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Cabinet Shop
Custom Classic Construction, Inc.
Since 1985

cabinets4u@built-incabinets.com

this page is where we will share our thoughts, new ideas, frustrations and information with you.

A personal view of us & our business

PREVIOUS YEARS

Click on a year below for older posts

2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005

October 31st

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This year's theme was

I went as "Little Miss Sure Shot"

Annie Oakley

August 17th

The silt catch pond is full and over flowing into the main pond

Via a temporary stream path.

It will take some time for the muddy water to clear up.

July 11th:

After the second hatching of the Red Winged Blackbirds we removed the cattails:

With the edges cleaned viewing the critters was easy:

A "Normal" Green frog:

These are considered a rare sighting They are called "Blue" Green frogs:

We were lucky enough to see 2 Here is the second one. There may have been more but they were the only 2 we spotted:

Our big female Northern Watersnake has moved to the dam side of the pond:

Behind the greenhouse I spotted a Milksnake:

The Green Heron had found the shallow water and lack of weed growth along the edge of the pond a big advantage in hunting.

June 23rd

The Greenhouse is heating up and pushing our plants into production.

Our first Grape tomatoes:

First big cluster of Roma:

Rutgers are starting to put on some size:

Black Russian:

and Box Car Willie:

The cucumbers are taking off:

The Candy Onions are starting to form bulbs:

Other than the Chicken damage the Kale and the Rhubarb Chard they both are bouncing back:

The new chickens are real hooligans . They don't seem to understand the Greenhouse is ours not theirs.

This was the final strawSo they are now confined to a run along side of the tractor: Penny and Rusty don't understand why they have to be jailed. They didn't do anything wrong and let me know every time I walk by.

Broccoli transplants:

Pop Corn is thriving:

Watermelon vines are starting to run:

Mixed up a batch of Neem oil spray for the pepper plants:

This is the recipe I use:

1 tsp concentrated Neem oil
1/2 tsp Dawn
1 quart warm water

I had to do this because as I was reviewing my pictures to post I noticed I had a problem

Can you spot them?

June 18th:

The weather has been HOT and breezy so the banks have dried up enough to start again.

The rocks/dirt/ mud/muck was dumped in the new cleared land.

June 13th:

Well we are back at.

First thing Jim had to break through the dam and gradually drain the pond " again"

While the pond is draining. We have to clear an new area for the "New" mud Jim will be removing from the pond. Which means the first thing we have to do is take down trees and work on firewood.

We decided before Jim would start to dig we would weed wack the entire east bank and hauled all of it away.No point in adding more debris to the area we cleared for the pond dirt and we are hoping it will help to dry out the banks quicker.

BEFORE:

After a couple of dry days in a row Jim was able to start:

We would end up taking the white pine and split it up for kindling.

June 8th

Winter Squash:

Beets and Potatoes:

I pulled the first planting of broccoli.
We ate most of it fresh and with the side shoots I froze 8 - 12 oz bags or florets and made a big pot of cream of cauliflower soup with the young stems.

I was not attentive to my seedlings so I only managed not to kill these few but I am hoping with more growing space my overall yield will be as good.

In the next bed the cabbage and cauliflower are heading up.

The Snow Peas are starting to climb:

And Flower:

Looking East to West:

Cucumber Bed:On the right side are the English Cucumber They seem to be struggling or maybe they are just slower to take off.

I pulled the scapes on the garlic last week.The sage and thyme are both flowering

The Japanese seedless Cucumbers have much bigger leaves:

Peppers ( Anaheim, Jalapeno,Poblano and Ancho)

Carrots: They are thinned and now they can JUST grow

This is the last of the Igloo lettuce that I planted last fall:

Our first tomatoes:

I took a close up to make them look bigger than they are

They are the first cluster on the grape tomato plant.

Frankenbeet is still growing It just passed the 9 ft mark this week.

May 15th

Harvested the first cutting of broccoli. Made a large batch of cream of broccoli soup. Sorry I did not take any pictures.

This is one of two cabbage seeds I planted in the low tunnel last October.
It survived the winter and I will be harvesting soon.

It will become
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (for the freezer), Cole Slaw and a Cabbage Casserole with the rest

The second one is starting to head up:

The carrots have bounced back after being thinned:

Time to start picking a few leaves from the Rhubarb Chard :

Japanese Cucumbers:

English Cucumbers:

Onions are very happy:

Potatoes have been hilled and are taking off again:

Snow Peas:

Popcorn:

Tom Thumb Lettuce is very happy. Much better than last year:

May 11th - 14th:

Time to change the Greenhouse plastic.

We finally were promised ( by the weather guessers) to get a couple of days back to back with ZERO wind.

The hip boards strips are redwood. Removing them and the tie down roping went smoothly.
Unscrewing the fascia which is rough cut pine we discovered a problem.

When we built the HT we put the trim boards on BEFORE we stained. As it turns out that was a mistake.

Rain water over the years ran between the plastic and the boards along the bows trapping moisture and rot was setting in. One of trim boards on the East wall had an infestation of Carpenter Ants.

Jim ran to the saw mill to pick up the boards we would need to replace the mounting strips and all the trim boards.

When he got home we quickly removed the plastic and he went right to work remaking the strips needed.

Turning out to be a very long day Jim decided remaking the fascia and trim boards could wait but we needed to stay on schedule getting the new plastic on and secured..

The greenhouse is fully planted and was naked over night. We prayed the weather guessers were right and no killing frost in the forecast.

old picture from original build
We installed the saved reel mounting boards that will hold the rolls of plastic

While the attachment strips were drying we worked on getting all raw exposed wood stained on the rest of the Greenhouse.

Pulled the two layers of plastic by tying off the end and pulling it across the ridge and unfolding it down the sides.

OLD PICTURE of the first time getting ready to unfold the plastic.

NOTE: NEVER stand on the top rung of the ladder.

Refastened the plastic with the new strips.

To finish off the day we reattached the roll up bar on the north wall.

It rained on us while installing the south side roll up and the securing ropes .Deja Vu same as the first year.

Finishing up the HT plastic swap over:

Notice the plastic hanging down. The last time we simply folded it up and attached the fascia board

This time we cut it flush with the attaching strips, then applied the fascia board.

Close up:

Finished up got everything put away before that cloud you see heading towards us let loose a lot of rain.

The Job is completed:

DAY ONE 11 hours

DAY TWO 8 hours

DAY THREE 1-1/2 hours

DAY FOUR 2-3/4 hours

April 13th

A few pictures with a wee bit of the white stuff.
Saturday April 7th we awoke to find it had snowed once again.
This time thankfully it was only about 2":

By that afternoon we started to see the lawn:

Back story:

At the end of the year in 2013 I bought a package of Asparagus crowns that was in clearance for $1
I put them in the back of the refrigerator and proceeded to forget all about them for the next 4 years.
In the spring of 2017 I finally remember to plant them in the HT and it looks like 3 of the 5 made it.

NORTH WALL:

BEETS:

Cabbage and Cauliflower:

BROCCOLI:

GARLIC:

RHUBARB CHARD:

LACINATO KALE:

ONIONS:

LOW TUNNEL:

It looks like "FRANKENBEET" has decided to flower or at least that is what it looks like it is trying to do.

If it does produce seeds I will save them.

March 28th:

A quick update on the Greenhouse

Detroit Red Beets

Candy and Wala Wala onions:

Garlic ( NOTE: the fluffy white stuff outside of the plastic may look like clouds but it is snow)

Over all view of the Low Tunnel:

First Asparagus Spear

Month of March so far:

March 3rd TOTAL 24" of snow

and this March 8th 16" of snow

The deer took advantage of the uprooted cedar tree that could not take the weight of the heavy snow load on its branches and have over a few days completely stripped it

BEFORE:

March 13th an additional 8" of snow

Inside where the fire is keeping us warm I planted 2 trays with tomato seeds, pepper seeds, and a tray of spinach seeds.
Mortgage Lifters
Rutger
Roma VF
Ugli
Jelly Bean Grape
And thanks to Vincent ( new to me)
Black Russian
Box Car Willie

Peppers"
Yummy Sweet Orange
Majestic Sweet Red
Carnival Sweet
replanted a few Cayenne

SEEDLING RACK: The hot peppers and cole seedlings are doing well Some already transplanted in to solo cups. Next stop for them is the greenhouse

As the sun came up I was lucky enough to be in the right place ( heading to open up the HT and let the chickens out) at the right time with my camera in hand.

Sunrise ( view from the sun room):

CASE LANE:

Looking towards the pond:

Inside the Greenhouse:

Last night I made a salad of peppery, spicy and sweet mixed greens .

February 7th

Jim works on clearing the snow

The Christmas Cactus are really showing off.

The Key Lime is starting to flower

February 2nd:

The sun decides to shine today meaning 6 more weeks of winter.

It is amazing how quickly the seeds start to germinate: These are Wala Wala Onions

Spinach in the Low Tunnel:

I think I can harvest enough to make a us a salad for dinner tonight.

January 28th:

My winter just for fun project of growing tomatoes during the winter has worked.

These are called Tiny Tim

And so it begins:

I am waiting on seeds so I am a little behind on planting but thanks to a friends reminder that I normally start no later than January 15th, I got off the phone and got to work sorting seeds and getting the seedling rack up and working

Seedling rack:

Early Thunder Cabbage

Early Snowball Cauliflower

Waltham 29 Broccoli
Arcadia F1 Broccoli

Walla Walla Onions
Candy Onions
Tom Thumb Lettuce
Igloo Lettuce

Detroit Dark Red Beets

The little Mandarin seedlings are looking good.

Out in the Low Tunnel in the HT:

I am very hopeful that the 2 seeds I planted one Broccoli and one Cabbage are going to make it to see spring.

They have come through the darkest coldest 2 months I ever remember living through.

CABBAGE:

BROCCOLI:

You can see an onion seed that didn't germinate last summer came up also.