Poverty Is Not an Accident

Poverty Is Not an Accident
Nelson Mandela

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Finished Building Greenhouse

Took doors, shelves off old side-by-side refrigerator.

Leveled ground outside my fence, east side of property, facing empty lot.

Removed 8' fence pickets, next to my home made gate.

Dragged refrigerator through alley, laid on its back, dragged onto leveled area.

Screwed windows onto fence pickets, utilizing hinges, wherever possible. Built 2 glass walls: south and east sides.

Screwed fence pickets to north side.

Made roof of 2 windows at south, plywood at north.

Insulated north wall, plywood section of roof with old egg cartons, sealed in black sheet plastic to absorb, retain heat.

Lined east & south walls with clear vinyl shower curtain. Lined roof with large plastic bag, cut into giant strip.

West wall, attached to my yard was tricky. Hung full-length wardrobe mirror at top to reflect sunlight back into greenhouse. Made sliding "doors" from black "no war in Iraq" yard sign, glass refrigerator shelf and clear vinyl from shower curtain.

I want some sunlight to pass through the green house to warm my washing machine, right beside it, to prevent freezing water in washer lines, pump. At night, I'll slide refrigerator doors over this, and I'll hang an old kids' blanket over this, to retain heat. Night heat provided by incandescent bulbs in outdoor fixtures.

Now, I need to go out there with my electric drill and wire brush attachment to remove peeling paint on window frames.

Will paint inside black, outside white (I'd prefer black, but don't have much of that paint & worry about "aesthetics," by neighbors' standards; don't want this to look "tacky").

Refrigerator side is wide enough to contain 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes and gourds.

I'll bolt freezer door liner shelves across divider between refrigerator & freezer. It has molded compartment shelves, just deep and wide enough to contain 6 or so small pots of herbs.

Freezer compartment is narrow; I can put plastic wastepaper baskets of plants in that.

I'll hang 3 pots, from macrame hangers, by the north/insulated wall.

I should be able to lean in, through sliding glass and yard sign, from in front of washer to reach most of it.

The rest, I can access from the west side, as 2 of the window frames are hinged.

I also have the refrigerator compartment door liner, which is also shelved, but I'm not sure how to utilize that...

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