Suburban Homesteading – Frugal Living

I know it’s long past the Labor Day weekend and I am woefully late in posting anything on the blog, but it’s been one of THOSE months and it has barely just begun. Between working on the greenhouse (a pleasurable labor to be sure), starting a new job and family issues my days have not been my own lately. But—this post isn’t about sleepless nights or long days. It’s about a greenhouse and the future of growing things and the self sufficiency it brings.

Since Brianne left for college my sis and I, two single women farming in suburbia, have been trading weekend labors at each others house, and Labor Day Sunday was my day.

We started early, trying to get as much done as we could before the heat and uncharacteristic humidity drove us inside. The roof of the greenhouse went up earlier in the week. A clear poly corrugated style with a ridge cap and an old copper rooster weathervane I’ve been hauling around for decades. I think all farm building should have a weathervane. We concentrated on finishing the plank siding inside and out, measuring and cutting and nailing the rough hewn whitewashed boards, moving around each wall like two dancers floating over a shiny polished floor. I am always in awe at how in sync sis and I are when we undertake one of these projects. It’s like we can read each others mind, handing off tools before they are asked for, fetching more wood before the last piece has been used, refilling water glasses without request. I guess when you live around someone, work with someone for as long as we have you get a 6^th sense about each other and you instinctively know what comes next.

The rhythm of the work was steady and somewhat mesmerizing because with no regard for the weather we worked straight through the day, not breaking for lunch and right into the evening. We finally stopped when the sun cast a long shadow over our work, making it hard to see in the dusk. There is some left to do, and of course stocking it with my garden supplies, tools, seeds and soil will be more fun than labor, but that is still a weekend away. We have a few trim pieces to put up and build the planting shelves, but for the most part the long awaited greenhouse is done.

By the time our heat wave breaks I may be ready to start a few early spring flowers, a cool weather garden or some fall veggies. I might even try my hand at wintering over a few tomatoes; fresh tomatoes at Christmas sounds wonderful.

Work is so much more fun when it is shared.