Hay Bale Cold Frames for the Garden...

I have this beautiful little stand of Swiss Chard. 

I've been pecking at it all summer. The stuff is awesome in a morning smoothie and it's great in just about any recipe, as well as perfect steamed, or sauteed on its own.

We've had such a beautiful "Indian Summer" this year in Central Utah and  everything was good until a few weeks ago when we finally got our first freeze. And, Swiss Chard is hardy~!

But, not hardy to withstand a mean freeze & I just know a mean, hard freeze is coming soon...

The Man-Child was home for a few days, so I talked him into making me some Hay Bale Cold Frames in the garden...

 

Most importantly, one around my Swiss Chard...

Heaven knows we always have a plethora of rained on, small bale hay around here. And, I always come up with pretty creative ways to use it, versus selling it cheap for someone's cows. Funny how cows will eat it and my sheep just thumb their nose at it. It makes the horses cough and I'm not allowed to own goats, so I use it up in other ways.

I use tons of it for mulch in my yard and garden, as well as creatively for things like these cold frames and for duck houses, kitty houses, dog houses, you name it ~~~ I just love black rained on hay~!

We put the Cold Frames in a spot that gets the most sunlight during  the winter months. At the end of the 'unfinished' garden path on the Southwest side.

 

 The Man-Child brought a backhoe bucket of bales over and started the configuration and planning and we had purchased a 12' piece of clear acrylic from Home Depot for $38 for the top...

 Cute little story about those geese there on the right...

Our 4 year old Grandson loves to go out to the garden.

One day after the Man-Child placed the geese, our little grandson was running down the path chasing one of the kitty's. He stopped all of a sudden, put his hands up and SCREAMED~!

He was yelling my name and I went running over to him, not sure what was going on....

Well, he had ran past these geese not realizing they were there and they scared the Holy Hannah right out of the poor little guy. His scream was a scream of pure terror and terror had him stopped right in his tracks...

=)

I held his hand and walked him up to touch them, to show him they're plastic.

Now, he thinks they're awesome - now that he knows they can't bite him... 

They do look real~!

 The Man-Child cut the acrylic panel into 3, 4' pieces and framed around them with some old lumber.

The path is lined with rail road ties, but he brought over a few extra pieces to add to the front of it, to lift it up a bit off the cold ground and give an extra tie for holding heat during the day...

 

Along the back of the cold frames, he used a 2 x 4 and a couple pieces of scrap wood and built the back frame piece, to attach the hinges to... 

Pretty basic construction.

 

He tucked the back, frame piece in between the hay bales and put more bales on top of the piece to hold it in place.

 

 The frames tuck nicely behind the rail road tie path, so the wind won't catch them and flip them open...

He made little legs on the frames to hold them up for ventilation...

 

The Swiss Chard is happy in its new, covered home and I planted green onions, radishes, lettuce, turnips and some chives in the larger cold frame. I'm hoping for December veggies!

Just to be safe, I stuck a big rock in each frame for a bit of 'passive' heat (I hope) and I put a thick layer of wood shavings and a top layer of dark black compost to hold the moisture and attract the solar.

Wish me Luck~!!!

I also got my onion sets and garlic planted - - -

Winter is most definitely on its way...

 We are so lucky and still enjoying a bountiful harvest this year.

I am overflowing with French fingerling potatoes, Pontiac potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots and onions as well as the Swiss Chard and a little stand of perpetual spinach...

I use hay bales and leaves of hay to cover my root crops and when I want some for dinner, I just roll the hay back and pick what I need. It's a great way to store a good harvest late into the season...

If you like fresh vegetables, give this a try...

Boil some little French fingerling potatoes, or chunks of potatoes in chicken broth. Add an ample amount of dried onions, dried garlic and dried chives to the broth, as the potatoes boil. About 10 minutes before the potatoes are done, add some chopped up Swiss Chard leaves and stems. 

Strain in a fine strainer and add some butter to the veggies and some salt & pepper -

It's sinfully delicious and a favorite in this kitchen...

We also love boiled beets with butter and sweet turnips...

Peel some turnips and slice about 1/4" thick. Fry them in some butter and salt and pepper. 

Towards the end of the cooking, add some brown sugar to the buttered turnips and let them cook for a bit in the sweet, bubbly mixture. 

Turnips are delightful done this way~!