hi I'm Mike and here for the last step of the high tunnel and claiming all the
glory is I'm not gonna claim all the glory today is actually our 10-year
wedding anniversary and I can't think of a better wedding gift than a completed
high tunnel well I'm excited 99% complete nikon so we're going to take
you through the last and hopefully the final steps of the high tunnel today on
our will my wife
welcome back to our Wyoming life the tunnel is 99% done I'd call it 99 95 95
percent done we're still waiting on the indoors we got to pick those up from
Bernards and get those installed and if you want to check that out we're gonna
have that coming up in the herd report you can sign up for that on our website
www.hiwayfx.com and but before planting I need to do irrigation I need to shape
beds with the BCS and I need to put irrigation down and then we can put some
stuff in the ground super late in the season but I think we'll still get a
small crop of tomatoes that's a big thing as the big pushes Tomatoes big
push tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers or what the priority is in the high
tunnel gotcha today we head into the final
stage of the high tunnel build and it all starts with a wiggle wire channel
this small one-inch channel will be all that holds the plastic on the high
tunnel over the course of one day it is all attached up and over the end of each
hoop securing it to the metal pipe by bending it over and attaching it with
tech screws this is actually one of the easiest parts of building the hole I
tell you just get a channel put it in place and screw it in keeping it all in
a straight line wiggle wire is what's going to hold all the plastic onto the
high tunnel it'll fit into this channel all the way around so now we have to
secure it to the side boards we installed a long time ago the easiest
way that I found to do this is to use a chalk line and snap a reference line
along the entire length of the ribbon board then screwing in the wiggle wire
channel for added security against the wind we're also going to install a
second row of will wire channel just below that we've learned a few things
from the first high tunnel build we did a few years ago and although the
manufacturer doesn't have a plan that follows our thinking we hope that this
will not only keep the tunnel from blowing apart again
it'll also balance some of the load of the plastic and the stress that can be
placed on it from rolling up the sides also as we get closer to the time of
plastic installation it's also time to start wrapping up some last-minute small
tasks like cutting off any excess on the end walls and smoothing out any rough
spots that might catch on the plastic as we pull it over and set it in place as
the Sun sets we call it a day the big day is tomorrow and we're expecting a
calm morning so we've made a few phone calls and gotten some help lined up in
the morning we'll put on the rest of the channel and be ready for plastic by 8:00
hopefully
this morning is a busy one the winds are almost calm which is exactly what we
need we're gonna be dealing with a piece of plastic that's 45 feet wide and 75
feet long the last thing we need is a wind or even a gust if that happens we
could be in big trouble the first thing that we do is get our plastic out and
under the Sun to warm up a bit the warm of the plastic is the more it's gonna
stretch and working with this is a delicate balance not only will it
stretch when it's warm it's also going to contract when it's cold and we don't
want it put it on too tight or too loose Aaron's out with me this morning as she
starts taping off any exposed bolts that might rub on plastic and tightens
anchors that hold the high tunnel in place using the BCS tractor I mowed down
some grass to prevent anything from poking plastic or preventing us from
sliding it along the ground as we pull it over the structure help arise
including neighbor Gary and our friends Nick and Stephanie plastic is unrolled
and we put it in place rope will be attached to the plastic and used to pull
it up over the entire tunnel four people will pull it over while others guide the
edges and make sure the plastic doesn't get caught on anything
utilizing a golf ball we wrap the plastic around it then we tie the rope
around that that helps so we're pulling against the golf ball and not just the
plastic the plastic is 12 mil thick now a human hair is 1 mil thick so this
plastic is about as thick as 12 human hairs and it's woven plastic it has
small fibers throughout the entire sheet this will hopefully stop any rips or
tears that may happen over time and it'll keep them from spreading as we've
dealt with in the past with regular plastic our window here might be a short
one so all the ropes are tied on and it's time to get this thing up and over
nice and smooth
as of right now there is nothing that's actually attaching this plastic to the
high tunnel and that's the next step putting on short sections of wiggle wire
spring-like wire that slips into the channel and uses only tension to hold
the entire top on when we first started messing with these high tunnels I really
didn't trust it but even though that we've lost covers I found that this
little piece of wire is still holding it's some tough stuff and you can really
tell how well it holds in if you ever have to take any out by working back and
forth we stretch the plastic out over the entire building and eventually work
our way around until all the plastic aside from the roll-up sides is attached
and tight for the roll-up sides a series of pipes are attached together and the
entire length is placed on the overhanging plastic then it's clipped on
our roll-up gearbox is assembled including the rollers that'll guide it
on the track the gearbox is fitted to the end of the roll-up pipe the track is
fitted to the tunnel and using a hook on a stick we can roll up the slides slowly
very slowly but for every problem there's a solution
roll up sides done although not straight yet that'll soon be fixed we can now
install our anti bill a rope that'll keep the roll-up sides in place that
prevents them from blowing out overall a successful day the only casualty the
remote control for the drone which was run over by the Gator a small price to
pay for a good long day I did break the drone well I didn't break the drone no I
broke the remote control for the drone luckily the drone was fine thanks to
Nick because he was smart enough to put the drone in the Gator but he didn't put
the remote in the Gator so no it's on the front of the Gator in kind of like a
blind spot I didn't see it and I had to buck it back to the shop for something
and ran over the drone your phone survived my phone did survived my phone
straps onto the room remote so it bounced off and flew off in the weeds
but the remote no anyway so that's it the high tunnel is done we're moving on
we've got Brandon coming up this weekend that is on Saturday we're gonna start
that about seven o'clock mountain time and we're gonna be live-streaming the
entire thing now that's gonna actually take the place of our Sunday video I
need to get a day ahead so I might needed like sleep or something we're
tired it's been late to get the cover on we still had a bunch of stuff that we
had to do that we we talked about in the video and which just it was a couple
late nights and the reason we rushed so fast is brandy and pain and we had a
great day with no wind and it was check the forecast and and we had to go so
it's been a few really long long days and late nights and not much sleep for
either one of us so yeah branding be sure you're there
for that we're gonna start up hanging probably the day after branding probably
on Sunday and we've got company coming in and little will they know that
they're gonna get put to work cuz we don't have time to it's so bad that
they're coming and we're gonna put them to work but at the same time it's like
such a blessing because there very capable and right these are some
friends of mine that are coming down from Montana old friends that grew up on
farms their farm kids so yeah I'm sorry it's your vacation but we're gonna we're
gonna do is actually they're ok with it I feel bad I don't want to make it sound
like I'm just like pushing them into it but they're they're gonna be fine
and Sam's coming back for branding Sam is gonna be here for branding and Hannah
is gonna be here for branding maybe we don't know yet but we do have some
returning faces so it's gonna be a lot of fun I hope you're able to join us on
Saturday you can float in and out the thing goes on forever
so don't think you have to sit there and watch it all it's like seven or eight
hours but yeah yeah tune in when you can we'll be trying to answer as many
questions as we can during branding I will be in and out of the house
answering stuff on the computer and Mike will answer stuff as it pops up on the
screen if you have time if I'm holding the phone it is gonna be done on a phone
with no Wi-Fi so it might not be the best quality yeah um the recap video
though will hopefully be a little better quality in the hard report so make sure
that you sign up for that herd report so you can get the branding recap yeah and
the doors when we get the doors but it right we'll have all that coming up so
thanks for hanging out with us make sure you subscribe hit that Bell notification
so that you get the notifications when we put out new videos because over the
next couple months it might be a little sporadic we don't know what's gonna
happen the next few weeks are gonna be really rough right paying you know
and I don't know I'm kind of I'm kind of on the fence about hanging I'm driving
around in a tractor in circles all day long I might actually have more time to
get stuff done we'll find out we can see if we can edit a video while we're
driving a tractor anyway thanks for hanging out with us today we will see
you again
we'll be hanging out as a big truck goes by we'll be hanging out Saturday morning
so make sure you come down and join us hang out with us for some branding and
we'll have a lot of fun until then have a great week and thanks for joining us
in our wyoming light you cannot look like a porter alternate answer