Farm Carpentry Projects

FARM FRESH VEGETABLES => 

     Next year, when I have excess veggies on hand, and my neighbors are having all those garage sales in our area, I'll be ready.  I'll just put my "Farm Fresh Vegetables =>" sign next to their "Garage Sale =>" signs, pull my veggie cart to a shady spot in the front yard, and watch my customers come rolling in..

Get your home grown here!

     The cart was made from an old shelf that was stashed in the barn and mostly scrap lumber left over from other projects.  The whole unit is bolted to my garden wagon, and easily removed from the wagon when not in use.  The paint was the same as I used on that chicken house in the background.  The cart is not quite finished at this point.  I still plan to staple part of a plastic table cloth for a roof on the top, and finish the guide rails along the edges of the shelves using leftover metal fencing from my previous fencing project.  I've got all winter to finish this, so it now becomes a "when time allows" project.

CONVERTIBLE POULTRY HOUSE

     A more pressing need is to complete the sliding wall for the front of the guinea-peafowl house.  All that remains to be done is to put the last coat of white paint on the window trim, drill the holes for the hardware that attaches the wall to the sliding track, and recruit a couple of strong grandkids to mount it in place.

Sliding Wall........

....Goes Here

     This will allow me to open the wall in nice weather for better circulation, and close it when it's cold.  I'm using the same track that was used for the door when this was a machine shed.

PORTABLE LOW TUNNEL

     The last project is intended to protect a  garden area from frost, or to warm and protect an area for earlier spring planting.  I have two units ready for use in the tomato patch as soon as we have a possibility of frost, which could happen any night now.

     Each unit covers an area of about 5 feet by 7 1/2 feet and is made of 2 construction 2 by 4's with holes drilled every 20 inches to receive the 5 hoops made of 10 foot pieces of 1/2 inch electrical conduit bent into a semi-circle.  For conduit bending instructions, see "Mother Nature Gives Us Our Tools."  A piece of plastic is then stapled to one side, and weighted down on the other side by boards or stones or whatever you have available.

Frost, you don't scare me.

     The 2 by 4's were about $2.50 each and the conduit was just over $2 each.  I don't remember the cost of the plastic covering, as I had a roll on hand, but it seems I remember something like $6 for a 10' by 25' roll, enough to cover 2 of these units.  That makes a total cost of about $20 per unit.

     These are the 3 farm carpentry projects I've been working on the last couple of weeks.  Watching a pile of wood, metal and paint mature into a completed work is very satisfying.  Seeing that work integrated into the mission of the garden fulfills that inner need.

     May your projects be successful, and if not, may they all be enlightening and entertaining.
                                                                                                    David C