The insides and ribs of the 'Beast'
She is much wider and higher than our other original basic models and her length is more than the other 3 joined together.
It's good to see the green 'manure' oats are doing well with the regular rain and despite the continued unseasonally low temps.. You can see the oats in the background where the new seasons' garlic crop will soon be planted. One of the advantages of this large poly-tunnel is that we can regenerate the soil more efficiently within it, as along with our crop rotations, green manures can be included and we'll be able to use our small tractor to slash the green manure foliage and plough it back in at the right times. We anticipate, this will enable more sustainable use of the land beneath the cover and lessen how frequently we need to relocate it onto fresh land.
Trench 1!
It was looking a bit like 'Time Team' yesterday, with the boys digging all the trenches in order to install the structure and for back-filling the dirt onto the plastic cover's edges to help secure the 'skin' of plastic in place over the 'ribs'. No artefacts were found, perhaps just a few 'new' muscles!
Trench 2 - Tim digging the trench along the front door end.
Tim and Stacy have put in a massive effort for this exercise. First they had to help dismantle it at the other property (it was so great the other farmer et al helped with that), then transport it all on a trailer to our farm - thankfully it was only a local drive. Next they had to unload everything and as you can see above, the door frame poles have great clumps of concrete on their ends to help weigh things down securely. Over the past couple of weeks they've spent quite a bit of time re-assembling the 'beast'. I am so glad blokes like doing this stuff (well some do!) and that I am NOT a bloke myself but have strong, practical examples of men in my life!
Door fitting - Step 1...
See farm dog Billy 'exiting stage right' ...he's not one of those boys who likes this stuff! He has talents in other areas.
Door fitting - Step 2...
Door fitting - Step 3...Nice fit, & nice view Tim!
This door system will be much better at helping us keep the heat within the tunnel at night, primarily because it is fitted and sliding, compared to the doors on the smaller tunnels, which just roll up and down by hand and although we screw them down during cold weather/the nights, they are nowhere near as well sealed as this new set up will be.
The boys had the plastic 'skin' over the structure and partially secured this afternoon, then chaos struck! Just before they were about to get back to it to finish lashing the plastic on, some momentary but huge wind gusts came along and lifted the darn thing clean off and shredding it to bits at the ends and now there's nothing for it other than a new plastic cover...so that was an unexpected expensive little 'ol day on the farm today- sheesh! Fortunately, we may be able to use the remaining plastic as replacement for some of the cover on the smaller tunnels.
Moving right along...
Rows of new heritage beetroots.
Rows of new heritage carrots.
...look above, at the fantastic beetroots and carrots we've got growing along very nicely.
It's so lovely to see the 'oases' of abundance along what in truth has been a very hard season!
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