The volunteer efforts began on Friday, August 27. When Kay, Donna, and I first rolled up I thought OMG that is HUGE!!! Didn’t really sound that big until we actually saw it. We started out by pulling staples that were holding the plastic in place hoping to preserve the plastic for rebuild. Not! Where are our kneeling pads? After all the plastic was unstapled and detached from the top, the corners, and the sides, the Greenhouse Girls carefully pulled the plastic off all in one piece. Ahhhhhhhh!!! Each section was carefully folded and labeled two times. Yes, we labeled everything twice. In hindsight, we probably wouldn’t have taken such great care with the plastic because Chris said toss it, buy new. Hmmmm where was he on Friday?
Norfolk Master Gardeners
830 Southampton Ave., Ste 2069
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1045
Blog Post
So You Think You Want a Greenhouse?
Barb Wilson ‘07 • September 12, 2021
At approximately 4 p.m. on August 23 we were notified of a 25’ X 30’ greenhouse donation from PORTCO Inc in Portsmouth, a non-profit organization committed to helping individuals with disabilities!
Great! Fabulous! Just what we always wanted! Wait! What? It must be TAKEN DOWN by August 30. Wait! What? Chris Epes is out of town!!!
Joey eblasted the membership looking for some eager Norfolk Master Gardener to take the lead. Not only did we get one, but we got two Greenhouse Heroes – Bob Kelly and Mitch Swecker.
They scoped it out, decided it was doable, formulated a plan, and were raring to go. Joey sent out a second eblast looking for “able bodied” individuals who could help! We came up with 10 people, who, over the course of 5 days disassembled the greenhouse, packed it up, loaded it in the truck, and unloaded it at a temporary location. (See the Slideshow at the end of the blog for a peek at all the Greenhouse Guys and Girls!)
Bob, Mitch, and Larry did some preliminary work on Thursday, disconnecting the heating unit, blower fans, fan vents, fans, and the huge front door section.
Pole sections were marked, disassembled, and staged. Then the heater was lowered using winches and Mitch’s truck with Mitch, Ziggy, and Will monitoring this job and Bob operating Mitch’s truck. Scary. It came down a little cock-eyed, but all was well. Tops of the poles were unhooked, lowered, labeled two times, and staged. These poles were angled and awkward! Screws were collected and labeled along with every other piece that was disassembled. Also scary was watching Mitch manhandle the concrete saw. After a few cuts, a pow wow determined that it would be best to cut the poles at the base because the concrete holding the poles reached to China.
Now keep in mind all this work was done in 95-degree heat on the concrete and no trees in sight! We were somewhat protected during breaks with pop up tents and a little shade from the PORTCO building. We also had chairs, lots of coolers with refreshments, fruit, and snackies!! Just like camping! The guys worked relentlessly and had to be begged to take breaks. A porta potty would have been nice on the weekend. We made a few trips to Lowe’s for other needed supplies which covered porta potty needs too!
Mostly due to the excellent planning of the Greenhouse Heroes, we finished a day sooner than planned but couldn’t get a U-Haul truck till Sunday. The truck had to be 26 feet because of one pole. Sigh!!! Loading the truck was done in an organized fashion just like everything else. It went relatively quickly, then cleanup of the site and holes filled, and we were gone, like we were never there.
On Monday, we unloaded the truck at Terra Firma, its temporary home. Thanks, Dan Haworth, for his help on Monday. At approximately 11:00 a.m. on August 30 with a few extra cuts and bruises, the job was done! Or maybe that should be half done.
We took lots of pictures! Check them out here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tnshQ7ryqdbNSFCR8. We did this to determine strategic location of the important parts and in the hopes that it will help put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We have an inventory – hope that works when the time comes.
When I asked Bob why he took this on he said, “It filled a pressing need, and I had no idea how much work it would be.” He’d also like to be involved in the rebuild. SCORE!!!! Mitch said, “I initially offered my pickup truck to transport the greenhouse without having seen the size and scope of it.” Quite the understatement! We are certainly glad that they took this on. Upon initial review of the article Bob gave the “real nitty gritty leadership and planning” credit to Mitch and Kim;” the rest of us just followed orders.” Kim says she was just the watermelon person (and it really hit the spot on those hot days)!
Thanks to the behind-the-scenes efforts of Joey Rothgery for those two short-fused eblasts to get the ball rolling and rally the troops and LaShaunda Enoch (standing by and making room for deliveries to the VCE Office). Super huge thanks to the Greenhouse Heroes – Mitch Swecker and Bob Kelly and to all the Greenhouse Guys and Girls who helped over the course of those five days: Larry Passwaters, Ziggy Ziegler, Will Redfern, Kim Swecker, Kay Egan, Susan Dudley, Donna and Jeff Van Keuren, Anna Thurmond, and me, oh and Chris Epes on that Monday for the unload and Dan too. Great camaraderie and teamwork! A great group to work with! We are going to pat ourselves on the back for a long time to come! It’s just amazing how guys with their trucks and tools turned out to be Greenhouse Project Masterminds!!
Do you have a place in YOUR backyard for this greenhouse? Chris is in discussions with City Forester Steve Traylor in the hopes that we can find a permanent location sooner rather than later. And Chris said, “Kudos to all; amazing effort!” And that’s a whole new story for the Germinator Blog.
Greenhouse Heroes Slideshow
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