2 acre farm: Project 1: The mini greenhouses.

2 acre farm

The experiences, trials, and lives on a small farm in rural Illinois.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Project 1: The mini greenhouses.

I mentioned in an earlier post I was working on some greenhouses/cold frames. It took me a while to get the details worked out and I finally decided it was not worth the effort to make them have a 50 degree angle which is ideal for my latitude. I instead made them have a 45 which is much easier to work with, especially when you’re just a novice carpenter like me.

My design starts with a primitive footing made of a single layer of reused clay bricks. The "footing" is mostly to keep the wood off the soil so it will last longer. I then used various scrap wood to create a frame that allows the recycled windows to lay flat. This design allows me to use a window anywhere from 26 to 38 inches because the windows do not fit into the opening. This design is less efficient for insulating purposes but much better for using recycled windows shall they ever need replaced. The only things I have bought are a few hinges, some expanding foam insulation and some white styrofoam insulation. I also used some hand-me-down solar blanket scraps on the masonry wall to help warm it for heat storage. The idea is that the heated wall will radiate heat through cold winter nights and keep the plants alive. I am not going to go into the details of it all but if you’re interested contact me and I could try my best to sum it up or search the internet for “solar heated greenhouse” and you will quickly find the large scale versions of what I am experimenting with.

In the first house I transplanted and direct seeded spinach. My hope is to be able to harvest through most of winter. In the second house I plan to direct seed lettuce which I still need to order. Hopefully all works out but worst case scenario I will have some killer cold frames for starting seeds in.

Keep checking back for pictures of project 2: The new Compost bins.




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8 Comments:

Anonymous Farmgirl Susan said...

I love these! What a great project. Your blog is really inspiring - can't wait to see more of what you've been working on. :)

November 19, 2009 at 12:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I like your blog! It is great to see someone doing something I would like to do. I will be back often to see how you are doing and learn something new. Thanks, I am following and made a backlink to your blog from mine http://amissourifamilyhistory.blogspot.com Hopefully, I can send someone your way you have a great blog.

March 4, 2010 at 10:58 PM  
Blogger Nathan (2af) said...

Gloria- I'm glad you found me! Please do stop by often and if you've got an opinion feel free to hammer me with it I don't bruse easy. I like hearing what people who get there hands dirty think of what I do and I like hearing how they do it also.

March 5, 2010 at 5:52 PM  
Blogger kaitte said...

I have about 2 acres too, am acquiring windows from across the street as they replace them, so excited.

February 19, 2017 at 4:24 PM  
Blogger Elizabeth J. Neal said...

It is a great website.. The Design looks very good.. Keep working like that!. portable greenhouse

November 26, 2018 at 12:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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September 28, 2019 at 1:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would like to see an update on this, Are you still using this 13 years later?

September 28, 2022 at 6:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! This sounds very interesting. I’m wondering where you live. I am in Nova Scotia and I’m looking for something like this for the colder months. But our “winters” might be quite different. I’m at 44 latitude. Thanks.

January 27, 2023 at 2:59 PM  

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