Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

The Winds Came

I have enjoyed salads every week this fall. Even now, with the temperatures regularly falling well below freezing, sometimes into the teens, I am enjoying cold hardy greens--scallions, beets, hardy lettuces, and spinach--but not as conveniently as before. The winds a few weeks ago got up to 50 mph and the hoop house built according to the hoop house plans I published this fall couldn't withstand the onslaught. The problem is with the hoops themselves. Every plastic hoop snapped in the high wind. I have tied them together into a tepee now as a temporary measure (things are better than the photo above, but not by much); I'll have to go back to the drawing boards next year. One thing is for sure, unheated hoop houses are definitely worth the effort. You can eat fresh salad in Indiana until Christmas and beyond, but the construction needs to be better. That's something I'll work on next year, maybe with metal hoops (like the White House) or maybe by building a permanent, sturdy greenhouse. In the meantime, check out what the White House is doing with their garden hoop houses!

Merry Christmas!