Thoughts on winter permaculture projects.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

I too have a hoop house for my girls to get out of the coop while I'm cleaning it at least. I love it! As far as the 'ugliness' of a hoop house, that is a complaint without a hint of a solution. You might want to ask your mate what would be 'pretty' enough and please could she help? A portable screen is the way I'd go, perhaps with pretty paintings on it? If your mate had to invest some sweat in the project that might change minds about the ugliness? ;-)

You don't know my lady :)  You would struggle to find a harder worker.  She has no problem at all busting her butt on projects with me, she just wants them to look nice when they are done.  She has plenty of sweat invested in our place :)  

Said lady wants us to build them a greenhouse to live in.  I'm just not sure I want to spend that amount on this project when I have another greenhouse on a different area of the property in the works.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:
On using scavenged glass to cover a hoop house, this might be hard because of the curvature of hoops. However, they sell corrugated 4X8 sheets that will have some flexibility in one direction at Menards. Depending on the curvature, that might work. I didn't select if for my hoop house because I feared that joining many pieces was fraught with the potential for leaks.
Here is an example but these panels are only 2'X8': https://www.amazon.com/Polycarbonate-Shatterproof-All-Weather-Greenhouse-Covering/dp/B08KNMHWHS/ref=asc_df_B08KNMHWHS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475718218050&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13477412953439200157&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019203&hvtargid=pla-1021728452572&th=1

If you want to make it mobile glass doesn't travel well, even with a well squared building. Adding also the no floor idea, which is great, that may make the glass harder to keep safe, depending how even the ground is. And then, there is always this pesky hail to contend with. It might depend on the kind of glass you have too. If it is all reinforced glass, which is much heavier, it might withstand being moved, but the regular one pane, not so much perhaps? Another problem with glass is how curious are your chickens? Would they be interested in picking at broken glass? That would be my number one reservation. Dying from ingesting broken glass is a slow, horrible death. The plastic I placed over my hoop house is from Agri-fab.  It looks like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Nursery-Greenhouse-Garden-Finish-Approx/dp/B0788XDZ2P/ref=asc_df_B0788XDZ2P/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=532910780357&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2299823789305533623&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019203&hvtargid=pla-1433376640034&psc=1
Because it is also woven, it is quite strong, with grommets. The kind I got has a 7 year warranty.

The glass I have is large panes of tempered glass.  I have the same concerns you do about being able to move the structure with glass in it.  I may very well put it on skids to avoid the taxes and building permits, knowing full well it won't ever move.  The structure I had in mind would be regular straight framed walls and roof with glass on the south facing side.  It would butt up to the coop with their hatch opening into it.  

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:
...

Lots of other good points in the rest of your post.

Mike Haasl wrote:
Amen brother!  My current system works at our age but in 30 years I may have to do it differently.  I have 3 years of wood 100 yards from the house in a sunny open area to dry.  No shed, just holzhausen piles in the open with metal roofing on them.  That's also where I split it.  In the fall we disassemble one pile and move it to the back yard in a trailer with the garden tractor.  Two face cords go in a decent rack by the back door, the rest goes under a lean-to on the barn 40 yards away.  We have to go out every 3-4 weeks in the winter and haul wood to the back of the house by hand in a sled.  It takes about an hour with two of us working.  

The only way I could make this more efficient is if all the winter wood could go by the back door.  But that wouldn't be as pretty so that will have to wait until our age changes the "pretty vs functional" balance.  Or if I had a tractor with forks and I stored wood in IBC tote cages and kept a travel-able path around the back yard.  Not likely...

Sounds like we are in the same boat.  I like your IBC tote idea, and it so happens that I just bought a set of forks for my tractor.  More food for thought.  Thank you.

Right now I’m making fire cider, making a giant box out of pallets to hold firewood so I don’t have to stack it, planning spring plantings, checking on the bees, cleaning the greenhouse while figuring out how to heat it, etc.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, crabbing is best in the months with Rs at the end, so December still counts.  Another thing that people may not necessarily think of is truffle hunting, in Feb. is about when that happens here, some years Feb. is spring already and some years its still winter depending on where you are, in the Portland metro area I've been measuring springstart by when the daphnies bloom so that happens anywhere from Feb. 9th all the way to March 27th, latest spring I've ever measured around here, it was last year, I've been keeping data since the mid 00s.  But I'm getting off topic.

Mike Haasl wrote:...  Other than that I'm just doing inside stuff and wasting time on permies.  It's a good time of year to relax and recover before spring arrives.

I brought Sepp Holzer with me, and some other favorite books in my luggage to Nunavut, along with meat, dried food, and tea tree oil (only the short term visitors being clothing -- we all pay for oversized luggage and save money bringing food, and wear appropriate clothing for exiting the runway.)

I get to spend my spare time on permies catching up on 2 years of low tech lab videos, and printing RMH and masonry plans.  (I don't get cell reception at the homestead) and reading, dreaming about when there will only be a few inches of snow left and I can do some winter planting.

PS my landrace book is on my desk at my son's store

William Bronson wrote:
Before that the miter saw lived under a awning on top of the chicken coop!

Keeping your tools in the space you are building is useful, up to a point,and that point has come.
Another reason to make the basement work space usable.

In the process of cleaning up,  I rediscovered a great space filled with tools and materials I had somewhat forgotten.
I hope I won't abandon or abuse this space come spring,but for now, reworking it is good use of my time

LOL that sounds like my place. The other alternative for me was to just take off and leave sleeping tools like for now! (I have an excuse: waiting on minor surgery to correct a lot of swelling.)

Your post gave me a lot of laughs ;-)

Sometimes I have an idea and can't wait for the weather to warm up for growing things outside. I just set up a small scale experiment indoors to test it out.

I also do a lot of studying, cleaning and planning for the upcoming season.  Our weather is temperate so I can clean up outside and prep areas for planting.  I'm getting into the habit of composting in place and just bury it in my garden areas.  Kind of like Ruth Stout.

I also read up on things I already know and practice.  It helps me build my knowledge...like adding onion layers to increase it.

I resume any exercise, meditation and yoga exercises that fell by the wayside during my busy, hectic year.

This year, I've added studying for and doing the activities for more BBs.  There is stuff in these lists I would never dream of even attempting.  Lol.  I appreciate the inspiration and motivation.  Thanks Permies.com!

Well we can add mint to the list of my plants that are still growing even in winter, all be it slower than normal.  I let it bolt and seed back in Aug. so I didn't expect new growth, it was dead for months, I figured come Feb. or Mar. it would grow again, but no!  Its already doing it, I harvested a bit for a friend today, I mean its not much but its something, which I didn't expect.  I'm still on the newer end of learning how to seriously garden, former attempts were in fits and starts until last winter, but now I'm really on track and will continue moving forward and learning as I go, I've been seriously "at it" for 10 months now and I'm proud of myself for learning new things and pursuing my goals.

Mike Haasl wrote:My main winter project here is making compost with my chickens.  Everything is frozen hard except for the leaves I packed into the chicken greenhouse/run.  The girls poop on it all winter and I add coffee shop coffee grounds to it twice a week.  Every day or two I dig a hole in the pile to turn it and mix in dry leaves.  It's cooking hard right now despite -15F last night.  By spring I'll have a cubic yard or two of mostly composted fall leaves.  

Wow Mike, that's brilliant. Can't believe I didn't see this before. The way you are managing this, would it add a bit of heat to the chicken house and reduce the ammonia levels?

I should do a separate post about this.....

Last summer I harvested about 5 cubic yards of compost from this system :)  And it cooked all winter and spring at 120-140F.  I do wish I could come up with a way to heat the attached coop with it.  The problem is that I have to dig in it every few days.  If I ran a 3" pvc pipe down and back through the pile it could easily heat the coop with a small fan.  But the pipe would be in the way for digging.  Anything that interferes with digging or that could be poked by a pitch fork, won't work for the way I manage it currently...