Greens Leaf Wall Fall

Leaf walls covered with Reemay Row Cover and plastic sheeting. This bed is approximately 25’ x 12’.

Harvest Kale Dec

Insulated wall made of used chicken wire stuffed with leaves. Yummy Dwarf Siberian Kale, Fennel, and Fava beans and Parsley are happy inside.

Our greens were happy right through the stretch of 15 below weather we had last winter.

Greens Leaf Wall Winter

This design grew from our desire to keep our costs down. We had chicken wire, we had plenty of leaves. If we had used strawbales, winterizing this bed would have cost $200. This way, it cost nothing.

STRAW-CLAY COLD FRAME
… a locally adapted season extender

North Wall of the Straw Clay Cold Frame

This Straw-Clay Cold Frame at Willow Way is designed to meet the demands of our windy winters with their wide temperature swings, here in Boulder, Colorado. It is built with wooden pallets that are stuffed with Straw-Clay.

Straw Clay Mixing

Straw-Clay is one type of “natural building” material. It is straw that is coated with a light clay slip, providing value both as insulation and as thermal mass.

South side of Cold Frame

This structure is 7’ x 9’. Materials cost was approximately $100. , plus a several hours of labor.

West wall with pallets exposed, before plastering.

This cold frame has two ventilation doors that are opened with a simple mechanical thermostat that operates via a gas-filled cylinder, without electricity. It opens both doors when the temperature inside gets hot enough to endanger the plants, and spring-loaded hinges cause the doors to close when the temperature drops again.