My slightly mobile greenhouse
The story of my slightly mobile greenhouse might be of interest to some, so I gathered a few photos and will try to compose the story. The story actually covers ten years of my life, but it should not take quite that long to tell.
It was probably the summer of 1965 or so when my wife of about a year, and I decided to take a vacation to Nassau, in the Bahamas. We flew from Jacksonville, and on our return trip to SC stopped at my Aunts home in central Florida to introduce the new "bride".
This aunt had some funny looking plants growing in pots hanging under a large Live Oak tree in her yard. I was told they were orchids. Wow! in all my years of tinkering around with plants, orchids had never crossed my mind.
To make a long story short, we returned to SC carrying a potted orchid plant, without one single clue as to how to care for it.
At this time in my Navy career I was on a ship with a deployment schedule of 3 months out, and 3 months home. I'm sure you can guess by this where I was when this silly looking little plant decided to present us with its first bloom.....I only got a picture.....2 months after the fact.
On the subsequent home period for me, we learned that there was going to be an orchid show in Charleston, and of course we went. I was fully expecting to find tables of beer bottles with orchid blooms sticking out the necks, but that was not to be!
We were literally speechless from the time we walked through the door. Orchids, everywhere, arranged in beautiful groups, and cut flower arrangements, all for us to stand and stare at in amazement.
There was an orchid nursery set up in the back of the room selling plants, and of course I had to purchase one...in bud...to take home and watch bloom. This nursery, it turned out was located in SC, only a bit over 100 miles from our house. Heaven was surely within driving range. I, of course, had no way of knowing that one day I would be working for the very same lady who sold me my first plant...we'll get to that.
The bug had bitten. By the summer of 1967 there was a new greenhouse parked in my back yard, and as a result of a 100 mile trip, several new orchids keeping my original two company.
In the summer of 1978 I received orders transferring me to the NROTC Staff at the University of Kansas, so,(to make a long story very short) we disassembled the greenhouse, packed it inside our mobile home, rented a U-Haul trailer for the plants, and (the now three of us) took off for Kansas. We had no clue where we were going to park our house, or whether we would be able to put up our greenhouse. We just trusted that the Lord would provide, an He did.
We spent three wonderful years in Kansas, and by the time the tour was over, my little greenhouse was bulging at the seams.
My next duty station turned out to be at Florida Jr. College in Jacksonville, where the Navy allowed me to complete an Associates Degree in Business. I always did things a bit backward.....from an Asst. Instructor at KU to college student at FJC seems a bit backward to most folks I relate the story to.
After two years in Jacksonville, the Navy insisted that I return to sea duty, so I was presented with orders to the Pre Commissioning Crew of the USS L. Mendel Rivers (SSN-686). Rivers was to be a nuclear fast attack submarine. It was being built in Newport News VA, and would ultimately be stationed in Charleston, SC.
On our way to Virginia, we stopped at our original home to visit our parents, and begin the search for another car for the (now 4) 0f us. I knew I was going to be working all kinds of strange hours, and with work more than 20 miles from home, a second car was going to be essential.
My Father-In-Law jokingly mentioned that he had this ancient VW bus that he would sell us. I looked it over, settled on a price, and bought it. I had a bit of work done on it, and my dear wife installed flowered curtains on the windows, and we drove both our cars to Virginia.
We found a space for our trailer in Williamsburg, VA, and set up the little greenhouse again. It took the shipyard about 2 years to finish putting together the giant jigsaw puzzle that would become the L. Mendel Rivers, and aside from much hard work and long hours, we thoroughly enjoyed making our home in Williamsburg.
Now just imagine, a Navy Chief Petty Officer with a beat up two toned blue VW "hippie" bus complete with flowered curtains driving to the Shipyard each day. I was the hit of the crew.
We were in Virginia a bit over two years, and when the ship left to go to Charleston, we followed with our little caravan. This was the only move that I did not have to rent a U-Haul for the plants. We managed to pack the entire contents of the greenhouse inside my little "hippie mobile", and took off.
We found a parking place for the trailer, and set the greenhouse up. Almost immediately we began a search for a real anchored to the ground house, at the insistence of my dear wife and mother of two, who had long before decided that she wanted more than a 10X56 foot box to raise her kids in.
While I was at sea, she found the house and purchased it. Imagine the fun I had when we pulled into Puerto Rico, and I had to sign papers that were faxed to me, and return them by fax to complete the house sale. We Navy people seldom do things the easy way. We just don't.
When I returned home, I moved the greenhouse once again. This time was different, though, I did not disassemble the thing. We laid 4 2X4's across friends pickup truck, and four of us lifted the little greenhouse onto the back of the truck, lashed it in place, and drove it across town. Verrrrrrry Carefullllllly!
Less than a year after moving into our real house, I purchased a Lord & Burnham Aluminum and glass greenhouse(remember the lady I bought my first orchid plant from? They also sold greenhouses.).
I poured the foundation, laid the blocks and brick veneer for the base, and assembled our new real greenhouse on the back of our new house.
the little traveling greenhouse, you ask? Well we had made some new friends since moving back who grew plants, but were not able to build or purchase a greenhouse. We loaded it on the back of the truck again, and moved it into town, and gave it its final resting place. The couple who we gave it to were about the age of our parents, and when we moved after I retired, we never saw them or the little greenhouse again.
Remember the lady who sold me the first orchid? Well, about a year before I retired, the company that her husband and his cousin owned offered me a job, and the day after my retirement we made our final long move to Newberry, SC and work at Carter & Holmes Orchids.
And that's the story of my little mobile greenhouse. It was a great life while it lasted, and still makes a pretty good story. Of course, if I had to tell ALL the little side stories associated with those ten or so years, it would take nearly as long again, and I don't have time for that.
Bill
It was probably the summer of 1965 or so when my wife of about a year, and I decided to take a vacation to Nassau, in the Bahamas. We flew from Jacksonville, and on our return trip to SC stopped at my Aunts home in central Florida to introduce the new "bride".
This aunt had some funny looking plants growing in pots hanging under a large Live Oak tree in her yard. I was told they were orchids. Wow! in all my years of tinkering around with plants, orchids had never crossed my mind.
To make a long story short, we returned to SC carrying a potted orchid plant, without one single clue as to how to care for it.
At this time in my Navy career I was on a ship with a deployment schedule of 3 months out, and 3 months home. I'm sure you can guess by this where I was when this silly looking little plant decided to present us with its first bloom.....I only got a picture.....2 months after the fact.
On the subsequent home period for me, we learned that there was going to be an orchid show in Charleston, and of course we went. I was fully expecting to find tables of beer bottles with orchid blooms sticking out the necks, but that was not to be!
We were literally speechless from the time we walked through the door. Orchids, everywhere, arranged in beautiful groups, and cut flower arrangements, all for us to stand and stare at in amazement.
There was an orchid nursery set up in the back of the room selling plants, and of course I had to purchase one...in bud...to take home and watch bloom. This nursery, it turned out was located in SC, only a bit over 100 miles from our house. Heaven was surely within driving range. I, of course, had no way of knowing that one day I would be working for the very same lady who sold me my first plant...we'll get to that.
The bug had bitten. By the summer of 1967 there was a new greenhouse parked in my back yard, and as a result of a 100 mile trip, several new orchids keeping my original two company.
In the summer of 1978 I received orders transferring me to the NROTC Staff at the University of Kansas, so,(to make a long story very short) we disassembled the greenhouse, packed it inside our mobile home, rented a U-Haul trailer for the plants, and (the now three of us) took off for Kansas. We had no clue where we were going to park our house, or whether we would be able to put up our greenhouse. We just trusted that the Lord would provide, an He did.
We spent three wonderful years in Kansas, and by the time the tour was over, my little greenhouse was bulging at the seams.
My next duty station turned out to be at Florida Jr. College in Jacksonville, where the Navy allowed me to complete an Associates Degree in Business. I always did things a bit backward.....from an Asst. Instructor at KU to college student at FJC seems a bit backward to most folks I relate the story to.
After two years in Jacksonville, the Navy insisted that I return to sea duty, so I was presented with orders to the Pre Commissioning Crew of the USS L. Mendel Rivers (SSN-686). Rivers was to be a nuclear fast attack submarine. It was being built in Newport News VA, and would ultimately be stationed in Charleston, SC.
On our way to Virginia, we stopped at our original home to visit our parents, and begin the search for another car for the (now 4) 0f us. I knew I was going to be working all kinds of strange hours, and with work more than 20 miles from home, a second car was going to be essential.
My Father-In-Law jokingly mentioned that he had this ancient VW bus that he would sell us. I looked it over, settled on a price, and bought it. I had a bit of work done on it, and my dear wife installed flowered curtains on the windows, and we drove both our cars to Virginia.
We found a space for our trailer in Williamsburg, VA, and set up the little greenhouse again. It took the shipyard about 2 years to finish putting together the giant jigsaw puzzle that would become the L. Mendel Rivers, and aside from much hard work and long hours, we thoroughly enjoyed making our home in Williamsburg.
Now just imagine, a Navy Chief Petty Officer with a beat up two toned blue VW "hippie" bus complete with flowered curtains driving to the Shipyard each day. I was the hit of the crew.
We were in Virginia a bit over two years, and when the ship left to go to Charleston, we followed with our little caravan. This was the only move that I did not have to rent a U-Haul for the plants. We managed to pack the entire contents of the greenhouse inside my little "hippie mobile", and took off.
We found a parking place for the trailer, and set the greenhouse up. Almost immediately we began a search for a real anchored to the ground house, at the insistence of my dear wife and mother of two, who had long before decided that she wanted more than a 10X56 foot box to raise her kids in.
While I was at sea, she found the house and purchased it. Imagine the fun I had when we pulled into Puerto Rico, and I had to sign papers that were faxed to me, and return them by fax to complete the house sale. We Navy people seldom do things the easy way. We just don't.
When I returned home, I moved the greenhouse once again. This time was different, though, I did not disassemble the thing. We laid 4 2X4's across friends pickup truck, and four of us lifted the little greenhouse onto the back of the truck, lashed it in place, and drove it across town. Verrrrrrry Carefullllllly!
Less than a year after moving into our real house, I purchased a Lord & Burnham Aluminum and glass greenhouse(remember the lady I bought my first orchid plant from? They also sold greenhouses.).
I poured the foundation, laid the blocks and brick veneer for the base, and assembled our new real greenhouse on the back of our new house.
the little traveling greenhouse, you ask? Well we had made some new friends since moving back who grew plants, but were not able to build or purchase a greenhouse. We loaded it on the back of the truck again, and moved it into town, and gave it its final resting place. The couple who we gave it to were about the age of our parents, and when we moved after I retired, we never saw them or the little greenhouse again.
Remember the lady who sold me the first orchid? Well, about a year before I retired, the company that her husband and his cousin owned offered me a job, and the day after my retirement we made our final long move to Newberry, SC and work at Carter & Holmes Orchids.
And that's the story of my little mobile greenhouse. It was a great life while it lasted, and still makes a pretty good story. Of course, if I had to tell ALL the little side stories associated with those ten or so years, it would take nearly as long again, and I don't have time for that.
Bill
The portable greenhouse set up in the back yard of our anchored to the ground house with its replacement under construction.
Q