The Hardest Way to Hoop House - Part 1
Spring is taking her time. Which meant we lost a bet with the timing of our plant starts.
It’s a gamble farmers take every year. And there’s a reason lived experience tends to befriend patience. There’s still nothing like determined optimism for new endeavors, though, so last fall when we had to make choices about finishing or delaying projects, we thought of the last several mild Keweenaw springs — and bet on hopes for an early spring.
So…how soon can you get plastic up on a mostly finished hoop house skeleton while there’s still two feet of snow on the ground?
Day one: Put in a hoop end wall in 30 mph winds
Drew’s dad is the best. Scott has helped us with so much. Now that includes working on the final construction steps of a 30’x80’ Rimol Nor’Easter hoop house.
Scott also delivers the best rants. He once threw down a handful of Magic the Gathering cards and gave a Shakespearean disparaging of the tiny print and arcane rules in a single breath for a solid five minutes. We figured his presentation style aligns with the Old Man Winter vibe of this past week.
Day two: Hit a bracket with a wrench
The wind died down. The guys dug a trench. They framed the southeast end. They put it in the northwest ledger board. And they saved time with floating 2x4s? Yeah, I’m not sure either, but it made a funny video.
Farmers Note:
Drew wanted to point out that he’s holding a pair of channel locks, not a wrench.
Day three: Build your hoop before your plants’ hatch
We started plants as if we already had a hoop house, planning to finish the project before the plants need the space. Sure, even if the hoop was up, we’d have to block off part and heat it during cold nights. But as our past selves thought, “Surely enough snow would be gone by April!”
That didn’t happen. That’s farming. We still gathered some great insights on the internal capacity of our house and brains. Plus, sharing the breakfast table with dozens of baby peppers has been rather delightful.
Day four: Let it snow and step lightly
Scott is no Legolas, but he has Samwise-level fellowship points for helping with this seasonally incorrect project. Also, dragging a 12-foot ladder under the hoop canopy gives you a sense of the big picture. All winter I kept thinking how surreal it was to have a whale washed up on the shores of my Upper Peninsula farm field.
And it is NOT a greenhouse, no matter how many times Scott and Drew say so in their videos. Maybe one day we’ll have a climate-controlled, year-round greenhouse in production (like a conservatory-sauna-wood shed off the side of the house? Dreamy.) Until then, a high tunnel/hoop house is still great for season extension and maximizing heat lovers like tomatoes and peppers.
Season extension WILL be worth all this trouble. One step at a time.
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