Saturday, May 25, 2013

more greenhouse...and more sucky weather!

no beautiful, blue sky pic for my sweet Helga in this post - it has been foggy and grey all week! that's when it hasn't been raining! it is driving us crazy as we can't work on the greenhouse -arghghghghgh! i know this pic of the greenhouse doesn't look any different than the last pics from previous posts - but here it is with a coat of exterior, water-proofing paint on it. this coat of paint took forever to dry because it is so wet outside.


jambaloney got the frames built for the 2 biggest sections of windows for our roof. he built these 2 weeks ago...and only a few days ago was it dry enough to finally prime them and then get a coat of exterior paint on them. when i say "dry enough" i use the term loosely. look at how grey and wet it is in these pics - arghghghgh!


because we have no work area for anything, we have to use the yard for building and work. once the greenhouse is built, jambaloney can start working on a workshed.


besides painting the whole frame with primer and exterior water-proof paint, we had to prime and exterior paint 40 railings....an easy job when you have the sun to help.


we had some good eats though. here are my loaded nachos with organic chips, homemade salsa with chopped tomatoes, green onions, a ton of garlic, a large splash of olive oil and a dollop of apple cider vinegar (with the mother). also homemade guacamole made with the juice of a lime, an avacado, sour cream and another ton of garlic (we eat a lot of garlic!!!) and some chopped peppers to top them off.


jambaloney's had the same ingredients plus some hot banana peppers and some hamburger.


yum. below is some homemade kimchi soup. i take homemade broth and boil up some rice noodles, chop up some homemade kimchi and add it, then add chopped peppers and green onions. it is so spicey it near blows your head off. but delicious and so good for you!


and some yummy chicken and cauliflower curry with rice, pickled artichokes, olives and fresh pineapple chunks. that's some good eats right there.


my tomatoe seedlings have grown to almost a foot tall and i had to transplant them from their starter cups into pots and put a bunch of them on the porch. soon i will have to do it with all of them as they are outgrowing my little kitchen greenhouse thingie. same thing with the peppers! come on weather - co-operate please!!!!

at least tomorrow it is not forecasted to be too wet so jambaloney can work on the roof of the greenhouse. and hopefully it will be dry enough for me to paint about 40 1 X 2's. and all of the OSB for the walls. ack. we need some sun and dry days!!!!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

building the greenhouse - part 1

jambaloney here!

i had planned on a bunch of posts - but time has dragged on and kymber already showed you the frame, so here is the stuff that happened before the frame went up...


well first off - an ancient sky pic for helga - winter and vandura!!!


back to the greenhouse - once i had all the free and scavenged railway ties cleaned up, i was ready to lay them down, first step was "planning" some were longer than others and some wider... but i had enough overall...


before i laid them down, i had to level and trench the floor so the water would run out...

in between that digging, i took windows out of the frames and casements. initially i was temped to put the casements up, but they are a lot heavier than the windows and take up more space... here is the trim..


and here are the empty casements... they will make great hot boxes when cleaned up and stacked!!!


here are the leftovers all double-paned... you will see a few casements. in the greenhouse there will be one window on every side that opens..


i am laying them out as a crude plan... i never made a plan on paper, just in my head and trusting in math ;-))

etc....

after some awesome help from the boys next door (N & H - thanks guys!), we got the railway ties in place - it was hard getting them set and leveled! now to fill it!!


my plan was to get some free sand and stones from the beach, the idea being to fill the floor with sand to level and then stones for drainage. i got the truck stuck on the beach in march trying to get sand, so i brought 2x6s, a wheelbarrow and a shovel - harder work, but safer! the boys were a big help getting the sand!


bonus seaweed fertilizer!!


3 loads of rocks later - the floor is filled  - the rocks will keep ambient heat in...



and let water out - there are 3 drains in the greenhouse..



free stones - gotta love it!


lumber bought for framing and roofing..

here is the door frame..


and the outline of the west wall - i started all the frames with an outline..



finished west frame...

finished east frame..



this is one of two south frames 6 feet tall - i did the framing by placing the chosen windows in place...



then filling in the gaps!






on misty/drizzling days, extension cord covering is a must!

tools too!


other south planning....


and filling..


now the north/backwall - it is 9 feet tall..


bottom 4 feet or so will be osb..


and the rest windows ...


one...


and two - they are narrower than the front as the door frame goes in the middle


that's the background before the frame went up and got painted - kymber worked so bloody hard and fast that day she is hired full time as a carpenter now - we will make quick work of the rest together!

pioneer p - the top trout are yours - the big one at the bottom is for sweet sandy ;-))


cheers all! jambaloney

(note: this post was re-posted by kymber as it is not showing up on any blogrolls. hopefully i've fixed it!)

Monday, May 20, 2013

the most awesomest, most wonderful, most bestest, most amazing, most fabulous, most fantastic greenhouse (frame*) that has ever been built!

hey, hey kids - especially you two, W and G (u know who you are!) - hang on to your pants. we'll get to the wicked, kick-*ss, incredible greenhouse (frame*) in a minute. you guys all know that i always put a sky pic up for my sweet mole sister Helga first! have a look-see:



is that gorgeous or what? how about this pic:







soooo beautiful eh? we feel truly blessed and try to be properly grateful...the skies here are so lovely! but look at the above pic again. i know what you all are thinking. you are thinking "hey kymber, what's underneath those tarps with tire inserts on top of them to keep the rain out?". why, under those tarps are a variety of walls that jambaloney has been building...on the every-now-and-again-day-that-isn't-raining. (poor jambaloney - he has no workroom. or garage or shed or anywhere to do any big building kind of work). so he has to rely on the weather in order to build stuff in the backyard. and these past 2 months have not been co-operating in the weather department, to say the least!)

anyway, on the few days during these past 2 months, when the weather co-operated, he was out there all day building the individual walls, and pieces of walls, and such for our greenhouse.  and then we wrapped said walls and pieces with tarps in order to protect them from the 40-odd days of rain.

but guess what we started today? teehee...you probably can't guess so i will give you a hint - THE MOST EFFIN AMAZING GREENHOUSE THAT HAS EVER BEEN BUILT WITH SALVAGED WINDOWS. (oops, jambaloney just told me to turn off the caps and to ensure that i explained that this is just the greenhouse frame. i don't give a flying crap - i love my greenhouse frame and i can't wait until it is officially built!!!!). oh take a peek...and try not to drool all over your chin. when babies do that, it's cute. adults? not so much.



teehee. that's the front and sides up. it was heavy lifting but we managed - oh did we ever manage. we were high-fiving each other and giggling the whole time!

there's part of the back of it - the front is 6ft high and the back is 9ft high (being that it all sits on railway ties). oh how beautiful a site is that?

 

here's another look at the completed back of my 20ft X 8ft greenhouse. oh i love it soooo much!
 

next up - we started sealing all of the wood with primer - that was a fun job, too! i painted all of the low things and jambaloney climbed up on the ladder to do the higher areas. there was much more high-fiving and encouraging each other that after putting the beautiful, darn thing together - we still had enough stamina to finish priming all of the wood!

here it is - every single board primed on the inside, the outside, then ends, and everywhere in between.



 here's a side view. it's a freakin beauty!



that man is a freakin building genius and that greenhouse is gonna be loaded with windows. it was a hard, long day's work - but man are we proud of ourselves. probably feeling as proud as our dear friend G who finally got his icky shed knocked down. we had a blast with you guys the other day, G. and we can't wait until you and C move here for real!

with so much work to do throughout the day - much food was enjoyed. a half bacon, tomatoe, lettuce and tomatoe sandwich, with kimchi on the side for breakfast.



our favourite way to eat pasta for lunch. fresh, chopped tomatoes, 30lbs of fresh garlic, a generous dollop of olive oil, a generous splash of apple cider vinegar (with the mother) half a pound of butter, a ton of sea salt and fresh cracked pepper and parsley with pasta. and lemon to squeeze on when serving.


 

 my man loves him some steak and he grilles his (icky bleeding and rare) and mine (20yr old combat boot leather) to perfection! with some quinoa salad with feta, black olives, green olives, cucumber and green onion with a dressing made of 6 cloves of garlic, a big splash of olive oil, a big splash of apple cider vinegar (with the mother), the juice of half a lemon and a ton of sea salt and fresh-cracked pepper. oh yum - that salad was delicious! with some more yummy kimchi!


we are bone-weary tired but man - what an awesome day! we feel that we have hit a milestone and we are so happy to be here, right now, exactly where we are. oh there are many trips to the hottub that have already occurred...and many more are planned before we climb in bed at 9pm, bushwhacked but feeling awesome, and tomorrow we start a new day!

how can you not feel blessed when you look at skies like these?

 

we are soooo blessed. blessed to be surrounded by this beauty and blessed because of friends that feel like family. to G and C - we hope that you know how much we appreciate your friendship. we are becoming sooo close to you guys. we love C's ability to call a spade a spade, we love her for always seeming like she wants to take care of us - it means the world. she wants to take care of everyone and it shows in all of her actions. we love her family and they have accepted us as family. could anyone ever ask for more??? we love G because he is knowledgeable about so many things, but never talks down and always appreciates help and advice. there is so much to learn from G...and he is always willing to share and teach. who could ask for more? they will be moving here in a few years - sooner if i can kidnap C and drag her here kicking and screaming! guys - hurry up and move here already!

W - although we have never met, i knew from one of the first comments that you ever left that you were someone very worth getting to know! hooking you up with jambaloney was one of the best things that i could have ever done for him. he truly appreciates your wisdom and advice. thank you so much for being in our lives.

anyway - we are dead tired. tomorrow it is supposed to rain so jambaloney will be driving all over our out-lying communities looking for other people's trash which will become our treasures as it is "large garbage pick-up" week (we only have large garbage pick-up twice a year!). he will be out procuring more garbage to spread around our redneck homestead so that, at some point in 20yrs, he will come marching out of the boneyard of garbage, screaming with delight "SEE babe? i told you this would be useful one day!". he does that regularly. and then i have to call him "the king" for the next few days. it's exasperating, to say the least, but to have such a hard-working man building things for you from garbage - well, i guess it is worth the exasperation.

i hope that you all have had a lovely few days. for my friends down south who are suffering from storms and tornadoes - our prayers and thoughts are with you. please, all of you, please stay safe.

it really feels like we hit a milestone with getting the greenhouse frame up. we did it. we did it together. there is nothing that we can't do together. nothing.

(* i keep calling it the greenhouse - jambaloney insisted that i call it the greenhouse frame. ack, whateva!)