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  1. #11
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Wow I'm jealous of your location

  2. #12
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    Re: gosmith's system

    HA! You wouldn't be jealous of the freak cold spell we're having right now. It's 18F outside right now in November! The Seattle area has wrecks and traffic jams all over the place from the snow and ice. The weather service says it could get down to a record 2F overnight at our location. It would take some serious heating and insulation to keep talapia going in a greenhouse with temps like this. At least we don't get hurricanes and tornados.

    Aside from current conditions, this area is a pretty nice place to be. Far enough from Seattle to be nice and rural. Winters are generally mild, and the summer temps stay pretty reasonable. Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands offer great boating, fishing, whale watching, etc., yet the mountains are only minutes away. I love it here.

    Gary

  3. #13
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    I would rather deal with extreme cold than the hurricanes I have lived through!!! Plus, nothing beats that view... at least not around here...

  4. #14
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    Re: gosmith's system

    This is a beautiful place. Here's a link to some pro photographer's photoseek page that has some nice scenic shots of the area.

    http://www.photoseek.com/wausa.html

    And here's a shot I found from the top of Sauk Mtn., looking towards Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, which you can't quite make out through the haze. That's the Skagit River (pronounced ska-jit, named after one of the local tribes). It flows between those two hills and into some of the most fertile farmland in the country before dumping into the Sound. The property location is just off-frame in the lower left, across the highway from the river.

    Gary


  5. #15
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    Re: gosmith's system

    beautiful country.. good luck with the setup!

  6. #16
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Hi all,

    Been a while since I've posted. Hope everyone is doing well. Life's kept us fairly busy the last few months as we prepare to move completely off-grid, but we've finally been able to get back to our 12' x 20' GH build. Here's a few construction pics from last month.

    We started the walls by sliding 2x2's into the previously placed 2" PVC pipes that were embedded into the ground with rebar cross bars. The painting crew got all of the lumber primed and painted in advance.





    Next came the 4x4 frame running down the middle. These are attached to buried pier blocks with elevated saddles. The 4x4's also provide framing for the door.



    A 2x2 truss was attached to the 4x4 beam with 3" deck screws.



    More 2x2's span from the walls to the center support.





    2x2 rafters





    1x3's were attached across the tops and bottoms of the PVC pipes with 2-1/2" deck screws, further anchoring the walls to the pipe. We also added some additional diagonal bracing to the rafters to stiffen the whole roof structure.





    The entire structure turned out to be fairly rigid. Hopefully, when covered with GH film, it will be able to withstand whatever nasty spring gales yet to come. There will be 2' x 4' vent panels along the bottom edge of the south facing wall (attached to the 1x3's.) and similar panels at the top of the north side of the roof. These will be framed out of 2x2's and covered with GH film. Hope this will provide enough ventilation, along with a louvered window going in the east wall and the door on the west wall which has a sliding glass panel.

    I bought the GH film last weekend from a local horticultural supply house and hope to get it installed shortly. It's called Dura4 and is 6 mil, 4 year UV stabilized, with 91.6 percent light transmission. It was $180 for a 20' x 100' roll, which will be enough for both this GH and another yet to be built.

    Total cost of the framing, including lumber, pier blocks, PVC pipe, rebar, deck screws, and paint was $279. The recycled door and louvered window were free. Together with the 6 mil GH film and a 1000' roll of 1/2" plastic banding to staple it down with, we ended up at a little under $500 total.

    Gary

  7. #17
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Amazing project!

  8. #18
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Did I mention I was jealous??

  9. #19
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Hi all,

    Got the "Just Checkin'" email from admin (hiya JCO) and realized it's been a while since my last post. My AP project has been on hold for the last year, but the GH is completed, at least. There's still some work to do on the ventilation system , but overall, I think the low-budget design worked out pretty well. It held up just fine last winter despite some high winds and heavy snow. No damage at all. I haven't started on the FT or GBs yet, but the GH was nice for starting bedding plants and even to grow some cantaloupes over the summer. I had hoped to have everything finished by now, but life and health has a way of getting in the way of good intentions and best laid plans. Had a few frantic personal issues to deal with, but things are finally looking up. Been working on our off-grid mini-home, adjacent to the GH, during the summer and hope to get back to the AP system in the spring.

    Meanwhile, we've been trying to adapt ourselves to a low-energy, self-sustaining lifestyle in our regular home as we prepare to make the full transition within the next year or so. Got our power bill down to $36/month, but that's still a lot more than I'd like. I've designed a modest battery based PV solar and wind system, but have yet to start purchasing any components. It won't supply all our needs here, but should be fine at the new place, especially once there's no other option.

    We did a lot of food growing this year, along with a bit of community outreach and networking, and feel we have a pretty good barter system worked out to be able to supply quite a bit of our needs. I'm amazed at how many people around here seem to be thinking along the same lines as we are. There's a lot of local interest in seeing a working AP system if I could just manage to get it all finished.

    We've had pretty good results growing produce in standard raised organic beds, using lots of home-made compost mixed with the agricultural-charcoal we've been making, and hope to be able to adapt some of what we've learned to our future AP grow beds. At this point, we could probably go quite a while without a trip to a supermarket except for some essential non-food items. (Toilet paper is NOT a luxury item.) We made lots and lots of tasty fermented beverages this season, using free pulp leftovers from a local organic fruit farm. These include raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, and fresh cider, along with our own abundant wild blackberry harvest. Very potent and turns out to be an excellent barter item, especially for getting local smoked wild meats and fresh salmon. Still using gasoline and propane, but hope to have that problem licked with yeast-based bio-fuel and wood-chip based bio-char once we get completely off-grid and no longer have to punch a time clock and worry about commuting. Still experimenting on that front, but have managed to run a 5HP engine on home-made high-octane go-juice and cooked lots and lots of our meals on the stove-pipe biochar stove I built a while back and also on a converted propane cooker, both using the free wood chips provided by the county clean-up crews as fuel.

    Guess that's it for now. Will try to post some pics when I once again have access to something besides this lame 56K dial-up. Hope everyone is doing well on their own projects, or at least having a good time thinking about it all. Best holiday wishes to all.

    Gary

  10. #20
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Nice to hear from you Gary....
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

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