Today was a sad day.  The greenhouse fiasco has been one of the greatest disappointments associated with the JAZ Farm to date.  Previous posts have shown just what a roller coaster this has been.  We have been delayed, lied to, told we are being delivered to, and none of them have come true.  I have registered a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (which shocked the hell out of the manufacturer let me tell you).  I have delivered all of the communications and invoices to our attorney (another eye opener for them) and we finally got a little bit of satisfaction.  We were informed that the plastic covers for the greenhouse had shipped.  We even got a call to confirm the delivery time from Fed Ex.  This was supposed to be delivered this past Friday.  This time it was Fed Ex.  We waited all day and when it got close to the end of the timeframe for delivery and it still hadn’t shown up I re-checked the tracking number.  DELAYED!!  For some unknown reason, the driver decided he just couldn’t get it on the truck!  I was LIVID!  Now I have to hang out another day on Monday and the best they could do is tell me that it will be here sometime between 8 am and 5 pm.  It is the luckiest thing in my life that I don’t work in  cubicle.  How other two working families do it I have no idea.

So still no greenhouse.  After quite a fight between the manufacturer and I last week the new excuse is that the machine they bought to bend the steel for the frames is on a ship on the west coast sitting there because of the Longshoreman’s strike.  But oh ya, of a 5 – 7 week estimated wait we are now into MONTH 6!

So today I was down in our seedling room repotting tomato plants and it suddenly hit me: I have no place to plant these plants.  A half an acre garden takes some pretty serious prep work.  Even if the greenhouse was delivered this week I would be less than 5 weeks away from planting week.  I might be strong, I might be efficient, but there is not a chance in hell I could build a 44 foot greenhouse kit AND have my outdoor garden prepped and ready to go (as we speak Aaron and a friend are out pulling up the drip lines so we can get the tractor in and the compost dug in.

Zina and I took a hard look at it.  The drop dead date for the greenhouse has passed.  We have to proceed as though its not going to be here.  That means having to deal with the potential hailstorms again and maximize the use of the city garden.

We have close to 200 tomato plants growing in the basement, not to mention all of the other plants like the peppers, tomatillos, eggplants, etc.  Most of the tomatoes were going to be planted in the greenhouse.  As of today more than half of them are being pulled up and thrown away.  Dozens of heirloom tomato plants just pitched.  We will still have a good tomato crop thanks to the city garden but as of right now, even if the Starship Enterprise were to use a transporter to get the greenhouse here, it will likely not be built until the 4th of July holiday.  What a total disappointment.

The good news is that now we have plenty of time to get the city and country gardens prepped and planted, the bad news is that 1.  No greenhouse, 2. Hail worries again, 3. Dozens of plants just tossed, 4. Having to build the thing in the heat of the summer, 5. We had to go out and spend $200.00 on tarps. 6. Then we had to haul tires and fenceposts to cover and secure the tarps to cover the $1000.00 of topsoil we just had hauled in.  I’ve been watching it just blow away.

These people (Greenhouse Pro’s) don’t seem to understand just how much damage they have caused out here with their empty promises.  If I ran my business like this I’m sure not too many of my clients will have turned into the really special and great friends they have become over the years.  I wouldn’t refer these people, nor will I ever do business of any kind with them again.  I’ve heard so many people tell me how much they would love a greenhouse.  It is a once in a lifetime purchase.  It will take quite a bit of time even after it is built, to be able to look at it and not feel my blood pressure rise.  As Zina said today, “This is really a hard one to let go mentally.”  Getting screwed always is.

In anticipation of the 3 Little Pigs arriving this week we finished putting in the wallow.  Pigs don’t sweat and the reason for them slopping around in mud is to keep them cool.  We are already up to 80 degrees in the very early spring and Zina and I have been out gardening in well over 100 F.  So this morning we fitted the tractor with the middle buster and dredged up the dirt and made a place for about a 10 x 10 mud hole.  We are going to run a sprinkler into the middle of it that we can simply turn on when necessary to keep it sloppy muddy and cool.  In addition to the shelter, and the shade gazebo they should be all set.

Because we are running an electrified wire around the perimeter of the pen, we had to pull, knock down and weed whip all of the grass down around the fence.  The wire will be only about a foot off the ground to keep the pigs from trying to uproot the fencing and if enough of the weeds contact the wire it will short to the ground and become ineffective.  Zina had the sickle out and I got on the weed eater.  All seems to be set.

One brain malfunction.  I dug up the wallow with the plow on the back of the tractor and then set about shoveling out the dirt. I wanted to make sides on it to kind of keep the water in the “pool” for them.  About a third of the way along it dawned on me that the tractor is fitted with a front end loader.  Why the hell was I out there with a shovel?  About 10 minutes later the little tractor that could had the whole thing completed.  Bring on the pigs, bring on the greenhouse!

The hotel, gazebo and hot tub!  

Waterers and Feeders

Farmer Juan wiped out laying at the foot of the manure pile

But but but, that pen looks nicer than MINE!!