Hoop House Garden

Hoop House Gardening

Four years ago, my husband put up a hoop house, the kind you see pictures of all over the internet. It was made with PVC pipes, wood and greenhouse plastic.  It sat on the edge of our side yard, facing the South..

It turned out really pretty, but unfortunately, it really took a beating every winter.. We live in Northern Michigan, and snow bent the pvc ribs every snowfall.. My husband put wood stands in it the 2nd year to help hold up the pvc ribs, but this past winter (2014) was so bitter cold and snowy, the damage was too much to save. We ended up taking the pvc poles and plastic down and have now made it a great big garden bed (looks like it has a headboard and footboard. lol).

It was a lot of work, though, and it really disappointed John that it didn't last longer. He was also disappointed in it's produce.. The first year we tried growing tomatoes, cauliflower, green peppers and green beans in the hoop house, but even though everything grew super tall, the only thing that produced fruit were the green beans.. The next 3 years, we only planted green beans in it.. 

We think it didn't allow enough ventilation because of the wooden front, wasn't getting the pollination it needed, plus the dirt just didn't seem very powerful.. We have nothing but sand here, so we had purchased a load of dirt from someone claiming it was super great, powerful dirt... It doesn't appear to be so... 

We also have a vegetable garden in our backyard, set up in large garden boxes... We've had good years and bad years, but one thing that's consistant is late frosts in June and early frosts in late August/early September.  Two years ago we had the most beautiful garden, but before we could take advantage of all the zuchinni, tomatoes, green peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers and muskmelon, an unexpected, non reported frost killed everything the 3rd week of August.. It was heartbreaking.. 

Every since then, I've wanted to put a hoop house over the entire garden space.. John wasn't too thrilled at the idea since he'd worked so hard on the 1st one.. I hinted and hinted until I was blue in the face, but he never made the move to build one. In his defense, he's been working on our new 4 season room we had built in place of the collapsed sunroom.. 
 I decided this year, if I really wanted one, I should just build one myself.. 

So that's what I did.. 

I'm not a builder, that's for sure. But I'm pretty good at figuring things out. I thought I'd add some pictures to the blog along with a description of how I built my hoophouse. Maybe it will inspire you to do the same, or at the very least, help you visualize a little bit on how to get started! 

First, I looked at a zillion pictures of DIY hoophouses on the internet and read every blog I could find on how others built their hoop houses.. I couldn't find directions on exactly what I envisioned, but with the knowledge I'd gathered from the one John built and from info I'd read on the internet, I decided to just go for it.. 

I  used the garden boxes we already have as the base.. The dimensions are 14' long x 15' wide.  John had used 1/2" pvc poles on the first hoop house so I decided to try the 3/4" to see if it'll stand up to ole man winter a little better.. 

I ran a frame of 2x4's around the existing boxes for the frame.  Most of the items I used, we already had, including all the pvc elbows and about half of the poles, so the hoop house really hasn't cost that much money..
Cha Ching... I love making stuff that doesn't end up costing us much :o)

I cut the poles to size using John's compound miter saw..Once cut to size, I attached the bottom row of poles by screwing them directly into the wood frame with two screws in each. I placed them 24" apart. The bottom row of poles are 48" long each. 

I attached the roof poles (or roof ribs) to each bottom pole using 45 degree PVC elbows.  

Wanting this thing to be as sturdy as I could make it, I added a sideboard to side pvc poles and attached them with 3/4" u-shaped clamps. 

I got up on the ladder and attached the center of the roof pvc's together, also using the 45 degree pvc elbows.. I felt pretty clumsy trying to get the first roof joints done. I'm sure I looked pretty funny.. My husband asked if I could use a hand, which made it much simpler. But once I had a couple of them together, I was able to do the rest myself.. My husband stood by saying "Are you sure you don't want some help?", but I really wanted to see if this was something a 59 year old woman could handle on her own!
 The answer is Yes!! 
Where there's a will, there's a way!

I added a  support pole down the center of the roof line.. I used pvc t-joints to add support poles that run down from the center pole to the ground, for "hopeful" support throughout the winter..I spaced these according to where the garden boxes are, and screwed each support pole into the garden boxes so they can't sink into the sand..  

I wrapped 2 or three zip ties around each of the roof joints just to tighten them up and make sure they couldn't shift. It was feeling pretty darn sturdy at this point. 

Our Rion sunroom had collapsed this past winter and we ended up tearing it down. Some of the poly windows were able to be salvaged, so I decided to use them around the bottom half of the hoophouse. In order to have a place to attach them, I added a 1x4 piece of lumber around the bottom frame, locking the pvc poles between 2 pieces of lumber, which I think should be added support for the winter. 

I started working on the front and back door frames, using pieces of wood we had available. I also attached two pieces of wood to a couple of the center poles, again to add extra support for next winter.. I used a lot of L-shaped metal brackets on corners, too... I added 1x4 strips of wood mid way up the roof line on both sides, attaching them with the 3/4" U-clamps..

We had an extra piece of the greenhouse plastic left over from John's hoophouse that's been rolled up all this time, so I decided to go ahead and use that on the top section.. John helped me get it up there and pull it tight, then we attached it to the wood strips using the electric stapler... 

 I called it a day, cause I was pooped out! But not bad for one days work. 

Day Two

I tightened the roof line wood strips to the door frames using zip ties and, what I call, steel bandaids...

I had purchased a roll of 

Warp Brothers 6CH20-C 6 Mil Clear Plastic Sheeting, 20-Foot by 25-Foot

plastic from Amazon to use on the hoophouse.. I'm not sure how well this will hold up, but we had spent quite a bit on the greenhouse plastic for the 1st hoophouse and knew we didn't want to spend that much again. Quite a few people left feedback for this product on Amazon saying they had used it on their hoophouse with good results.. 

So, the next job was to add this roll of plastic.. It's actually really easy to handle. John and I unrolled it so it was the length of the hoophouse, then we both got up on step ladders and walked it up and over the roof.. Since I planned on using the poly windows along the bottom, I only stretched this around the top half of the hoophouse.. 

I cut off the excess to use on the doorways and then stapled it to the wood frame all the way around, wrapping it around the doorways and stapling in place for a tight fit.. 

Once I had all the plastic securely stapled in place, I started adding the poly windows around the bottom.. That part was really easy.. I just screwed them along the tops and bottom of each window into the wooden frame.. The poly didn't crack and didn't require a pilot hole.. Easy peasy. Of course, if you don't have poly windows left over from a collapsed Rion sunroom laying around, just attaching the plastic all the way to the ground would work just as well.. 

I used the new Gorilla Clear Outdoor tape to seal the seams between each window (the windows are 24" x 48" each).
The Gorilla tape worked okay for this, but it is expensive.. You don't get very much on a roll and my husband had to run downtown and buy two more rolls of it for me, and that still wasn't enough.. We both went down to the hardware store to get more, but noticed they had Scotch tough transparent duck tape, so I suggested we try a roll of that instead, especially since it had 20 yards to a roll compared to only 9 yards on the Gorilla Tape for just a few dollars more. 

As it turned out, some of the gorilla tape released after a thunderstorm, but the duck tape has held tight. I redid all the windows with the duck tape. So far, so good.. No leaks or split seams. 

I still had to do the doors, but first wanted to get everything planted.. We didn't have much luck last year with our plants.. They grew, but just kind of fizzled out and didn't produce much. We decided that "powerful" dirt we purchased was most likely the culprit, so we decided to invest in several bags of Dairy Doo.. 





I don't know if other states carry Dairy Doo, but it is fantastic stuff!! 
It's bascially cow poo.. 

It's sold by Morgan Composting, Inc, which is a family owned business here in Michigan. 

I dumped a bag of the Dairy Doo in each box and mixed it in well with a hoe.. Then I planted the veggies we had purchased at a local farm market. 

The lettuce in the black container came up voluntarily, as did the flowers in the center box.. Looking at the picture of that box last year, I don't even see these flowers.. I'm really not sure how they came to be, but they are beautiful!

This was as far as I could go because we had a granddaughters graduation and a family get together in Southern Michigan to attend.. 

The following week I had lots of orders to work on so I didn't have time to get back to the hoophouse for almost two weeks.. The weather channel was reporting a threat of frost (on June 13... REDUNKULOUS), so I had to get the doors up fast.. We had a grandson's graduation party to attend on the 14th, so I had one day to get the job done.. 

I decided to make simple roll up doors, both because they would be fast to get up, and also because I want the hoophouse to be really open all summer so lots of ventilation and bees can get inside.. 

I put up identical doors on the front and back, using 2 sheets of the plastic for double protection. I attached PVC poles along the sides and bottom of the doorway with screws, and attached the plastic door along the top with the staple gun. I then put a thin piece of wood over the plastic and screwed it in place for a tight fit.. 

I have a bright pink roll of velcro that I never seem to use, so I decided to use it for the doorways.. The longer strip is on the inside of the door, and is the soft side of velcro. The little strip across the top is screwed into place and is the rough side.. I've had the doors rolled up now for 2 weeks and the velcro is holding great. 

When unrolled, I attached pvc clips (purchased from Amazon), clamping the plastic tight against the frame, keeping the cold out! 

From the inside, it looks tight as a drum. Should make a good seal once the weather turns chilly this fall. 

I closed up both doors and we left for the graduation party.. The greenhouse was closed up for 2 days.. When we got back, the doors were still tight as could be, even though there had been high winds here, and all the plants were snug as a bug in a rug.. 

Two weeks later and everything is looking great.. 

Of course, time will be the test. We'll see how the plants do and if we get a good crop this year. I'm thrilled knowing I can start closing the hoophouse up mid August and not have to worry about a random frost doing in the garden.. 

I also want to see how long we can actually grow things up here in Northern Michigan. I've read that other people have continued growing in their hoop houses through November. I've already purchased another roll of plastic, which I'm going to use as another layer on the hoop house once we start getting chilly weather up here. We also have a little heater we plan to use in there once it gets chilly.. 

Crossing my fingers the hoop house will provide us with lots of fresh veggies into the fall and provide us with enough canned produce to use all winter long!

Rion Lean-to Greenhouse Sunroom.. Our experience...Manufactured by Palram Industries

I have always wanted an endless pool... It's been a dream of mine for a long time, but I knew we couldn't afford one, and even if we could, there's a lot of other things more important than spending money on one, since they cost $10,000 and up.. 

Somehow I found out about the Fitmax iPool, which is an exercise/therapy pool that costs a fraction of the endless pools... I got really excited about the idea of buying one of those pools and having a body of water to exercise and swim in... But where to put it? 

Living in Northern Michigan, I knew it'd be really hard to keep it warm, and clean, if it was sitting outside.. We had already had an above ground pool for a couple of years that proved to be too chilly to swim in most of the time and it was next to impossible to keep pine needles out of it, since we're surrounded by jack pine trees... 

I put my little thinking cap on and came up with the idea of building a sun room that would house the iPool... I spent weeks looking at diy plans and kits to build your own sunroom.. I found lots of info on the Rion Lean-to Greenhouse Sunroom, and I was really intrigued.. 

The reviews I found on their products were glowing and they were advertised as a "snap" to put together..I contacted the company, Backyard Living Source, and asked them all kinds of questions, and got all the right answers.. 

 After a lot of consideration, and I mean a LOT of consideration, we decided to go with Rion.. After all, they're warranted for 7 years and they have a picture of a greenhouse with men standing on top of it on one of their websites, not to mention bookoo pictures of them covered with snow a foot deep... And the fact that they're a snap to put together, and priced better than aluminum framed sunrooms, made the choice seem like the smartest one we could make.. They claim the frame is stronger and longer enduring than aluminum frames, and with a 7 year warranty, surly it would be expected to last at least 7 years and beyond.. 

Silly us...

First, we built a very strong and secure deck to hold it. We dug 42" footers to make sure we were well below the frost line and added more footers than necessary to make sure it could hold the weight of the pool.. 

The Rion sunrooms are 6' wide, and since we wanted the room to be 10' wide, we put up the frame for a 4' wall extension and added a 4' roof extension..

We were very careful to insure we were using the correct height given by the Rion company to insure this would work with the sun room.. Rion lists the height of their sun rooms as being 7'11".. We followed their measurement guideline to the letter.. That was mistake #1...

This is how the Rion greenhouses and sunrooms arrive at your home by UPS.. 

Each section comes in it's own box. We had purchased a 20' sun room as well as a 10' one, to be used as a greenhouse. Silly, silly us... 

Each box contains the windows panels and frame pieces, which are all apart. There are a zillion pieces, each with a part number molded into the part. The problem with this is that the part number is very hard to read, since it's the same color as the rest of the part. You have to go through each box and sort the parts into piles before you begin to make sure you have all the correct parts and/or to make sure none of them are damaged.. This isn't easy since many, many of the parts look just alike, but are just slightly different in size.. 

We did have quite a few broken parts, but since we had purchased two different kits, we were able to swap out parts.. I contacted the Rion company, and to their credit, they did ship out the replacement parts very quickly. 

Once you have all the parts sorted (this took us an entire day), you start putting the frame together. Unfortunately, the manual isn't as good as it could be and we had to figure out quite a bit as we went... The bottom part of the sunroom was relatively easy to put together..Once you have the frame pieces together, the windows just slide in pretty easily.. This however, was the only easy part of the sunroom. 

When we started adding the sides, we realized the sunroom is actually 8', not 7'11" like the manual and the Rion website stated.. This created a problem because we had built the roof line at 7'11".. We had to readjust the roof line, which wasn't an easy task. Thank goodness we hadn't built the wall extensions yet. 

I contacted them telling them it was actually 8' tall, not 7'11" and it had created a bit of a problem for us.. I've noticed on many of their websites, they have changed the height to 8', although some of them still list it as being 7'11"... If you decide to buy one of these, just know that they are 8' tall.. 

The manual tells you to build the roof frame on the ground, not too far from the structure, and then lift it into place... That was mistake #2..

We followed the directions and then tried to lift it.. Bahahahahahhah.. What a joke.. The only way you would be able to lift a 20' roof is to have someone holding each section.. Each section is 2' wide, so you would need 10 people to lift this size.. We live up North away from family and all our neighbors are senior citizens (like us).. We didn't have 8 additional available people to lift this thing up.. 

No matter how we tried, lifting it meant parts popped apart..We gave up on that idea after a couple of hours and took it apart and reassembled it one section at a time, connecting it to the bottom frame as we went...

The parts are suppose to be a snap to put together with no tools required.. It's true you don't need any conventional tools, but you do have to use this little wooded tool the include with a small Allen wrench sticking out the end.. You use that to insert there little plastic connectors where each part meets.. The tool in itself is very uncomfortable to hold and use.. The tool is cut at a slant on the other end, which is suppose to assist you in inserting rubber tubing around each window.. As you use it to insert the plastic connectors, the slanted part is stabbing the palm of your hand.. When you use it for the rubber tubing, the Allen wrench stabs your palm.. Let's just say, it's a stupid tool. 

The parts however, do not "snap" together easily.. They are incredibly hard to fit together and require brute strength.. Once you get the frame up, you have to insert the windows, which are suppose to glide easily in the little grooves on the side of the plastic frames.. As we found out, the windows do not glide along the plastic easily. In fact, pounding the ends of the windows with the palm of your hands will move it about 1/8" each pound.. Each window took an hour or more to get in place.. You then have to add this long plastic part to the top of each frame piece, which is intended to keep the window in place.. That part is a nightmare to snap down.. Most of them pop out of the groove after you get half of it in place, meaning you have to start all over.. there are also chambers at the top and bottom of each window that the windows need to stick in.. It's not hard to get the windows into the top chamber, but you have to slightly bend the window to get it in the bottom chamber.. Not an easy thing to do.. More times than not, this caused the window to completely pop out of the grooves, so we'd have to start all over again...

The directions say over and over again that soaking the pieces in soapy water will ease putting them together.. We had those parts soaking for hours, and then for days.. It didn't aid in putting them together in the least. 

Days later, when you finally have the thing together, you have to take this skinny rubber tubing and stick it between the windows and the frame all around the bottom and side pieces.. They also suggest you soak this before using to ease the application. Again.. soaked it...didn't help a bit.. 

Once done you realize there are little gaps where each window ends. They give you little dark gray foamy inserts to stick in these holes.. They look ugly and won't stay put very long.. As soon as the temperature changes from day to night, they expand or shrink, depending on the temps, and pop out of place.. We ended up sealing every hole with silicone (as per a customer service rep at Rion)... 

Each sunroom comes with a vented roof window.. We soon discovered ours leaked like the titantic... I sealed it with silicone but it never did stop leaking.. I contacted them about it, and they did send me a new window.. However, after getting it I realized how impossible it would be to replace it, as it was in the middle of the sunroom.. There would be no way to insert the long plastic pieces that keep the window in place. You have to add those after inserting each window by standing on a ladder in the unfinished window spot next to it.. Another option is to slide that long piece into place from ground level using a mallet.. I used that method on the smaller lean-to we put up.. It worked but was actually more difficult and the piece usually popped out of place half way up the part, so I'd have to pull it back down and start again.. There just simply is no easy way to put these things together.

We finally did finish the sunroom, working morning to night.. It took us almost 2 weeks to complete the sunroom, including inserting all the tubing (that took days). We then finished off the wall extensions with tongue and groove boards (we also insulated them) and sealed off every spot we could find where air could get in.. 

Now that it was built, we could finally put up the exercise pool.. The pole in the middle was for extra strength.. We wanted to make this as strong as possible.. the foam boards were put down for added insulation for the pool and also to make the floor of it more comfortable.

We added the iPool and filled it..   

Then put chairs and plants in the space left so we had a nice little sunroom along with the pool area.. 

I loved it.. I really, really did.... We were so proud of what we'd built and so pleased with the way it looked.. 

Then winter came, and after the first snowfall, one of the windows popped though, landing a pile of snow in the empty pool.. 

Try as we might, we could not get that window back in place.. My husband ended up making a temporary window out of a clear pvc roofing panel from home depot. It was enough to keep any more snow from getting in... We contacted Rion, and they did send us a new panel, saying that there are two sizes of window panels, almost identical, but one is slightly small, and sometimes they get mixed when packing the boxes. The customer service rep felt we had probably gotten one of the smaller panels by accident and that's why it popped out.. 

Okay, we accepted that and appreciated them sending us a new panel, even though we couldn't fix it till spring because of the snow.. 

I had also talked to her about the door and the fact that there is no way to seal it properly, so rain and snow got in.. We had sealed it off with a piece of insulation board for the winter, but needed a better solution.. She sent us a box of rubber tubing and some rubber stripping stuff to see if that helped.. It didn't, but I appreciate that she tried to help.. The problem was not  with her, it's with a door that was engineered stupidly!

Other than the one panel popping through, the sunroom did hold up nicely through the winter.. Although, we did need to go out and clean it off every time it snowed...

Once it thawed and the snow around the sun room had melted, we got the new panel in and everything seemed good again.. I filled my pool in March and was exercising in it when it was snowing outside.. It was chilly in there, but because the pool had a heater, it was very enjoyable.. 

The next summer, we noticed more and more leaks and realized how hot the house was in the middle of summer because there wasn't really much ventilation to the sunroom.. On top of that, the door had to be left open to get air, but there is no way to attach a screen. Because the door frame is plastic, you can't attach a screen door to it.. I tried attaching one of those instant screen thingies they show on tv, the ones that attach with velcro, but the sticky stuff on the back of the velcro just melted from the heat and slid off, taking the screen with it..I tried sewing a seam on the top of the screen (like a curtain panel) and using a tension curtain rod, but it kept sliding down the plastic door frame. We ended up propping a sliding door screen in front of it, which was very inconvenient, but if we left it open, we had a room, and pool, full of bugs...

Once fall arrived, we were worried that more windows could possibly pop out, so we decided to cover the sun room with a huge clear solar blanket.. It was expensive, and a bear to get up there, but it did seem to protect the windows, stopped the constant leaking and helped insulate it.. It also created a surface where snow just slid off of it.. 

The next summer, we weren't sure what to do. Should we take the blanket off and put up with constant leaks? We ended up leaving the blanket there and put a greenhouse tarp on the top to create shade..We tried a number of things to stop the vented window from leaking, but nothing worked..  Leaving it covered with the blanket was the only thing that finally stopped the leak.. 

By now, our pretty sunroom wasn't so pretty looking anymore and we weren't enjoying it like we had in the beginning.. We could sit out there in the spring or the fall, but it was too hot to use in the summer, other than to use the pool, and too cold in the winter.. We also had to keep the door to the house shut in the summer to keep the hot air out.. 

It was nice in the spring because it would get warm in there.. We could open the door to the house and get free heat.. Same in the fall, but for the little bit of time this was beneficial, it really wasn't a big bonus.. 

Fast forward to 2014.. The sun room is now 3 1/2 years old.. We've had a bitter cold winter, the coldest my husband and I can remember in our lives.. One night in January, we heard, what sounded like, a small earthquake... It was pitch black out that night and we couldn't really see what had happened looking out the windows.. It was also well below zero, so we weren't about to go out in the middle of the night and wade through snow to find out.. 

In the morning, this is what we found..

It appears the frame broke on one, or both, ends and the rest of it just imploded.. 

You can see here that one of the bracket pieces just snapped.. That piece should be 3 times as long.. 

Our pool is damaged, the antique hutch has water damage, a tv, dvd, couch and some fans were all destroyed..

Rion states that these sun rooms can hold a snow load up to 1100 lbs.. We have had a lot of snow this year, but with the solar blanket in place, much of it slid off... We really wonder if the frame became really brittle because of the freezing cold temps.. We don't know why else it would just shatter like it did.. There were small, broken pieces all over inside the sunroom.. 

I contacted Rion right after it happened, asking what their 7 year warranty covers.. In fact, I have asked them that question 3 times now.. No one will tell me.. I just keep being told the situation is being handed over to the manager, and then to Palram Applications who actually manufacture them.. No one from that company has been in contact with me. It has now been over 6 weeks and they have done nothing but give me the run around.. 

We do not want another Rion greenhouse/sunroom kit.. But we would like to be compensated for a product that has a 7 year warranty, but only lasted half that time frame.. We also want to warn other people about what can happen with these Rion kits.. We wish we had seen an honest review before we purchased ours...

Would I recommend Rion products? No way, no how.. Putting them together is anything but easy, they have problems with leaking and windows that pop out, and now this.. They very obviously are not built to withstand a harsh winter.. 

As for their glowing reviews...I have tried leaving honest reviews on their sites since we put this thing up, giving both cons and pros to their product.. I gave it 3 stars and marked that I would not recommend them to others.. But they will not print my review.. I have tried multiple times to leave a review, mostly now as a game to see if they will print a mostly negative review or not.. They won't!! No wonder they have glowing reviews.. They ignore the ones people are leaving pointing out problems with these products... 

In the last couple of years, after a lot of digging, I did find other forums with reviews on the Rion products.. The problems we've had are very, very common among Rion owners. Most state they would never buy another Rion product again.. 

As I mentioned, we foolishly bought two of these.. The other one is a 10' lean-to we use as a green house.. There are no wall extensions. It butts up to the house, under the eves... We did not build a foundation for it, but rather dug a trench and put 4x4's in it, then attached the sunroom to the 4x4's.. We've had problems with that one, too.. The windows leak and the top looks sunken.. One of the windows popped through last winter and we've never been able to get it to stay in properly. We have a pole propped up to keep it from popping through.. 

We'll be taking that one down this summer and using the windows in a greenhouse we intend to build with a wooden frame.. 

It really is too bad these greenhouses aren't what they say they are.. Maybe they would be great in warmer climate, but then again, maybe the heat would do them in... And now that I think about it, even if it didn't break down, there's still the problem with the constant leaking, gaps between windows and the door that doesn't seal properly... 

Ours is now gone.. We had a builder come tear it down and rebuild with an enclosed porch.. They did an awesome job and even took all the sun room debris away.. Other than the smaller lean-to we will be taking down this summer, our once beautiful sun room is just a bad memory... 

If you are buying one, or have bought one, I hope you have better luck than we have... I give the Rion company 5 stars for customer service (up until now when they're giving me the runaround), but as far as this snap together greenhouse/sunroom goes... 0 out of 5 stars... Not worth the hassle...

UPDATE: It's now been over 6 months. We purchased this sunroom from Backyard Living Source, through their website. They kept passing the buck where the warranty is concerened, and finally told us they'd sent our claim on to Palram Industries in Israel.. 

We were a bit shocked, since we didn't realize we had purchased this thing from a company in Israel, let alone Palram Industries.. Nothing on the boxes or the product itself had the name of Palram on it. 

That company has just ignored us.. The other day I found their website and sent a message through their website stating we have waited over 6 months for them to cover the warranty. 

I received an email today simply stating our problem is not covered under the manufacturers warranty. Backyard living source say they aren't responsible because Palram Industries must cover damages like this. 

Palram also sent me an email copy of their so called warranty. It completely and totally protects them from absolutely ANY damage done to these products.. It completely and totally removes any product protection for the company. 

In other words, this company does not stand behind their product and if you look for Palram Industries, they are now advertising a lot of greenhouse's under that name.. 

If I were you, I'd look for an American company that will stand behind their product.. 

Homemade Yogurt

I love yogurt, but the ones you buy in the store are either full of sugar or full of fat, depending on if you buy low fat or low sugar... Low fat is high in carbs... Low sugar is high in fat... The fruit in the yogurt is also full of sugar.. Since my husband is a diabetic, and also a yogurt lover, I wanted to figure out how to make yogurt at home with Stevia as the sweetener.

I didn't have a clue how to make it from scratch..I started searching the Internet for answers and found information on yogurt starters, probiotics, and a lot of other things that seemed a bit foreign to me..

I found a yogurt starter on Amazon, which claimed one packet would turn a gallon of milk into yogurt.. Amazon didn't actually sell it.. it came from a vendor in Canada (which I wasn't aware of at the time of purchase).. It was advertised as two packets of starter, but I only received one packet and it took 5 weeks to get here... I followed the directions to a T, but ended up with very runny, nasty smelling something I wouldn't call yogurt... What a waste of money and time....

I decided making yogurt wasn't easy at all and gave up on the idea...

About a year later I decided to try again. This time when I did a search on Google, I found an u-tube video showing an easy way to make yogurt... I tried it, it worked, I was amazed and have been making it ever since..

However, the recipe I found online called for honey as the sweetener and the yogurt wasn't very thick.. Honey is too high in carbs for diabetics and I really like thick yogurt, so I played around until I found the perfect combination.

What you'll need:

One gallon of Whole Milk

4 packets of Knox Unsweetened Gelatine

2 1/2 cups Stevia in the Raw

3 Tbs Vanilla (I use Tahitian Vanilla)

1 small single serving container plain Yogurt

Large Pot

Whisk

Thermometer (candy/deep fry)

5 Quart Canning Jars Sterilized 

Lids

Funnel

Ladle

Thermal Cooler Bag

Towel

Heating pad

First, you'll want to sterilize your canning jars. You can do this easily in your dishwasher, or wash them in really hot soapy water, rinse them, then either pour boiling hot water in them or heat them in the microwave for 1 minute. 

I find it's super easy to run them through the dishwasher before I start making the yogurt, then leave them inside until I'm ready to fill them.

Pour the gallon of milk into your large pot. Using a whisk, add the four packs of Knox Unsweetened Gelatine. It's important to do this before heating the milk.. In my mind, it should be easier to mix the gelatin in warm milk, but not so.. It just turns to lumps in warm milk, but dissolves pretty easily in cold milk.. 

After the Gelatine is dissolved, add the 2 1/2 cups of Stevia in the Raw.. You can add more or less based on your preference. 

Whisk until the Stevia is dissolved.

Place your pan on a burner set at medium heat. 

Place your candy/deep fry thermometer in the milk.. Make sure to whisk often to keep milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan.. Once the temp reaches 160 degrees, add the 3 Tablespoons of Vanilla. Whisk until blended.. 

Keep whisking until you reach 180 degrees... This happens pretty quickly once you hit 160 degrees, so whisk continually. 

Remove the pan from the heat and let sit until the temp of the milk mixture cools to 110 degrees. 

This normally takes about an hour.  

Every time I walk by it, I give it a good whisk.. Whisking while it cools isn't necessary, but seems to help produce a really creamy yogurt. 

Once the mixture has cooled to 110 degrees, it's time to add the yogurt.. If this is your first time, use the entire single serving container of  plain yogurt.. After adding it, whisk it really good until the yogurt is well blended. Once you've made yogurt, you can use about 4 heaping tablespoons of yogurt from your previous batch for this step. You can continue to do this indefinitely.

Once it's cooled to 110 degrees and you've added the yogurt, you'll need to get your 5 jars ready. Place the funnel in a jar and use the ladle to fill it to the bottom line of the neck. Cap it with your lid, then proceed to the next jar. You'll end up with 4 3/4 quart jars. 

 Now it's time to incubate your yogurt. 

I use a simple zippered thermal cooler bag, heating pad and towel. 

Place the heating pad in the bottom of the cooler and set it on low.  I have an older heating pad that doesn't shut itself off. The newer ones shut off automatically after a programmed time, so you may need to turn it back on from time to time.. 

Place the towel on top of the heating pad, leaving enough free to wrap around your jars. 

You just want to keep them warm.. It's kind of like tucking them into bed :o)

Cover the tops of the jars with the rest of the towel, then zip the cooler shut. Make sure you heating pad is still on and set at low.. 

Your basically done at this point.. Leave your yogurt alone for 6-8 hours, depending on how tangy you want it. I leave mine in the bag for 8 hours.. 

I either make my yogurt in the morning and let it incubate all day, or I make it in the evening and let it incubate over night.. 

Once it's done incubating, remove the jars and put them in the fridge to chill.. In a couple of hours you'll have thick, creamy, delicious, healthy yogurt! 

This yogurt is very thick and creamy, very similar to Greek Yogurt. It's delicious alone, with fruit on it, flavored sugar free syrups, granola, used in smoothies, or my favorite, with a spoonful of melted coconut mana poured over it..

Coconut Mana is really good for you for a number of reasons, but that's for another day and another post!

Our dogs are on a raw food diet, and yogurt is very good for them, too. I make unsweetened, unflavored yogurt for them as well.... They love it! 

One batch of yogurt lasts us about 3 weeks or so.. We eat a dish of yogurt once a day, every day.. We've never had a batch of yogurt go bad.. As soon as the last jar is about half empty, I make a new batch, so we never run out.. 

It really is super easy to make and once you've made a few batches, it just becomes 2nd nature and will become a snap to make!

I added the following info to my sugar free jello post and thought it was a good idea to add it here, too.

I know some people do not approve of unsweetened gelatin products for a variety of reasons.. 

Gelatin is produced by rendering animal body parts.. Gross sounding, I know.. But these animal byproducts contain collagen, which is a natural form of protein and is very good for joint pain, which my husband and I both suffer from.. I remember my mom mixing a pack of it with her orange juice to help strengthen her fingernails when I was young. It's also used for many pharmaceutical applications and was used as a blood plasma substitute in World War II... 

Read more: How Knox Gelatin Is Made | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5063199_knox-gelatin-made.html#ixzz2SbyErNsk 

There is a product called Agar that is a vegetarian alternative gelatin made from sea weed, although, I've never used it so I can't say how it works. I've read good reviews about it, though.

You can make this yogurt without the unflavored gelatine, but it won't be as thick.. 

But it will still be just as delicious! 

Home Made Laundry Soap

Who Knew?

Home made Laundry Soap...

You can make your own laundry soap for a fraction of the price of store bought soap, plus it's gentler on sensitive skin like mine.. It's easy peasy to make and lasts a very long time!

All you need is a bar of Fels-Naptha Soap, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, a box of Borax, a food grater, a large jar or other container and a scoop..

Take the bar of Fels-Napha Soap and grate the whole bar using the food grater.. You can also use a food processor for this, but it does end up sticking to the blade quite a bit.. I find it's faster and easier to just use a food grater... 

I buy my Fels-Napha Soap at Wally World... It costs about $1.79.

Add the grated soap to your glass container, or whatever you decide to use to hold your laundry soap. I bought this glass jar with lid at WalMart for about $5.

Add 4 cups of Washing Soda and 4 cups of Borax, also purchased at WalMart. 

Pour them into the container and start shaking the container. After I shake it up for a bit, I use my hand to make sure it's really mixed up.. 

I use a plastic scoop taken from a protein drink mix.. One scoop is just the right size for a normal wash load. 

I wash most of our clothes in cold water and never have a problem getting this soap to dissolve.. 

It has a fresh, clean scent... I love the smell and so does my husband.. 

It leaves our clothes clean, fresh and bright.. 

I have sensitive skin and have been buying unscented laundry soap with no perfumes or dyes added for years.. This laundry soap does not bother my skin! 

One jar lasts my husband and I about 3 months.. That's a bargain!! 

Sugar Free Jello With Stevia

My husband and I just started Atkins Induction a week ago.. My husband is a diabetic and Atkins is a great diet for his health needs...We had both gone on Atkins a year ago, each lost weight, but gained some of it back over the winter even though we've continued to eat low carb.. Here in Northern Michigan it's hard to get much exercise in during the winter months and our scales show it!

One of the little treats you can have on Atkins is sugar free jello...I think this means we're both kids at heart, because we love Jello! But neither one of us want to consume Aspartame, which is what boxed sugar free jello is sweetened with.. Aspartame gives both of us a wicked headache, plus it's been linked to so many health issues, it just seems a no brainer not to allow it in our bodies..

I started searching for recipes for sugar free jello from scratch. I found quite a few of them, but none of them used Stevia as the sweetener.. Many of them used sucralose and other sweeteners I'm not familiar with. I've been using Stevia in many different forms for many years, and I trust it since it is a natural product.. I even tried growing it in our greenhouse last summer, but it was such a hot summer, it ended up croaking! Better luck this year (crossing fingers).

Anyhoo....After a lot of experimenting, I finally found an easy way to make sugar free jello using Stevia in the Raw.

I make a big bowl, which lasts us for a week, but if you wanted to cut this down in half, it would be fine. My recipe, I believe, would be the same as using the big package of jello available in stores.

My recipe is:

7 3/4 cups water (this will be divided into two steps)

2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid

4 packs Knox Unsweetened Gelatine

2 cups Stevia in the Raw

First, pour 4 cups COLD water into a pot.

Add 4 packs of the unsweetened Gelatine.

Whisk to mix the Gelatine.. 

It's important to use cold water.. In my mind, hot water would mean it would dissolve better, but I soon found it just clumps in hot water and takes forever to stir down, so make sure you mix it with cold water. 

Add the 2 packs of unsweetened Kool-Aid and 2 cups of Stevia in the Raw. Whisk again until dissolved. 

Put on the stove and bring it to a rolling boil.. I set the burner on high and whisk it until it boils.. It doesn't take long and believe me, you don't want to walk away and let it come to a boil unattended because you'll have a sticky mess all over your stove top and burner...I found this out the hard way.. 

It's quite foamy looking until just before it gets ready to boil.. It then looses the foam and becomes clear. 

Remove it from heat and pour into your bowl.. Add 3 3/4 cups of cold water and whisk to mix.. Put in your fridge for at least 6 hours and you'll have delicious sugar free jello without aspartame!

You can add 4 cups of water if you want, but I like my jello to be really thick, which is why I choose to add 3 3/4 cups of water instead.

Once it's set, I dish out a small bowl of it for each of us for dinner and add a tsp of heavy whipping cream to our little jello treat. Heavy whipping cream is allowed on Atkins and it just seems to make the jello even better... 

I know some people do not approve of unsweetened gelatin products for a variety of reasons.. 

Gelatin is produced by rendering animal body parts.. Gross sounding, I know.. But these animal byproducts contain collagen, which is a natural form of protein and is very good for joint pain, which my husband and I both suffer from.. I remember my mom mixing a pack of it with her orange juice to help strengthen her fingernails when I was young. It's also used for many pharmaceutical applications and was used as a blood plasma substitute in World War II... 

Read more: How Knox Gelatin Is Made | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5063199_knox-gelatin-made.html#ixzz2SbyErNsk 

There is a product called Agar that is a vegetarian alternative gelatin made from sea weed, although, I've never used it so I can't say how it works. I've read good reviews about it, though.

One of the great things about using unsweetened Kool Aid is that it comes in so many flavors! You won't find boxed sugar free jello available with so many choices.. My favorites are Black Cherry, Cherry and Orange, but there are so many flavors to choose from! Makes a great sugar free snack and adds a little sweetness to low carb dieting..

Recycling a TV Stand

My husband has had a heavy duty TV stand for years that his son Tony made him.. It's really sturdy and made to last, unlike a lot of affordable TV Stands available in stores today, but just kind of outdated now.

We don't really watch TV in our living room any more, though, so it's kind of just been taking up space for the last several years.. We had a TV and DVD sitting on it, but I can't even remember the last time we used them. I think it may have been when 2 of our grand kids were here for a week a couple of summers ago..

Since we've been redoing our living room, we had to decide what to do about this big ole piece of furniture.

I suggested to my hubby that he add some new shelves to it and turn it into a book shelf, which we really need.. He LOVES his books and has been storing them wherever he could find space for them.. I'm more of an audible book person, but I have quite a few books needing a dedicated shelf, too....

I'm sure this was really sharp looking when it was first built, (it was BK...before Karen) but it's gotten really rough looking after four moves and many years of use... It was built to hold a specific TV and 2 humongous speakers.. I told my husband quite a few years ago the speakers had to go but knowing the TV stand is special because it was made by Tony, it has remained..

John added 2 new shelves, and then I painted the whole thing with a dark red paint I had left over from the Candle Making room.. It's Behr paint from Home Depot, which I love, and amazingly, only took 2 coats to give it great coverage.

The wood we bought for the added shelves, also from Home Depot, cost under $12 and since I already had the paint, this project was pretty cheap!  The two shelves and mirror were brown so I painted them with the dark red, too, and then roughed them up with a sander. 

We moved it to the opposite side of the Living Room, which really opened up the room.

We were able to add books 2 and 3 rows deep on each shelf, so this is really holding a heck of a lot of books.  I decided to add all my lighted ceramic houses I've been collecting for years and years to the top with some fake snow, despite my griping about how the snow stuck around way too long this year. lol.. 

I do love snow and the way it looks and have always loved my little village...

My favorite lighted house.. My son painted in the "Karens Kottage" and gave me this for Christmas.. I love gifts that are personalized or made by hand. They're the best! 

Of course there's a big orange Tomi kitty on the porch :o)

I was just taking a picture of my little village, but realized the opposite side of the room shows in the mirror, which I thought was very cool. If you read one of my earlier postings, I had started painting the wood in the living room cottage white, but ended up not being sure I liked it and wishing I hadn't started painting. I decided to only paint the one wall and it turned out to be one of those good mistakes.. The dining room is cottage white with natural wood wainscoting, so this happy accident seems to pull the two rooms together..