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Joseph Allen Rimbey

Comment on: Blog Post 'Building a permanent greenhouse with cattle panels - part 1': # Janet Dillon OMG, this is too cute. Great instructions too. And a GIRL! ;-) Reposting at City Farmer. Thank you. Tuesday at 1:33pm · · # Lisa R Braddock looking forward to how you are attaching the doors and how you will keep the plastic from blowing away. I'm trying to finish my hoop house tomorrow in anticipation of Thursday night's frost. I call mine hog panels but it' the same general design....your's is more sturdy with the nice wood base. I might have to retrofit! :) Tuesday at 2:26pm · · # Rich Radtke When Part II is ready, We'll be reposting both on the 'Small Farm & Sustainability' FB Group. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=294631353064 The group thrives on projects & info like this. Thanks Elizabeth. Celebrate the homestead movem...ent!See More Tuesday at 2:34pm · · # Michelle Broccoli wow, your tarp is exactly the right size! Tuesday at 7:57pm · ·…; Added by Cornelia at 12:21pm on October 28, 2010

Comment on: Topic 'Resources for Aspiring and Beginning Farmers': Farmer, Know Your Food' initiative for farmers to establish high tunnels - also known as hoop houses - to increase the availability of locally grown produce in a conservation-friendly way. A seasonal high tunnel is a greenhouse-like structure, at least six feet in height, which modifies the climate inside to create more favorable growing conditions for vegetable and other specialty crops grown in the natural soil beneath it. This pilot will test the potential conservation benefits of growing crops under these structures. Participating farms can receive funding for one high tunnel. High tunnels in the study can cover as much as five percent of one acre or approximately a 30 by 72 foot structure. Local farmers who would like to sign-up for the high tunnel pilot should call or visit the NRCS office at a local USDA service center by January 15th. USDA service center locations are listed on-line at http://offices.usda.gov or in the phone book under Federal Government, U.S. Department of Agriculture. General program information is available on the NRCS Massachusetts website at www.ma.nrcs.usda.gov.…; Added by Cornelia to Aspiring Farmers at 2:54pm on January 4, 2010

Topic: make your own greenhouse / hoop house / hot house: .com using cheap and easily available materials. Below is a list of other sources for DIY cold frames and greenhouses Basic constructed cold frame from DIY Life Cold Frame Using Old Windows from Green Building Elements Geodesic Dome Greenhouse from Instructables.com! From the Oct/Nov 2009 issue of Mother Earth News - DIY Greenhouse - build your own greenhouse Below is a video DIY for a Mini greenhouse using a CD spindle from Instructables.com. Another sign that anyone can grow food, anywhere. …; Added by Cornelia to DIY - tips for how to do just about anything at 2:23pm on October 14, 2008

Blog Post: Cold in January: We in Kansas were surprised not to be the coldest and deepest snow, or even the highest wind speed anytime so far this winter. I am used to missing several days of work due to several feet of snow…; Added by Rick Nichols at 10:09am on January 11, 2014

Topic: Duck House 101: s so much, Lauren, and please keep the good ideas hatching. Chickens have been in the limelight for quite a while now, and even our nonhomesteading friends have tossed around the idea of “pet” chickens. Who wouldn’t give at least a brief consideration to having fresh eggs straight from the backyard? But what about that other fowl friend: the adorable quacking duck? It's high time ducks enjoyed a renaissance all their own. The cute factor is off the charts, and having some fluffy adorableness to call your own is nearly irresistible. If you are a well-prepared homesteader, you will have read every book on ducks and pored over every resource you can find online. Or you could jump right in when your husband brings home three adorable Cayuga ducklings when he was supposed to be buying chicken feed. Of course, that would never happen to you, right? (Read more of Lauren's adventures in duck rearing and her tips on how you can do it, too, in her excellent Raising Ducks 101.) Let’s say, one way or the other, you end up with ducklings. Where will you keep them when they're grown up? Never fear. We built an adorable, sturdy duck house with materials we had on hand, and you can, too. STEP 1: LOOK FOR INSPIRATION As with a chicken coop, you can spend as much or as little as you want on a duck house. In this stage of planning, I researched all the lovely ideas I could dream of, envisioning something straight out of the pages of Country Living. What I got was even better, though, because it was free—and charming in a rustic, functional way. Knowing what you need and what you want helps keep your project on track. STEP 2: DETERMINE YOUR CRITERIA For example, my requirements for a duck house included: Easy to clean Movable Cheap or free Cute Easy to clean (So, so, so important. The smell of messy, wet duck poop is something horrible.) STEP 3: IDENTIFY MATERIALS There are no professional carpentry skills required, unless you’re a perfectionist. (But from one recovering perfectionist to another: Leave it at the door.) Imperfections can be fun, and trust me, as long as the house is safe, your ducks won’t care if it’s immaculate. We used materials we had on hand. Even if you need to buy some things, your duck house should still be a fairly inexpensive project. What you’ll need: Reciprocating saw (or a similar wood saw) Drill (or a screwdriver plus elbow grease) Drywall screws (or nails, but screws hold better) Measuring tape (honestly, I don’t think we used one) Pallets (we used three) 8’x6’ shadow-box wood fence panels (2 ¼ total) Corrugated plastic (for the roof; tarpaper would work) Plywood (we reused a piece from a DIY garage cabinet door) Vinyl tile (for the duck house floor; we had some left over from a dog kennel project) Hinges, hooks, and/or locks Any trim or decor elements STEP 4: LOCATE SUPPLIES FOR CHEAP We didn’t want to spend money on the duck house, so we looked around our half-acre homestead to see what we had on hand. Everyone knows that pallets are fairly easy to come by, but you may be able to score wood fencing for free, too. We did! One way is by stopping when you see someone getting a new fence installed. Speak with the work crew and see if you can’t pick up the old wood fence that’s getting replaced. We were able to get a large number of stockade panels that way. You might also check with a local fence company. We stopped by one around the corner from us, and it turns out they have to pay to have old fencing disposed of. Of course, we made sure to give a thank-you gift to the owner. What’s the cost of a restaurant gift card in exchange for as much free wood fence as we could ever wish for? We’ve gotten both brand new fencing and old fencing in good condition that way. The wood can be used in a number of projects; you just have to be willing to pull the old fence panels apart. For the roofing, we had one piece left over from previous projects—some corrugated plastic that we got for free and have used on our chicken coop, rabbit barn, shed, greenhouse, and now duck house. We also were given a roll of tarpaper left over from a friend’s side job. In other words, be open to other people’s trash and unusable items. Scour Craig’s List, of course, but don’t be afraid to stop and ask. There’s a fine line between useless and unsightly trash and useful materials such as wood, metal, et cetera. All other materials and tools we had on hand because we use them often. STEP 5: BUILD YOUR DUCK HOUSE Since we built our house from cast-off materials, I don’t have step-by-step instructions to share here. It was really a matter of taking what we had and making it all fit together. But for a rough blueprint, we took one of the 8’x6’ shadow box fence panels, cut it in half, and turned it sideways. We used those two pieces for the right and left sides of the house. Another fence piece made up the top, with the corrugated plastic covering it. There’s a slight overhang, as you can see in the pictures, making a sort of porch. We used two pallets as a platform to keep the house off the ground—and movable. The front wall is a pallet that we cut to allow a ramp inside and out and a duck door. The entire back of the house is one-quarter of a shadow box fence panel on hinges. It swings entirely open to allow for easy access and cleaning. There’s a simple gate lock to keep it closed. We built the ramps out of miscellaneous fence boards. The pieces fit together like a puzzle, with a minimum of cutting. STEP 6: PLAN IMPROVEMENTS If, like us, you build your duck house from materials you have lying around, there’s a good chance you’ll want to make upgrades at some point. For one thing, I would like to add a way to feed and water the ducks without a mess while they’re inside the house. I’m thinking about how to do that and have a few ideas. We’ll see what we come up with. You’ll want to think about weather considerations, too. During the winter, we line the inside of our chicken coop with contractor plastic. We’ll do the same for the duck house, in order to prevent any biting winds from making the ducks sick or uncomfortable. We reuse this plastic over and over again, so it’s extremely economical. I currently muck out the house with a plastic rake, but I think a metal garden rake would do a better job. For a thorough cleaning, I use a hose and bleach. We’re planning on redoing the floor to get rid of the tile overlap, which allows for some dirt and waste accumulation, and we’ll drill holes in the front corners of the house to allow for better drainage when we're hosing it out. Remember that you can always build in stages. Once your animals are safe, secure, and sheltered from the wind and rain, you can add extras. Personally, we’ve never been satisfied with our first time around on anything, be it a fence, a coop, or a rabbit hutch. But since our projects are so budget friendly, we can make changes as needed. Each year we improve, tweak, or rebuild as we learn and grow and as our needs change. I imagine it will be the same with our ducks! STEP 7: DECORATE You’ve gone to the trouble of building your ducks a comfortable home. Why not make it attractive? For the DIY duck lettering seen in this photo, you’ll need: Spray paint Scissors or an X-Acto knife Scroll saw Scrap wood PDF files for tracing or stenciling If you don’t have a scroll saw, you can always cut out the letters and use them as a stencil. I’d love to see your finished houses. Post your photos in the comments box below! And best wishes for a happy duck home! SPEAK UP! Got a question for Lauren or a set of duck-house blueprints to share? Post a comment below and keep the conversation rolling! If you already have your own flock of feathered fowl or are thinking about acquiring some, don't miss Lauren's Raising Ducks 101. You might also be interested in 101s on building a hoop house, a dog poop composter, or a bat house. If you're interested in livestock, check out the Raising Rabbits, Beekeeping, and Backyard Chickens 101s, as well as the Backyard Livestock group. You can always find more things to make, craft, cook, preserve, plant, grow, and hammer in the HOMEGROWN 101 library. ALL PHOTOS: LAUREN KLOUDA/HONEST DESIRES FARM …; Added by HOMEGROWN.org at 11:44am on July 30, 2013

Comment for: Ray Mary Massey: and ideas here to spur you on, and I hope you’ll be game for sharing s0me of your own, too—maybe more on your own hoop house, if you’ve got one in the works—in our member blog, The Stew. Elsewhere on HOMEGROWN, you can always find the latest additions to the site at the top of the homepage, and if you’ve ever got a question, please don't hesitate to leave a comment on my profile page or shoot me a message. I hope you feel right at home!…; Added by Jennifer at 3:50pm on December 17, 2013

Blog Post: A year without posting: You would think that I would have more to say on here after being lazy and not posting for a year. Ok three recaps and I will let it go: Chickens; the hoop house still is the Best Idea I Ever…; Added by Rick Nichols at 10:09am on March 29, 2015

Topic: Pallet Wood Chicken Coop 101: out her approach to raising poultry at The Holistic Hen. Thanks so much, Sue, and please keep hammering out the great ideas! THE BACK STORY I'm Sue Cross and I live with my husband, Dr. Andy Colley, plus a selection of rare-breed bantams, quail, and fantail pigeons on an organic homestead in La Baie de Mont Saint Michel, Normandie. We both come from a long line of avid reusers, repurposers, and lovers of what now has become known as “shabby chic.” In this 101, I'm going to share the sourcing, design, and construction of our pallet wood chicken coop, or as we call it, our hen house. In 1999 a hurricane took away our roof whilst we were on Christmas vacation at the 300-year-old ruin that was then our holiday home. As we had already decided to sell our house in England, give up our careers, and become happy self-sustaining peasants, it seemed a good time to go over permanently, if only to fix the roof! In late summer of 2000 we received our first pair of hens, two rare-breed Ardenner bantams named Pouledini and Chicklette, in part payment for looking after a neighbouring homestead whilst the owners were abroad. I grew up on a mixed arable farm with 3,000 hens and 300 free-range turkeys, so this was real micro, or I might say nano, farming, but after many years living and working in towns and cities, I finally felt I'd come home. Happily, Andy felt the same. He'd been born in the heart of the industrial Midlands and spent many years in industry as an engineer before going back to university, but he loved the countryside and was thirsting to have the space to work on his own projects. Our first project was a hen house for the Ardenner sisters, who, with the fruits of more hen-sitting, had been joined by Dorothy, the Wyandotte cross. Orlando and Dorabella, a purchased pair of Sebrights, followed shortly, as did Frizzante, a re-homed apricot Frizzle! The hen house was inspired by a pile of old, worm-eaten but serviceable floor boards, victims of the hurricane, that were being thrown out by a neighbour. We turned them into a small Japanese-style hen house, complete with a split bamboo roof, also repurposed from a neighbour’s discarded prunings. Over the years, and with more additions to the flock, this house took its share of battering from the vagaries of the climate. It is only today, however, 14 years on, that we are about to dismantle it and put up another pallet wood hen house of the following design in its place. A word on our setup here: We have 1,000 square meters of organic forest and walled and hedged garden, with three hen houses, from which each flock has formed its own territorial but quite fluid boundaries. Take a video tour through our garden and meet some of the flock: Chez Nous - The Garden Awakes. DESIGN CRITERIA “Fit for purpose” is a phrase dear to both our hearts. One of the things I learnt from our beloved Japanese design was: Never make a house you can't stand up in! The other was: It never rains in Normandie. This is supposed to be a local joke, but wherever you live, it is so much easier to have a design that can be built indoors, in a barn, workshop, or even pre-drilled for assembly in the kitchen, as we did! No need to be bored in winter. You can build this hen house in comfort indoors and then carry it outdoors and install in situ during the first sunny days of spring. A more personal reason for this “kit form” of design is that we are putting our house on the market and intend to buy a plot of land to build our own eco-home, probably in Brittany. The hen houses, therefore, can be taken with us, providing the hens with instant accommodation and security, both physical and mental. Furthermore, we plan on building a larger version for us to live in. This is not only cheaper and more sustainable than buying an RV, but it will leave us with a ready-made guesthouse for family and friends. (A note: For more tips on finding a homestead and relocating chickens, don’t miss Michelle’s recent HOMEGROWN Life post on the subject.) WHAT YOU’LL NEED: MATERIALS » 24 standard (120cm x 80cm, or roughly 2’ x 4’) untreated pallets. These include the four used for the base. If you only have a few hens, the base can be cut down, but for ease of cleaning and access, trust me, the height should be kept the same. » 24 planks (1800mm in length and 23mm thick, or roughly 6’ x 1”). These were cut down to a width of 40mm (1 ½”). To do this without needing to clamp the wood, which is really tedious, Andy made up a variation of an old tool, which he called a plankcutter's holdfast. The planks came from the upright pallets used to transport furniture and can be found at most outlets selling sofas, beds, and larger items. They are also used by companies making or transporting glass and double-glazed window units, so look around your area to see what's on offer. » For the hen house roof, we originally used 10 square meters (about 33 square feet) of salvaged and leftover 10mm-thick (1/3”) tongue and groove cladding, but recently we have been coming across more and more thin pallet planks, which are light enough to do the job. They do not, however, come in the same lengths, so in order to make up the shortfall, Andy again put to use an old technique for joining planks end on, known as reinforced butt joints. This means even less wastage but also less firewood! A note on where and how to find untreated pallet wood: If you are new to the art of scavenging, we created a couple of articles: Collecting Pallets - A Few Guidelines and Collecting Pallets - How - Where - What. The what is directly linked to the where, and understanding what pallet codes mean is the key to finding an excellent source of free carpentry wood. Pictured above is a block from a British pallet, debarked and heat treated. To help you obtain the optimum amount of useable wood, we also have produced the film below (also on YouTube here). The only real cost for this hen house, apart from a few nails, screws, and 4 metal hinges, is the price of the roof covering: a heavy duty tarpaulin, costing around 25 Euros ($35). This is necessary if, like us, you are living in an area where you can get heavy snow and rain. Other materials involved are the wood finishes, in our case hemp and linseed oil. We also used natural earth and mineral pigments and découpage. WHAT YOU’LL NEED: TOOLS HAND TOOLS » Saw » Hammer » Spanner for coach bolts » Tape measure » Set square/tri square » Spirit level You could build this hen house entirely with hand tools with the addition of: » Hand drill » Screw drivers If available, however, you can use the following: POWER TOOLS » Electric drill » Portable rechargeable drill » Circular saw WHAT TO DO: CONSTRUCTION The film below (also on YouTube here) shows the detailed steps involved in making this hen house, including a white board tutorial at the beginning that gives you an overview of the design. For those who prefer, however, the hen house has also been produced in blog form and can be found here. There are four blog posts to cover the hen house project and the links for the subsequent one is given at the bottom of each post. WHAT TO DO: ASSEMBLY The next film (also here on YouTube) shows us demolishing the old hen house and setting up the foundation for the new house. It also shows the small trolley device Andy set up for moving the panels of the hen house into the garden, a very useful tool if you are handling this project on your own. The film then guides you through the whole assembly process. THE FINISHING TOUCHES The house is protected with a layer of organic hemp oil, which is nontoxic and extremely hard wearing. To create some sort of homogeneity in the colour of the pallet wood, I use a blend of several earth pigments. If you have never used these before, I have written a post explaining how they are made, and how you can use them to create your own unique colours. The front gable panel is decorated with découpage cut from paper napkins and is applied using a water-based acrylic varnish. In the hen house shown below and at the start of this piece, I cut letters from wrapping paper to complete my design and also used earth and mineral colours to create borders. I always use this same varnish to finish off the panel, rather than oil, which could damage the paper. Andy created the door handle from a tree branch. It has a really great feel to it and suits the hen house and its wooded setting. IN CONCLUSION Maybe you've never used tools nor done any DIY and you've got through to here and found it all a little overfacing. Perhaps you would like to start with something smaller and simpler. Consider this: As I write this, it's February, and the wild birds are already looking for nesting sites. Why not make them a natural, untreated pallet wood and fruit crate home? (You can see it just under the apex of the hen house roof in the photo below.) It's a good start and could lead on to greater things! All the very best and thanks for dropping by. Sue and Andy xx SPEAK UP! Got a question for Sue? Or a suggestion for finding pallets on this side of the ocean? Post your comments below and keep the conversation rolling! You might also be interested in joining the Backyard Chickens group, where HOMEGROWN members share all kinds of tips and advice, and if you're just beginning to mull the idea of keeping your own hens, don't miss Rachel's intro to chickens. If you're interested in attempting more construction projects, check out the 101s on building a duck house, a multibin composter, an outdoor dining table, and a hoop house, as well as uses for bamboo. You can always find more things to make, craft, cook, preserve, plant, grow, and scavenge in the HOMEGROWN 101 library. ALL PHOTOS: SUSAN DENISE CROSS …; Added by HOMEGROWN.org at 12:58pm on March 3, 2014

Blog Post: An Abundant Summer: I'm pleased to report that things are popping up all over the Nola farm dispite the enormous lack of rain. It has indeed been a hot, dry growing season in Mt. Airy, Maryland but we're trudging on…; Added by Farm Frederick at 5:24pm on August 3, 2010