A bushel of carrots, a mix of Nelson, Napoli and Danvers Half Long (mostly Danvers showing on top), fresh out of the ground. These were gleaned from the last carrot beds of 2006. A bit of winter’s been forecast beginning tonight, so I dug ’em up before the snow. If the prediction’s on point, we’re in for at least a couple of weeks of subzero days and nights. Normal wintery weather for around here. At last!
Winter is a no-show
The consistently odd and erratic weather of the last four years continues to get weirder with this non-winter we’ve been having so far. A few cold snaps and a little random snow, but mainly, it’s been days around 5°C (40°F) and no real ground freeze-up. I worry about the garlic, with tips already emerging from the cloves. Bring on the COLD!
Inside the Milkhouse revealed
Written and posted 3 Nov 2023: A couple days into the new year, and the structural part of the Milkhouse expansion is done. Time to finish up the inside. The photo shows a bit more than half of the overall depth and most of the width, facing the original Milkhouse area. The walls and ceiling were finished with plywood, with the joins plastered over (you can see in the bit of unpainted wall and ceiling).
It’s amazing how much a photo helps along the old memory. Writing from 16 years later, most things are familiar, some I’m reminded of, and a couple I don’t recall. In that last category, that speaker: I have no idea where that’s from, complete blank. Wow, maybe it’ll come back to me. It must be a pair, I think I see the other one against the back wall, behind the partially painted post on the left. Come to think of it, I don’t remember what the speakers were attached to, either: an stereo system, receiver, something like that? Hmmm…
Onions for winter
Some Stuttgarter cooking onions, put aside for winter. Didn’t do much harvest saving this year, an assortment of winter squash and small pumpkins, a couple of bushels of potatoes, the same for carrots, about 30lbs of spinach, frozen, and…a bushel or so of onions.
And now, for some insulation…
Inside the newly roofed Milkhouse, getting set to insulate. It’s kinda cold and dreary looking now, but it’s sure to get cheerier once the ceiling and walls are covered!
Galvalume!
Build a little, learn a little about building materials. Screwing on the roof took two of us about four hours. It’s made of Galvalume, which was recommended by (and gotten at a bit of a deal from) a friend working in construction. I looked it up. Galvanized steel is made by dipping steel in molten zinc. The two metals bond on a chemical level, resulting in pure zinc on the outside, a mix of zinc and steel as you go in, and a center of pure steel, making for a highly corrosion-resistant final sheet metal product. Fascinating! Galvalume is an advanced galvanized steel, with a zinc-aluminum fusion going on. Well, well!
Walls!
The outside walls are pine tongue-and-groove from a local sawmill. A little pricey, but what isn’t, and it looks pretty good. Now, the wait for the roof steel, on order and coming in a week.