Prototyping ...........

Do you remember the last scene of the series 4 finale of Downton Abbey?

Yep ..... that's how Honey and I do new projects.  Carefully, cautiously ..... trying new things out.
And usually using things we already have.

Honey is a designer of big things now ...... giant dust collectors that sit on bridges, collecting all the dust and debris that comes from "sand" blasting.   He just finished a giant vacuum that sits on a trailer that is longer than my house!

But every time they design something ..... they prototype the item to work out the bugs.  See what they can improve.  Tweak it a bit later to fix a problem.

This weekend ..... we were prototyping.

Our first low tunnel.

Constructed from our Contention Creek Plant Supports (also built by Honey!) ..... we covered them with plastic leftover from our winter weatherization projects.


Also known as ......... We-can't-give-our-entire-paycheck-to-the-propane-people  project!

We started by cleaning the area.

Supervision and extra help was invaluable!

We planted spinach, lettuce, onions and radishes in small 2 foot by 2 foot areas.

We are not interested in supplying all of our salad needs at this moment ....... we are just trying to get a bit of a head start on a few things. 

Because the plastic we had was narrower than we wanted ..... it closes together across the top.  We quickly replaced the clothespins with clamps after a trip to Farm and Fleet! 

It does make it easy to open when the temperature gets too warm .... we also hung a thermometer to check the heat level in the tunnel.  We later ran a section of soaker hose along the inside edge to water gently when necessary.

It's not high tech.

It wasn't expensive.

I know lots of people will have different and better ideas. 

But I think this will work for us. 

And if it doesn't .......... we will prototype another!

Cautiously and carefully!!!