Dont Build My Greenhouse- LOL

Don't build my greenhouse. (photos below)

OK. Let me rephrase that. Build my greenhouse. Its a good idea which I will explain...BUT...just do it a lot simpler. That is what I learned while building it.
Peppercorn, over at IPN, called it, correctly, seeing an early photo. He said "... like you, I have done the scavenged windows thing but wound up using more lumber, had more joints (leaks), not really a problem if used as walls but yours will be a roof, spent more time and had greater frustrations....if you will consider polycarbonate it comes in 8 and 12 foot lengths, from memory 26 or 30 inches wide, I cant remember for sure, available at homedepot."

Correctamundo. This took far more time to build than I had hoped and I fear its too fragile...so I will be going back to work on it to reinforce everything. Potentially, some big storm or snow dump may smash it all and have me stripping off all the broken glass to be replaced with polycarb. We'll wait and see. I had really hoped to do the entire front of the house this year. This is as much time as I can invest this year as everything else I need to do is falling behind. I'll finish the last third next year. In retrospect, I would have passed on the tire wall as well. Too much time and energy was spent...shovelling dirt. I'm looking pretty buff, though. LOL. Bringing it straight to the ground would have been, no nonsense, and given me more time to do the entire house.

OK. Enough whining and warnings. Im still pretty impressed with it and I will explain why it is still a really good idea. We have a nothing special house. I joke with Mrs C5 that it reminds me of a Jehovah Witness hall. But its not bad considering we are mortgage and debt free, plan to stay that way...and have a million dollar view. Lousy insolation and brutal winters, though. That's a good place to start. Climate Chaos. Last years RRR winter, that's, Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, meant we got hit with the Snowpocalypse out here in Nova Scotia. Could be worse. Western Canada's burning at the moment and California...enough said. This might be the last habitable place on earth. We have no shortage of water here. Soooo....Yes, Its a monsoon proof greenhouse for early plant starts, frost protection and deluge saved food. Its also a heat generator once the temperature drops. Open the windows to let the heat in and save firewood. Its also "Space Insolation". One wall (and the windows) is now protected against the blowing cold sucking heat away. Ideally, Ild build similar structures around the entire house if left to my own devices . Slipstream the house against ever increasing winds as the new weather goes wacky. A house within a house. Space insolation. There is a new concept fore you that I stole as a kid reading the book, The Last Canadian. To survive the winter, they knocked a wall out of their cabin and rolled a smaller cabin inside it. This has many applications. Do you plan to winter in an RV. Build a shed over it. Its like wearing a gortex shell over poly propylene. One sheds the weather. The other insolates.

The other advantage of this greenhouse concept...It should be easy to build...inspite of my previous complaint of over building. I'm no carpenter. Im a Master MacGyver and Recycler. My most influential movie of all time was The Road Warrior. "You are a maggot, Max. Living off the corps of the old world". That's me. Other than the 13 rough cut 2x6s, fasteners and silicon, everything else was recycled. I do the impossible with nothing....but I don't have a clue how to do anything "Right". So this is a simple enough concept. Make a lean to off your house. Cover it with something see through. No complex carpentry required. All the necessary structure was already built into the house by people that knew more of what they were doing than I. Im leaning on their expertise. LOL
OK. Enough talk . Hears the photos.

I'll explain the pig in a bit

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The tires filled with dirt are a heat sink. They gather heat in the day and release it at night.
Old freezers were used as the raised beds. Wood under dirt to act as hugelculture and retain moisture. Still looking for another freezer

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Water catchment until I can recycle something better. A recycled gutter catches the water for use instead of it washing the hill away We had one hard rain and it was very cool. Like being underneath a waterfall...only flowing on glass.

Oh, ya. The pig. He is about twice as big now. That's another post. MrsC5, in her sexiest gardening cloths, is walking the pig. Its a big hit walking him down the road with the dogs that are now much smaller than him. His name is Mr Wu. Bonus points go to anyone that catches the reference. Only one person has got it so far. His response, "That's Dark...but funny". We trained him on a harness so we could take him to areas to weed or till. We learned this in Cuba. No fencing required and he likes the stimulation. Its going to be hard to put him in the freezer by winter. He was our practice pig incase the harness idea didn't work, before we get more for breeding.
Sooo...he tills the ground...which makes it far easier to shovel up topsoil. Im done with shoveling for a while. A few dollops of manure in the plantings also helps...though you want to cover that with dirt fast. P-U. The chickens, on the other hand. I wanted to strangle them all. All that dirt I piled up...I woke up one morning and they had scratched half of it down. We added a small grate to keep them out of the greenhouse as the doors are the only temperature control.

Well, Ive still got plenty to do... like adding some support beams...so the wood doesn't bend and break the glass....and reinforce a few panels...and make more vents above the doors....and , and....that's enough for now. That'll do pig.

Here was peppercorns response to my idea of not using the tire wall next round- "having all those tires anchor down the front is good so long as the roof/wall is tied in tight to the tires and earth...I guarantee you that you will get a wind storm bad enough that you will need that mass to hold everything down...I lost a green house a few years back because I left the end doors open and the wind came in with a sudden storm and turned it into a kite, then into kindling"

Oh great. More shovelling in my future. When the SHTF...Have a good supply of shovels...and turn it to fertiliser. LOL

And all the chickens said "Their were flies in your dirt piles. " LOL Its nice. I like it. Thanks for posting.

Thanks. Here is a few more of the pig.

A friend is trying to talk us in to keeping as a breeder, sharing half his pig in the fall instead and we will split a sow. That means me building him someplace to winter him. Good thing he is half Berkshire. Not an indoor pig

Somehow I've seen them pics before Ross .......... er Charlie 5

Roy Hinkley wrote:Somehow I've seen them pics before Ross .......... er Charlie 5

LOL. There is no secret here. Im also known as C5 or cernunnos5. I'm just...um...diversifying my portfolio. LOL. I just have to be nicer here. They are a bit....sensitive. I cant use the term, Duchebag prepper or make fun of bongos and hopium. Probably a good thing.

All the best Roy

Oh. I thought I would share last years greenhouse. Its what motivated me and its definitely storm proof. It was built that way. Last winter destroyed a lot of greenhouses and barns. No problem with this one. Go small or go home.

Roy Hinkley wrote:Somehow I've seen them pics before Ross .......... er Charlie 5

Uh, where? I like to find out about more places to talk greenhouses, etc.

William Bronson wrote:

Roy Hinkley wrote:Somehow I've seen them pics before Ross .......... er Charlie 5

Uh, where? I like to find out about more places to talk greenhouses, etc.

My apologies. I like to get back to people right away... But I had to help a friend hay harvesting, had my own tractor break down in the field, finished the sour cherries harvest in the food forest, etc.

I was caught cheating-LOL- by someone over at IPN or The International Preppers Network. Preppers aren't what you think ...even though a lot of them are. I primarily deal with the triple threats of Peak Oil, Economic Collapse and Climate Chaos...as well as a few other mathematically inevitable catastrophes that WILL happen in our lifetime...or maybe yours. I'm getting old and wont see the worst of it . Preppers are Information Reallocation Specialists. Translation- We will steal anyones good idea. That's where me, C5 comes in. Don't get exited. By accident, Im just a big fish in a small pond. I only got there by being around the survivalist movement since the 80s...and calling bullshit on established prepper positions. A C5 rule of Survival #1- There is no such thing as a prepper expert. Anyone claiming to be is just trying to sell you something, whether that is a product, service, political or religious position. Trust me. C5 rule of survival #2- never trust anyone that says "Trust Me". LOL.
C5 rule of survival #3- There is a big difference between "Knowing" in the biblical sense and "Knowing" in the porn sense. Translation- You wont know if it works until you do it.

I took my page off YouTube because I wasn't ready to deal with that many people. Creepy! Instead I sort of took over (By accident) the Nova Scotia Preppers network. That's where you can find me. I'm not selling anything, including myself, or trying to direct anyone away from permies, thus Roy not wanting to "Out" me by calling me "Charlie 5"

Speaking of which...I'll try to do a dual post on proper fuel storage, this week. By posting this...I cant back down...just because I got busy.

I call it C5s F5s. That's - Food Storage. Food Production. Firewood. FUEL STORAGE...and Friends.

As opposed to "guns, gold and gear" or immature prepping

These photos are a bit late. They were from the fall but I wanted to show the multi uses of a greenhouse. This has been a great addition to my life. I have strengthened it a bit as there was a bit of flex in the wood that could have caused catastrophic failure. I just wanted to show its multi use. Late cut firewood was put in it to solar dry. Pumpkins and apples for pig food were stored in it to protect them from frost damage and later from early freeze. They are finally all used but I was able to keep some until after christmas. Heat from the house leaks from the sliding door and walls into the greenhouse delaying freezing. In the summer it was used as a solar dehydrator. Its about minus 15 Celsius with blowing wind but sunny so it will be warm enough out there today to work on my bicycles in it. As I speak, MrsC5 just went out into it and said, "Its getting warm in here"

Now, there are some problems I have discovered that I will talk about later...but fore now, here are the late photos I forgot to post.

looks really awesome- good job, only thing i might differ on personally- is the exposed tyres- in a living space- and with the additional heat- the continual expulsion of harmful VOC's.
i know they are everywhere- and saturated along the highways with rubber being heated on asphalt- but i would like to omit as much as possible in my living space
cheers
wayne

Great pics; the reinforcements look reassuring.

How do you find the outer portion for usability? Would you build with the same slope if you did it again, or change it/add a riser wall?

is the circle with the A in it , on the side of the little black shed ,athiest or anti-christ or something? just curious. that symbol is huge!

Oh, how I would love to do something like this at my house! I will keep an eye on this thread. Thanks for creating it!

John, that's an 'Anarchism' symbol.

Thanks for this thread Ross, you're an inspiration.

Well, I have just done the updated version of this post over at Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Centre. "C5 says, Dont Build My Greenhouse- Redux". In it I talk about what I would do differently now that I have lived with it for a few years.

https://darkgreenmountainsurvivalresearchcentre.wordpress.com/2018/05/07/c5-says-dont-build-my-greenhouse-redux/

This started because the local provincial farming magazine did a full page article on my greenhouse.

Also, Good News for me. Folks over at  The Doomstead Diner decided I was the right kind of crazy and have started cross posting Dark Green Mountain SRC as a featured writer. This has given me some Doomer Cred, plenty of new readers and they are big fans of permies.  http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/blog/

Enjoy.