歪歪漫画

I鈥檓 experiencing muscle pains I鈥檝e not felt in a long time due to my latest weekend project.

I spent several hours performing a balancing act on the loader bucket and arms of my Farmall M in an effort to add bracing to a high tunnel. It was a workout, but doing it in temperatures so warm that I didn鈥檛 need gloves was a blessing.

Quick aside: Readers may remember my article months ago about the struggles to find an affordable tractor. Well, I received an outpouring of calls and emails from people all over our readership who were genuinely helpful, and more than a few had a tractor they were ready to sell. While some were not quite what I was looking for, others were not in my price range and, unfortunately, some were farther away than I cared to travel to pick up or have such a tractor delivered.

Even so, I鈥檓 thankful for all of you. I鈥檓 always impressed with readers who are willing to have a conversation with me about a topic of our articles here at Agweek.

Among my asking for help, my father-in-law spotted and notified me about a tractor that fit the bill. It鈥檚 old and not very pretty, but it has good tires and runs.

While snow removal has not been much of a need so far this season, I鈥檓 still finding reasons to go 鈥減ut-put around鈥� as my wife, Kelly, says.

Michael Johnson / Agweek

So, back to my project. The tractor was parked under the half-moon rings of a rehabbed high tunnel we picked up from my wife鈥檚 aunt Patty. The high tunnel took a hard hit from storms on her property and rather than get scrapped, we picked up the parts to see if we could make it work as our first greenhouse.

Trying to get bent piping to remember it's original shape is about like getting the Israelites of the Bible to remember miraculous works of their past. Apparently I have some stiff-necked hoops.

Prior to the snowfall I was able to pound all the foundation pipes into the ground, and I鈥檝e been working on adding the hoops and support bracing on any of the warmer days since then. It鈥檚 not perfect, but it鈥檚 looking more like it should work than when I first started looking everything over in November.

Michael Johnson / Agweek

With much of the main high tunnel now installed, next will come construction of endwalls, covering the entire structure with plastic, making a door, adding dorm and side vents and, oh yeah, then we have to figure out how to grow things in it.

The idea of having our own greenhouse had us filled with hope of growing our market garden options and extending our season. Our expectations were far outweighing our experiences.

So, I signed up for and Kelly and I quickly realized how little we knew about this new exciting world. I'm hoping to write about the interesting discoveries shared in this webinar soon.

Entering the high tunnel world can be expensive. You certainly save a bunch of money by finding a used model for cheap or free. Others have found great savings by using the Natural Resources Conservation Service to get a discount on a high tunnel.

Then there's the work of constructing the tunnel. The U of M webinar suggests gathering 8-10 people to construct a tunnel over a weekend. Unfortunately, I chose to construct the tunnel by myself, thus the abnormally sore muscles. Don鈥檛 feel sorry for me; I鈥檓 bad at asking for help.

Michael Johnson / Agweek

Then there鈥檚 the cost of maintaining it all, finding an irrigation method that works for you, the expense of adding more square footage of plants. There鈥檚 obviously added labor. Success does not come without hard work.

That鈥檚 made clear by the sheer amount of people who go ahead with installing these greenhouses only to leave them empty within a few years of installation, according to presenters of the webinar.

I鈥檓 determined to see this project through. Aunt Patty and everyone else are invited to see how things are going months from now when we hope it鈥檚 filled with green things that we planted, not just grass and weeds that are already well established on this piece of land.

I'm learning that each step of this process has been made easier with the help of others more experienced than me. The sooner I realize that, the less painful it will all be.