The first caterpillar tunnel has been up since mid-November. It was put up over some existing poly low tunnels. Here are the low tunnels in October before the plastic went on. We had a late frost. The plastic went on after Halloween.

Then later with the tunel in place. Its 16 ft wide so it only covered the first two beds.

November had very calm weather, and only one significant snow. Even before purchasing the tunnel wind was a concern. We regularly lose shingles from the roof of our house on the southwest end. And we’re near the top of a hill with few trees against the prevailing wind. It all leads right up to the broadside of the tunnel.

Well, finally we had 60 mph winds come through. Everything held up through the storm fronts. It was after the weather the wind really whipped. And one of the ropes came loose, somehow. I looked out back in the afternoon to see the last 1/4 of the plastic on the tunnel violently billowing in the wind. I ran out and took all the sand bags I had over, and tried to figure out what to do. The rope had not broken. One of the carabiners holding it down had come off the eyebolt at the bottom of the anchor post. No idea how that could happen. I found the carabiner still attached to the rope later.

The sandbags were no use, the plastic doesn’t have much excess on the sides. The billowing was so fierce it threw the bags away. Fortunately, family was visiting that day and we were able to get additional rope over the loose end and tie off the remaining rope to stop it from unwravelling. I also used a long straining net for our pond over the top for additional tie down. Shown below the next morning.

It was a lucky break to catch the plastic before all the rope came off. Caterpillar tunnels use a single rope, about 800 ft long, zig zagging up and down. Similar to a shoe lace. Losing one bit doesn’t immediately release it. But I believe it would loosened over time in the wind until it got enough purchase under the tunnel to rip it off. The big fear is the plastic tearing because a big enough tear is not stoppable or fixable. Then the whole cover has to be replaced at a cool $500-$600.

The high winds will come again. I have additional ground anchors to tie down to and secondary ropes I’ll be setting up as needed when high winds are in the forceast.

Over the past few years I’ve read a fair number of books, along with aggressive YouTube subscribing, to learn everything I can about market gardening. Here is a list to get anyone started on the path. In no particular order

Books

• The New Organic Grower – Eliot Coleman
• The Winter Harvest Handbook – Eliot Coleman
• The Market Gardener – J.M. Fortier
• The Urban Farmer – Curtis Stone
• The Living Soil Handbook – Jesse Frost
• Sustainable Market Farming – Pam Dawling

YouTube

• No Till Growers
• Honey Tree Farm
• Josh Satin

The farm is officially formed as an LLC as of December 10th. The first caterpillar tunnel is up, and a second one will soon be on the way. Everything is moving more rapidly than expected, but if all goes as planned, we’ll have quite the small farm at the beginning of May.

A non-exhaustive list of things to get and do:

• Seedling supplies – soil block makers, more trays, lights – probably a better Jang seeder
• Seeds
• Farm stand supplies (bands, bins, totes, signage, etc)
• Compost
• Bed prep and bed prep supplies

Everything really kicks off in February, when the first transplants will be started, which means I need the 2nd tunnel needs to be constructed, minus the plastic, by then. And plants in the ground in March. Going to be wild to see all this growth while we still get snow from the lake and beyond.