BACK TO THE HOUSE--EVOLUTION OF GREENHOUSES

April 2, 2014

(Something old--wooden box from mom and dad's place, 
something older--milk stool from my grandpa's barn
 and something from last year--dried lavender from our 2013 Harvest)

It's been a month since the last posting.  My, how times change!  In just a short 30+ days, the two greenhouses are up.  The snow has come and gone... and come again; along with sunshine and biting wind and rain...A joke in Oregon goes something like "it's sunshining right now but, give it a few minutes, and it'll start snowing."

Last Sunday, our greenhouses had their shells put on.  My husband and I go into the greenhouses and just stare in amazement.  We giggle, hug each other and giggle some more.  A dream... everyone should have a dream come true.  And it all started with a telephone call from a friend ..."there's some greenhouses you might be interested in."

Gene and I drove to Madras, looked and purchased.  That fast!  We (translate that to Gene) got busy clearing the land and marking the space out.  "Both of them won't fit in that spot," I told him.  I had "eyeballed" the spot and we were lucky that one would fit it the space, let alone two greenhouses.  Gene smiled-that irritating all knowing husband smile--and he just kept measuring and pounding those stakes into the ground. Mumbling, I went back to the house.  

So, measuring and staking for two greenhouses--30' x 48' each-- the gravel was delivered and the base for the two greenhouses was spread and leveled by the fellow who put in our drip irrigation.  The two greenhouses would fit perfectly in the spot Gene measured.  Eyeballing is neither a science nor a commonsense approach to deciding if a building can go into a specific space.  Let's move on...


 
Then, came the greenhouses... the parts just came, and came... and continued to come.  It looked like an enormous Lego, Tinkertoy, Erecto set outside:  similar parts stacked together--all with marks and codes and strangle little doodlings.  I decided I'd stick to my 1000-piece puzzles that fit on my table.  These particular "puzzle pieces" with their foreign markings belonged to the experts!  I went back to the house...again.

Every now and then, I would peek outside towards the greenhouses and see the builders measuring and measuring again, talking a strange language that only they seemed to comprehend.  It's comforting when professionals are building your dream. With skill and determination combined with a good work ethic, they would get about the task set before them with great zeal.  Then the -30 degrees with snow....  They came out one day and the equipment didn't function very well in freezing temperatures.  While the skeletons of the greenhouses stood all forlorn, we went back to the house for our skis, sled and hot chocolate... 

When the snow stopped falling, the freezing winds came, followed by rain and then the pretty days--cold and windy--but the sun did shine.  Progression was made on the greenhouses until, at last, they were mostly up. There are still a few minor items that need finishing but, for all intents and purposes, they are up.  

Joy! Joy!  Joy! Joy!  ("Ode to Joy"--I don't know the words so I just sing "joy"...that explains pretty closely how we feel).  "A dream is a wish your heart makes... when you're fast asleep."  This dream is now a reality and I am humbled that we have been allowed to have these beautiful structures, worked with extremely talented, gifted people who helped to make this dream come true.  I thank you... from the bottom of my heart... I/we--Gene and I--thank you.



The other morning I glanced out my bedroom window and saw this image.  The sun was coming down the trees, over the lavender fields all white with frost, when its rays suddenly hit the greenhouses and made them glow.  It captured the essence of a new morning, a new beginning...

Now--Plants!  Another Saga in the Life of a Lavender Farmer!  They should be coming in about ten days--TEN DAYS!  Oh my goodness!  The cycle of life is pretty amazing!  Keeps us busy (and out of trouble:  "Idle hands are the devil's handiwork") and our fingers in the dirt... I like that!