Family Farm Winter 1988

Here are some photos my dad took.

 

Looking from this view the greenhouses are,

• Number 6, perpendicular to us in this photo. The largest, installed in 1923, at least that was written in the main concrete walkway inside. Poinsettias, geraniums, iris, mums, pretty much everything was grown here. Behind Number 6 are from left to right,
• Number 1, it had a lean-to on the left and evaporative cooling(AKA Swamp cooling). It had beds laid out lengthwise, originally they were soil filled and we grew cut Mums there and sold them in the NYC flower market around 28th street. The soil in the beds was loosened using a tiller and it was inevitable the tiller would break through the bottom of the bench. We would then run temporary steam pipes from the boiler and sterilize the soil with the steam.
• Number 2, it had lengthwise beds at first, which were later replaced with wire benches. For Easter we grew Cinnerias, they filled the whole house and it was beautiful when they were all in bloom and none had been shipped out yet.
• Number 3, it was split in half with 2 heat zones, no swamp cooler though. It did have large hatches in the masonry walls on the right side of this photo, they looked like gun ports from a 'ship of the line'. They helped in transferring plants in and out and for cooling. Number 3 for some reason had the best icicles in winter, great for sword fights and the javelin throw. No one ever got hurt amazingly.
• There was a tiny greenhouse connecting Number 2 and Number 3, it was set up for growing seedlings and had a misting system on timers. Using it as a shortcut was like playing Russian Roulette. It was the domain of my Uncle Hen. He was a true farmer, he had a large plot behind his house where he had vegetables and fruit trees. My Grandfather pursued musical interests when he was through for the day with work.
• Number 4, lengthwise beds, swamp cooler. Originally it had dirt aisles, but I got to dig out the aisles, build some forms, mix concrete and lay some concrete. Everything going out and in, in 5 gallon buckets.
• Number 5, lengthwise beds, swamp cooler. Mainly used for foliage plants, it was very jungle like. It had a lean-to that was scary, always wet and it seemed like the kind of place one would find snakes.
• Number 7, fiberglass covered Quonset hut style mit swamp cooler. Benches were perpendicular to the center aisle and were low, below the knee.
• Number 8, plastic covered Quonset hut style, swamp cooler, side aisle, benches were higher than Number 7 and might have been rolling benches.
• Retail house, unheated poly covered Quonset hut, between the barn and the Boiler shed. When we sold Retail it held plants for sale. When there were customers, I would always get my Uncle Herman so I wouldn't have to do math and make change. It was always called the Retail house even after we stopped the retail business. It was also used as a place to work out of the weather, I built a lot of benches there.

The property currently looks like this

 

• Shed for Numbers 1 - 3, connected the 3 greenhouses at the bottom left of the above photo. It had room for dirt trailers, the fertilizer/pesticide room was there and the large walk-in refrigerator was there as well. There was a bathroom at the very end, it was freezing in the winter and there was only running cold water.
• Shed for 4 & 5, usual place for potting, had a work bench and grinder on which others sharpened their knives and I dulled mine. A staging area for shipments during major holidays. There was an office which was a mess, it held a roll-top desk that was falling apart and had all sorts of tools and crap on it and in every nook and cranny.

 

 

When it snowed and I was working I got to shovel around the greenhouses and the sidewalk along the street too. One year I had a jacket whose sleeves were a bit short and gloves that barely covered my wrists. At 9 o'clock break, the patch of exposed skin was raised and numb to the touch. I was given a break inside for awhile and finished the walks up later. I probably got better gloves at lunch. Usual work day was from 7AM to 5PM, with a short break at 9AM and 3PM and an hour at noon for lunch.