the dream from the beginning has been to attach a half hoop greenhouse to the south edge of the house. andrew faust and joel salatin both speak about the benefits of this arrangement. in short it uses the thermal mass and heating systems – we just added a wood stove – of the house to heat the greenhouse and it should also help to heat the house on sunny days. also, the idea of walking out your front door into a greenhouse seems perfect. we plan t use a box in the windows opening to the greenhouse to regulate temperature.
Ben and Mimi, our new farmers, were into making this happen this year. The day after this decision was made bo paid a visit with his back hoe. Here you can see him 
helping us level the area in front of the house and excavate the trench for the “deadman” that will help anchor the railroad tie wall. Bo and Youtube quickly educated us in building a railroad tie retaining wall. This video really laid it out most clearly for us.
Ties arrived the following day from HG PAGE and Bo brought us a couple of tons of gravel in his truck. Jay, Keith and Karen all contributed extra drainage tubing.
Anthony, Corey, Ben, and I made fast work of the job over a day and a half.
