Bad Weather

We have had some bad weather here in Moore Couty have been really nervous and worried about the strawberry plants and the gtreenhouse. The seeds that I planted in the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago have sprouted and I was so excited to see them all growing. This was my first attempt at doing the seeds all by myself without any help or input from Jeff. I was so excited to see that I had done the right thing. I now have a little more convidence in my ability in the greenhouse. Actually, Jeff thinks I have become a little a cocky about it. haha

The bad weather started here Friday night and the first thing we noticed when we got up Saturday morning was that the roof of the greenhouse was about to collapse. We had put an electric heater in there to keep the temperature above 40 degrees. The only problem was that it didn't work well enough to keep the snow and ice melted on the roof. Jeff and Matt got out there and got all the snow and ice off and then he put a propane heater there and the temp jumped up to 70 degrees. It was like a little sauna in there. We have since ran out of propane and had to resort back to the electric heater. There is no more snow or ice in our forecast but the temp is supposed to get down to 10 degrees to night. I am hoping the heater will at least keep it warm enough from freezing the new shoots.

The strawberries were fine. We got the row covers on them Tuesday night. One sheet was supposed to cover 7 rows but that was pulling it tight and we thought with the ice and snow on top of it that it might rip the seams. So we fixed it to cover only 6 rows. It worked out really well. We were out there in the dark putting these things on by the headlights of my truck and the lights of the bobcat. Sarah and I went out there Friday after I picked her up from school to check on them before the bad weather got here. Only a few corners had come uncovered. We walked all the aisles and fixed any spot that looked like it would come undone with a strong breeze. I am really glad that we did that otherwise I would have worried myself sick over it. Jeff and I drove through on Saturday to check on them and everything was still covered and protected. We then drove to another strawberry farm in the area to see what method they used to protect their plants. We were very surprised to see that they didn't use anything. We thought for sure that they would have used at the least the irrigation method of freezing but nothing. This was one of the larger producers in the area and I hate that he didn't protect his plants because we know the cost and work that goes into them. But at the same time that meant that we were going to have a better crop than him.

I am hoping that this week will be the last week that I will have to help Lula in her cafe. I have a ton of seed startings to get started in the greenhouse plus, I also have the flower beds to get done. My list is getting longer instead of shorter.

We got some paperwork in the mail yesterday pertaining to the permit requirements and of course more paperwork is needed. If I had known the county was going to be such an obstacle when we started I would have gotten the paperwork together alot faster. This is a really tedious and patience testing phase that I hope I do well with.

I have classes starting this week at the Sandhills Community College Business Center. I am really anxious about those. I am hoping that I learn a lot and that I can handle most of the paperwork so that we only have to hire an accountant to do our taxes. Plus, i have signed up for some marketing classes. Jeff is wanting me to look into a class on Quicken. We have the program that does home finances and some business finances. i would love to have the full blown Business program and learn how to use it. So we'll see if we have enought time to do that.

Robin is coming along well in her bee class. She got her study guide at the class this past week and has her test coming up. Jeff will probably have to help her study-she is not the most disciplined and we are really counting on her for this.   

I will go up this week and take some pictures of the strawberries with the row covers on them. I will also try to get some pictures of the of the new sprouts and pictures of the greenhouse on here this week. I think i am going to need Jeff to build me some new tables or shelves in there at the rate I keep starting seeds. You will be able to see what I mean once the pictures are up.