This and That

I took a couple days off this week to get some house projects done before we head to Wisconsin for thanksgiving. The green tomatoes mostly have ripened. This might be the last tomato salad of the year. I have a few small basil plants growing in the garage so it was extra good.

One of our goals for the next year is to get the furnace room and toilet looking more like a second bathroom. There is only so much we will be able to do with the current setup, but here goes. First on the list is more storage. There is some serious wasted space in here that can't be allowable in these houses.
I build a cabinet for the back wall. Boy, nothing like a tight fit. Notice it is sized to fit a case of beer, hmmm like I planned it.

I hung the shelves with a French cleat so we can pull it out easily if needed.

The convertible got put away for the year.

Since we now have much more sunlight to the garden and the hoop house worked well last year, I built another. Next year one of the beds will be dedicated to flowers so we didn't actually gain any space. Luckily Jerad keeps a supply of Ipe handy so I can wander over and get more. This is full build for the raised beds. We now have 6 4'x8' boxes which will have to do.

Happy Thanksgiving

Working on the Farm

After traveling the last couple weekends it was nice to do nothing for once, almost.

The garden is coming along. We have a couple days of cool nights ahead and then the tomatoes will be going in. Here is the tentative garden layout. There are a few holes that will be filled in on the fly. The first planting of beans, broccoli, radishes, spinach, and lettuce have been in the hoop house for a few weeks. The squash, cucumbers, and peas also got planted this weekend.

The tomato and pepper cages in for testing spacing. The wire trellises near the house are for the peas, cucumber, and summer squash.
The only bad thing about the hoop house is that I should have built two. There isn't any more room between the salad plants that are growing in the ground. For the cost of a few pieces of pvc and plastic, it has been well worth it. I could have started the salad items during the first part of march. The plastic keeps everything pretty warm.

I ran the free state trail marathon Saturday morning. It was very muddy so the pace was slow going. I was under-trained and happy to finish.