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  • From: "Kathy Somers" <somersfarm AT dishmail.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] hoophouses and snow
  • Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 08:09:50 -0500

So sorry Leigh, I live in Vermont and although we have hardly any snow this winter, every time we do get huge snow falls I almost don't dare look out the window the next morning! I can imagine the sick stomach. :-)
Kathy in Vermont
----- Original Message ----- From: "Leigh Hauter" <bullrunfarm AT hughes.net>
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 9:54 PM
Subject: [Market-farming] hoophouses and snow


Well, it just happened and I'm sick to my stomach.

I never thought, living here in Virginia, that I would had to worry
about the weight of snow on my hoops or greenhouse.

That was until this morning.

Around here, 12 inches of snow falling in one storm is something that
happens maybe once in a decade. In the thirty years we've lived on
our farm, we've never had as much as two feet of snow fall in one
storm. We've had maybe a total of four or five storms of over one
foot.

But this weekend we were hit with one storm that dropped 33 inches in
just over 24 hours.

So, this morning, when I was out with the tractor pushing more of the
waist high snow off of our road I looked across the field where we
have planted six 96 foot long hoops and there it was.

Four of the hoops were on the ground. Over the night four houses went down.

When I finally managed to push a path across the field to take a
closer look what I saw seemed almost like it was something planned.
Each three piece hoop had bent in the same place. about four feet up,
on each side, at the joint, bent straight down to the ground.

In other words, out of 100 hoops, or 200 joints, all of them failed
in exactly the same way, in the same place, under the weight.

While two other hoops, the same size, but manufactured by a different
company with a different design (two piece hoops), withstood the
load. Additionally, our greenhouse, 30 X 96 feet, put up in a
different location but receiving close to the same amount of snow,
suffered no damage.

So what lesson is to be learned? I think there are several of them:
The first one is the simple one, Greenhouse plastic is mighty
strong. You would have thought it would have ripped under the load
of 33" of snow before the medal frame went down.

Second, those once in a hundred year storms, if it hasn't happened
lately, might happen sooner than expected. (especially with this
chaotic and unpredictable weather we've been experiencing lately).

Another lesson? Well, cost does matter. Saving a couple thousand
dollars on something like a greenhouse or tractor even if the risk is
small might not be a savings after all. Bargains aren't always
bargains.

And what does the weather forecast say? Another foot of snow,
something that happens only once a decade, is supposed to start
falling tomorrow afternoon. This means we'll have had three 12 inch
plus snow storms this winter. Which means, if I remember my college
probability class, this winter is one in a thousand. I know what
I'm going to be doing tomorrow morning, as soon as its light enough
to work --- shoveling as much of that snow as I can off of my
greenhouse and my two remaining hoops.
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