener, 05/11/2009
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