Yesterday, I opened up the high tunnel and saw that all the 2x4 rafter supports had fallen over, after the snow had slid off the roof, I needed to use additional 1 1/2" spacers on all of them to get them in place again.  It was interesting to learn that the snow had caused an inch and a half sag in the roof, that is quite a bit more than I was guessing.

The weather forecasters are calling for another storm to roll in later today, with more snow and wind.  I have the rafter bracing up and the doors tied down, so hopefully we won't have the same problems that we encountered earlier this year.

We have had a little bit of snow over the last 24 hours, so I decided to install some mid span supports under the ridge purlin in the high tunnel.  The first picture is without the 2x4 14' installed.

I didn't go up and measure, but it looked like the snow had drifted to about 18" deep up near the ridge.

This is what our winter test crops look like after a week of temperatures down in the negatives.

Most of the big drift has slid off the roof.

Yesterday, Spencer and I got the roll-up door pipe replaced using the larger diameter pipe and new fabric clips.  It feels like a stronger assembly and, although I'm not looking forward to another big wind, it seems like it should be able to withstand stronger gusts.

I am still looking for a cheap but solid walk-through door to install on the South end, so we don't have to roll a big door up every time we want to get access to the inside of the high tunnel.

We got the high tunnel patched and the doors secured, to hopefully withstand another wind storm.  I also, secured the ends of the long side, roll-up walls, so the wind cannot blow through the high tunnel, that should help to combat wind damage but also keep the warmer air inside the high tunnel from blowing out.

FarmTek sent us replacement pipes for the roll up doors, the new pipe is a larger diameter and hopefully stronger.  We tried to replace the pipe but realized the aluminum clips that we had were the wrong size, I emailed FarmTek and they sent out new clips the next day, at no cost to me.  The replacement clips should be here tomorrow.  Their customer service has been very good.

We still have 5 varieties of leaf lettuce growing in there now, as well as kale, spinach, turnips and beets.  It was pretty cool to be able to have a fresh salad last night with lettuce from our high tunnel, especially this late in the season.

We had a pretty high wind and cold come through about two weeks ago, it did some damage to the two big end doors, so I had to get out and fix the doors as well as the holes that were punctured in the top plastic.  The cold inside the high tunnel did a little damage to our leaf lettuce and the tops of the turnips.

I talked to Farm Tek earlier this week and they are sending out a heavier, larger diameter pipe for the bottom of the roll up door and some more patching tape, all at no cost to us, I am glad they are working on making it right.  I am also working on a way to tie down the center of the door, so it doesn't flex and break in the wind.

Here is a picture of our first snow on the high tunnel.

I know it's been a long time since I updated the blog so here goes...

Here is the completed high tunnel picture.

Here are some other pictures of the high tunnel as we went through Fall.

We planted some late season, cold tolerant, crops in the two center rows.  We had lettuce, chinese cabbage, kale, spinach, radishes, turnips, beets and bunch onions.

Here are some pictures from a couple of our harvests, we had great production from our tomatoes, peppers and squash.

We finished building the high tunnel yesterday!  Now we can focus on taking care of the plants we already have growing inside the high tunnel and also getting our winter crops in the ground.

I have been busy starting with soccer two-a-days but I will post pictures of the completed high tunnel soon.

Had to post this picture that I took during the sunset last evening.  This might be the picture I submit to the photo contest at FarmTek.  I was trying to get finished building the high tunnel but it looks like I will miss their photo contest deadline by about 4 days.

I started working on hanging the North door on Friday but I didn't get finished.  I had the door screwed down across the top but I didn't have the sides attached, so I fastened the sides to the posts with bungee cords, to get us through Friday nights wind and lightning storm.

It looks like I took this picture during daylight but actually I took the picture the same time we had a flash of lightning...

Without lightning...

I started back to work on the North door, Saturday morning.  I was 9 screws away from finishing the installation of the door and my drill bit snapped and what was left of the drill bit jumped over and went through my right hand, in the back of my hand and out the front.  I hate going to the hospital, and I wouldn't have gone this time either, but I couldn't remember the last time I got a tetanus shot.  It doesn't hurt, it's just a little sore.

We got the cover over the top installed yesterday.  We couldn't have been able to do it without the help from my wife Rene, son Spencer, my Mom and Dad and my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lynda.  It took 3 tries to get it over the top and secured, we didn't have much wind but even a little bit played havoc with the big sheet of plastic.

As you can see, we have a bit of a yellowjacket problem.

This is how full the trap was after being up for only 5 hours.

I got the 6x6 posts and beams bolted together and yesterday I got the South door installed.

I have been making some major improvements over the past couple weeks but I haven't been posting the updates to the blog, so I will post a few pictures here and try to give a little explanation to each one...

 Spencer and I installed the baseboard along the two long sides of the high tunnel.

 I got the 4 ground anchors attached and buried.

 I did a 2" deep notch in the 6x6 posts to set the beam for the 10' tall doors on the ends.

 The tractor made it possible for me to set the 20' long 6x6 by myself.

 I was pretty relieved to get this beam in place, but I couldn't find the brackets to secure the ends.  They were 4x4 brackets anyway so I ordered larger brackets to use on the 6x6s.  It will take a couple days for them to get here.

 I installed the ribbon board and the two runs of U-channel.

I got the 6x6 brackets yesterday afternoon so I got right to work this morning.  It seemed like several things were working against me today.  First, the left 6x6 post had a twist in it so I had to take the beam out of the right side and square it into the notch on the left side, so I can install the bracket and then pull the beam back into place and take the twist out of the post.  Second, it hasn't rained in 4 weeks, it decided to rain today, I'm not complaining, we need the rain but it could have come at a less stressful time.  Third, just as soon as I got the beam out of the right post and squared into the left post, I was walking to the house to get the drill set up and ready to drill the holes for the bracket and set the lag bolts... THE POWER WENT OUT!  Couldn't have happened at a worse time, I have the tractor holding up the loose end of the 20' beam and I need to be quick about securing the left side in the beam pocket.  Instead of using the big drill to get through this quickly, I have to drill out the holes with the cordless drill (with the battery dying) and then set the lag bolts with a socket and ratchet, I got the bracket installed after nearly an hour and pulled the beam back into place on the other end, taking most of the twist out of the left post.  Now it is on to getting the other bracket installed and then setting the beam on the other end of the tunnel.

My goal is to be finished with this project by August 17th.  Soccer season starts on August 19th and I will be too busy to work on building the high tunnel.

I know it's been a month since I posted, but I have been working on some other jobs and not making any progress on the high tunnel.  I have started to get back to work on the tunnel over the past few days, I finished tightening down the rafter supports and I have started to install the ground anchors.  The rafter supports and the ground anchors are not required for the NRCS program but it will help keep the structure together if we have higher snow loading or lateral wind loading.  Yesterday, I poured concrete around the ground anchor bases and I also took a couple pictures of the plants we have growing inside the unfinished high tunnel.  We have some nice tomatoes coming on and we are getting our first yellow straightneck squash.

More rafter supports installed.

I got the second tilling in the high tunnel completed and started installing the rafter supports.