It's been a while since the last posting and I bet you all want to know what we have been up to. We are finally able to tell you that the plastic is up and but for a few minor trims here and there, the new high tunnel is up and shining! Once again this city girl has learned a few things. One is that building a high tunnel is not as easy as it looks. We had to wait for the perfect day... it could not be windier than 10 miles per hour, it had to be warm so the plastic would adjust properly and preferably no rain so we could have help because no one wanted to work in the rain including us. At this time of year, the wind blows the temperatures fluctuate and the rain falls. We had several days where we thought we could get the plastic up and Steve made calls to folks who volunteered to help but alas...wind, rain and cold kept coming. Today, we finally had all of the right ingredients and our angels came out to help. Thanks to Scott Rogers, Phil Mendenhall and a special thanks to our friend at Flyway Farm in Makanda, Mike Hatfield, who is a part of the Foodworks mentoring program and Steve has taken him under his wing to pass on some of his knowledge to Mike. We think Mike has a lot of knowledge to pass along to us as well so it is a great program all the way around. Mike graciously offered to help us get the plastic up on the High Tunnel! We thank Foodworks for having us as a part of their mentoring program. We also want to mention that we have a second budding farmer who will be aboard with Steve through the Foodworks 
mentoring program His name is Orlan Mays and Orlan will have a farm located in Murphysboro. We met Orlan at the Seed Swap in Carbondale and we liked him from the start. We are looking forward to sharing knowledge with Orlan soon. We will post a photo of Orlan as soon as we get one so stay tuned. The lettuce mix is growing once again, all the taters are in, spinach abounds, tomatoes are constantly being planted. We had already planted some tomatoes in the old green house and kept them nice and warm with row cover during the cold snaps, summer squash seedlings are popping and the list goes on and on. suffice it to say, we have been busy. We began this post with a photo of the mostly finished high tunnel. the following photos will take you from finish to start. Enjoy.
mentoring program His name is Orlan Mays and Orlan will have a farm located in Murphysboro. We met Orlan at the Seed Swap in Carbondale and we liked him from the start. We are looking forward to sharing knowledge with Orlan soon. We will post a photo of Orlan as soon as we get one so stay tuned. The lettuce mix is growing once again, all the taters are in, spinach abounds, tomatoes are constantly being planted. We had already planted some tomatoes in the old green house and kept them nice and warm with row cover during the cold snaps, summer squash seedlings are popping and the list goes on and on. suffice it to say, we have been busy. We began this post with a photo of the mostly finished high tunnel. the following photos will take you from finish to start. Enjoy. 
Mike Hatfield of Flyway Farms in Makanda, IL
