Planning A Production Garden & Nursery

     When we first began the garden plan we assumed that we would need a greenhouse to shelter and propagate our nursery stock.  What we've discovered is that the enclosed hoop house design we put together was too warm for most of the year.  Yes, even in the dead of our mild California winter it remained too hot (60+) for most of our cold season vegetables.
      So, what do you do when you've overbuilt our of sheer exuberance and a touch of ignorance?  In our case we tear it down and repurpose as much of the walls as possible. 
Yesterday registered over 100 degrees in the greenhouse so we moved everything out, scattering the assorted tools and tables all over the farm.  Thankfully, this is a project that will benefit our new chicken fetish......Farmer Kathi has grown enamored with the idea of growing the flock to 25+ hens in a deep litter, 10x20 chicken run.....all to be named versions of "Drumstick" or "Dumpling".

Where only yesterday an orderly and attractive space existed utter chaos reigns as we begin the deconstruction of the greenhouse.   I hesitate to guess that the neighbors will find the early morning construction rather loud as we try to beat the heat and work quickly to reassemble the classroom/dining space.

Knowing that we are a flexible farm family gives me hope that we will complete the new chicken coop and have the classroom/dining room back in order within the next two weeks.   After all, a Crone can only stand chaos for so long before breaking out in hives!

The plan at the present is to build a small open-faced nursery office with a living roof similar to this photo from Garden Botanica in Oakland.

Fortunately we have a deadline of June 7th for construction to be completed on both the coop and the office.  Oh yeah.....and we're incorporating a large inventory of succulents to complete the space.  More on that later!