I sure do love the vibe at Needlelane Farm. It’s got something way cool going on out there. Some of it has to do with the land.
They’ve got some beautiful crops coming up these days, including fields of spinach, kale and chard.
There are also wooded areas of Christmas trees.
Lots of the good happening there has to do with Beverly Ruesink, the farmer at Needlelane.
Beverly has a big time positive attitude, and she has a ready smile whether she’s catching a ride to the hoop site, or fastening plastic in the pouring rain…
…See what I mean? Beverly also has a great group of people working with her at the farm who have her same sweet groove, making the work day a whole lot of fun.
Here’s Adam, in the front, who has been out at Needlelane for only a little while, but really loves the farming life. (He’s carrying some hoop parts with Ed Weymouth, a returning hoop volunteer.)
Walter Prettyman, who showed up at the Sunseed Farm hoop build a few weeks ago, also lives at Needlelane. Clearly, he has more than hoop building skills.
Here’s another photo of Walter, along with Mary LaFountain, taking a few moments to share some cardboard jousting fun. This was Mary’s first hoop build, and she was a great addition to the group.
Here’s Walter with Kari, another Needlelane Farm worker. Kari and Walter put together the doors for the end walls of the hoop.
Needlelane has lots of nooks and crannies full of pretty and photo worthy things.
lots of flowers growing in needlelane's sister hoop
farm equipment & grain
stack o' barrels
more flowers
storage bin
poppy stems drying for flower arrangements
resting hat among the lettuce
yes. more flowers.
open door in an open hoop
charlotte's home
no idea what this is, but it looks kind of human, no?
and, more flowers
Now that the scene has been set, here’s how the day unfolded. Our first real challenge on Saturday wasn’t the weather or the site conditions. Nope, there wasn’t mud (well, at least not like at the Sunseed Farm build), and there wasn’t sleet, hail or pouring rain. (actually, it did pour down rain, but not until the very end of the day when we were heading inside for dinner.) Nah, this challenge was something that has plagued man, woman, child and beast since the dawn of time.
Uh huh. That’s right. Mosquitoes. Swarms of ‘em. Luckily, we had been warned that the mosquito population of Needlelane Farm was massive, ravenous and brutal. So, we came prepared.
I’m not kidding about the dawn of time comment either. Did you know that the oldest known mosquito with an anatomy similar to the modern species attacking us yesterday at Needlelane Farm was found in a chunk of 79-million-year-old Canadian amber? It’s true. Thanks to both natural and unnatural methods, we were able to hold the mosquito army at bay, and get a little something done.
view of the hoop foot print with ground posts installed.
the early birds waking up with roos roast and washtenaw dairy donuts: margaret, pam, matthew, jeff, dan, tomm, misa
bringing in hoop parts the easy way
setting up the jig to put the hoop bows together
the first few bows installed in the ground posts
the other easy way to bring in hoop parts.
the crew rocked out the bows and most of them were installed by our first morning break.
pug, gary, kevin, ed, jeff, margaret, misa, matthew, beth, pam, jorg, tomm & dan in the front.
lisa & jeff loving the volunteer efforts, and feeling really happy with how quickly things are moving along.
trenches dug for baseboards.
gary digging holes for the placement of end walls.
all the bows installed & ready for pirlons.
misa & courtney installing the pirlons.
harvesting greens for a lunch salad, as the hoop goes up around the beds.
lovely assortment of lettuce.
tomm, misa, margaret, kevin & beth working on the pirlon supports before lunch
lumber for the base boards shows up thanks to delivery by Tecumseh Plywood
When we broke for lunch, we were completely amazed at what our special chef Stephanie had prepared. Although she was camera shy, the food speaks for itself.
a wonderfully overwhelming lunch spread.
stephanie shared her home canned pickled beets, the best ever.
sliders and veggie burgers with corn cakes in the back.
fully loaded pasta with pesto and veggies
check out this deliciousness.
chillin' before getting back to work.
these folks were too busy eating to smile for this shot.
back to work placing the base boards. Even the dog wanted in on the action.
tomm uses some creative supports to get to the pirlons. Please don't try this at home.
building the end walls
fitting the poly carb panels on the end walls.
end wall doors getting put together
With the first end wall complete, the crew moves it into place in this series of photos.
one down, one to go.
As the second end wall and the end wall doors were being built, it looked like we would be able to pull the plastic before we lost the light. We were all pretty excited by the prospect of completing the hoop in one day.
the plastic cover rolled out as the rain clouds rolled in.
rain starts to fall as the 2nd end wall is installed.
both end walls up, and ready for pulling plastic.
the plastic is gently pulled over the hoop by ropes in the hands of volunteers on the other side of the hoop.
rope pullers in action.
using the "jousting" sticks to coax the plastic over the bows.
close up of the rope connected to the plastic edge by tying it around a tennis ball.
lofting the plastic to help it over.
half way there.
The last thing to complete before calling it a night was installing the side wall roll up mechanisms. It didn’t take long. We knew Stephanie’s dinner was ready.
rolling up the side walls.
side wall mechanics in place.
the rain clouds moved to the east. our newly built hoop on the left.
the sky cleared briefly to the west as we headed in to dinner.
enjoying our dinner out of the rain in the cozy farm house.
a very happy beverly, with kari and adam.
All in all it was an incredible day of hoopla at Needlelane Farm. As usual, we have so much appreciation and gratitude for our volunteer crew:
Tomm Becker, Dan Carroll, Ed Weymouth, Sean Kehoe, Gary Mazzeo, Pam Baker, Matthew Bertrand, Margaret Wong, Adam DeLine, Misa Cady, Courtney and Arthur Peterson, Mary LaFountain, Kevin Hawkins, Pug Gagnon, Beth Christensen, Lisa Dugdale, Jorg Zeller, Kari Blouin, Walter Prettyman, Jeremy Smith, Dave Schamberger, John Williams, Michelle Fortin, Charles, Simone and Patrick Racine, and Stephanie the chef, Beverly’s mom Marianne, and of course, Beverly, for making our hoop build even better thanks to her warm reception and for taking such good care of us.
The next day, after the middle-of-the-night storms had passed, the morning sun blinked through a low sky of clouds.
It continues to amaze us how much a dedicated, passionate and hard working crew of people can get done in a day while connecting with wonderful people, eating amazing meals, and knowing that their efforts will bring fresh, healthy food to our community.
We will be building more hoops in the near future. Please join us!
~Lisa
3 Comments
What awesome photos! Thanks for such a thorough documentation of the hoop house process. Reminds me of a New England barn raising. If you scroll through the photos really fast it almost becomes animation! Congratulations!
Wow! What an amazing feat for the one day’s accomplishment. The hoop is so beautiful in its structure, but even more than the form,the comradarie and fun of seeing how the Voulunteer Group came together with such positive energy gives one reason to rejoice in a world that has so many crazy unbelieveable ills such as The Big Spill in the Gulf. Your creation of building together is the best sign of hope that lifts all of us up! Thank you,thank you so much.
Blessings to each and everyone of you. I loved the photos and the comments. This could make a wonderful documentary for the Film Festival.It shows so clearly about the wonders of the human spirit that is alive and well. Margaret, I definitely call this a miracle and an incredible gift. I am so happy you were part of this fabulous undertaking!
awesome post! interesting to see all the steps in building a killer hoophouse.