Building a wood Rack

I built this rack out of recycled material so always the first thing I have to do is take the nails out of the recycled boards. These are the tools that I always need to use : a special fence tookitchenl that is very very helpful because it is designed to wedge nails out by grabbing onto them and rocking them to one side, the next tool is a crowbar, I used this tool first if the nail still has the head, if the head happens to fall off , I use a very heavy hammer and rock the hammer from side to side inching the nail out little by little and that rarely fails me.





I then placed the boards in such a way that the vertical boards are secured by the horizontal boards by three screws. For the most strength I put three horizontal boards so as each board holds the minimum of weight with the most space for storage.

I constructed three of these frames and then attached each of them with three side vertical boards that tie it all together.

We have found the best material to place the racks on are cinder blocks , they keep the wood legs dry, off of the ground and they also add another level for wood to be safely stored.

Making Seed Starter boxes

I had read on the Internet that I could start my seeds pretty inexpensively by buying a rope light to heat the bottom of the seed starters. The reasoning of this person using rope lights was the fact that they put out about the same amount of heat as a heat mat costing about $20 and if you want to keep it within a certain temperature you have to buy a thermostat which cost about $30. So I thought I would give it a try and see if it works.

So what I did was I found some wooden boxes, actually they were drawers that we had obtained for free which I couldn't use as drawers because they had been in storage too long and were not in the best of shape. I attached the rope light to the bottom of the drawers using U nails loosely attaching the rope light so I could adjust the rope light making it shorter if it got too hot. I then put kitty litter which is actually pure zeolite to give it a smooth surface in which to put the plant trays on. Next I cut out a piece of plastic about 4 mil to lay on top of the zeolite as not to get it dirty or wet.




I prepared my seed bed trays and place them on top of the plastic. I also placed a thermometer in the dirt so as to monitor the temperature. I was very very hopeful about this because I did not want to have to keep my whole greenhouse up to 70° just to start a few plants so this seemed like the perfect answer, I will keep you posted.

Cardinal in the greenhouse

This beautiful cardinal made his way into the greenhouse and would not exit through the door. I tried to get him to fly by going to the outside of the south windows and waving him out. He flew up and hit his head and was quite dazed. I gently wrapped him in a towel and carried him out-side , in about half an hour he flew away. I wonder if it is him hanging around sharing his wonderful song.

SNOW!!!

The chickens did not know what to think about all this white stuff, it was the first time they had ever set foot on this crunchy cold solid water. But after a few minutes they were off doing what chickens do best, scratch!

Everything looks so different covered in white. We are not strangers to snow, Richard and I lived in Santa Fe, NM for 25 years and say our share of it. A day of this is wonderful, We do not envy those that have it for months, you are true pioneers!