More Space. More Style.

When it comes to home, there’s a fine line between cozy and crowded. 

Small families often grow into bigger ones.

Houses that started out spacious and roomy become cramped when the headcount spikes.

And Givens family found themselves in this very scenario.

At first, their spacious, Southeast Charlotte home - with generous outdoor living area - had plenty of room for mom, dad, four kids and the family dog.

And it still does.

It’s the Givens family’s backyard chicken coop, and the dozen hens that now call it home, that had become too cramped.

It’s not that the old coop wasn’t spacious. 

When the family’s backyard flock was smaller, the tidy looking, gable-roofed structure, with an extended run area, worked just fine. It even had a cool weather vane mounted on the ridge cap of the colored metal roof.

And so what if the coop it wasn’t exactly level. It was a used coop that they found online, and picked up at a bargain.

 

There was plenty of room for the family’s backyard hens to sit back, kick up their toes, and stretch out those wings.

But the Givens family loves their flock of backyard chickens.

And when their modest-sized flock soon grew, the once-roomy, practically-free, not-exactly-level-but-tolerable, backyard chicken coop was no longer up to par.

And not only was the old coop too cramped, but there were other factors at play that prompted the need for a roomier, and also much more attractive backyard coop design.

You see, a transformation of the home’s backyard had already begun before we arrived.

A show-stopping in-ground swimming pool was the centerpiece of the family’s new backyard landscape design, which also included features planned for the old chicken coop’s site.

Now, for her new backyard coop, Anna had already selected a more subtle site at the opposite corner of the backyard. This area of high ground was perfect for a backyard chicken coop ;   nestled into a grove of shade trees that would help keep the coop cooler during the summer months.

 

And, while this wasn’t exactly a rush job, there was some sense of urgency to build the Givens family’s new backyard chicken coop efficiently.

The swimming pool company’s crew had already staked out their area, and competed some of their initial site prep. The portable toilet and pile of muddy scrap lumber lying in the driveway signaled that something big was coming, and soon.

We needed to finalize the new coop design, set things into motion, and wrap-up our work before the really heavy digging on the swimming pool and other backyard enhancements started.

And the large swimming pool, with tiered pool decks and cabana weren’t B-list, straight-to-DVD actors, either. The sprawling pool design, and other upgrades included in the backyard makeover, set the bar for visual appeal very high, indeed. 

Our new backyard chicken coop design had to be just as chic as these A-listers.

So, with the new coop’s site site already selected, the next step was to choose the frame design. 

 

Anna liked the gable roof style of the old coop, but asked us if we could make the pitch of the new coop’s roof steeper - something like the two example photos she provided. 

“Of course we can”, we said and found that a 50 degree gable roof pitch seemed a close match to the gable roofs in the two example photos she provided.

The dimensions of the new coop would be 8’x12’ with a height of about 8’6” from the ground to the top of the ridge beam. This size and shape would give the family’s hens a more open floor plan with more interior height than the old coop - which was more narrow and not as tall.

Anna asked that we stain the new coop’s yellow pine frame to match the color of the existing fence that surrounds the backyard.

“Sure thing”, we replied.

And we’re always happy to accommodate requests to apply pigmented exterior stain or clear wood sealer to any of our backyard garden projects.

We framed the new coop’s gable roof with 2”x4” yellow pine rafters, connected with 2”x6” collar ties and a 2”x6” ridge beam - all joined together using a combination of structural steel screws and exterior deck screws.

Anna Givens selected 26-gauge metal roof panels, in ‘Burnished Slate’ color, that would blend well with the coop’s frame and siding stain color, and also harmonize with the colored metal chimney caps on family’s home. 

 

We built the coop’s 8’ wide gable walls and 12’-wide sidewalls with a combination of 2”x4” yellow pine sole and cap plates, and 4”x4” studs  that are spaced about 4’ apart. This wall frame design increases airflow though the coop and still delivers the required structural strength to shrug off heavy wind, snow and ice loads, not to mention large and determined predators.

The three roughly 4’x4’openings in the 12’-long front wall will also provide the Givens family a generous view of all the fun activity and antics up in their new coop.

And to help ensure that this coop was’t just big enough and sleek enough, but was also tough enough -  that it might also withstand the test of time and perform as long as the swimming pool and other cool backyard enhancements - we placed the coop's frame on a foundation of masonry pavers to prevent ground contact with the wood.

Anna felt that a 4’x6’ hen house built into a corner of the coop would give her dozen hens the right amount of sheltered space to settle in together at night time, and to lay eggs.

 

We agreed, and we framed in the 4’x6’ hen house portion of the coop using yellow pine 4”x4” for vertical wall studs and floor joists, and we chose a hefty sheet of plywood for the henhouse floor.

“After all”, we mused, “the family’s backyard flock will probably keep growing long after we’ve placed the final screw, and packed up our gear.”

“What if they add more hens?”

“Then ducks and turkeys?”

“Hmm.”

“We’d better go ahead and make that hen house extra, super-duper strong”.

Which we did.

After we attached a ‘3-seater’ nesting box that Anna had found online as a kit ( and had impressively assembled herself ), we installed T1-11 siding on all four sides of the henhouse.

We built three hinged doors on the outside of the back of the henhouse, to allow easy access for periodic cleanings. 

 

Inside the coop, we left about 2’ of space between the top the T1-11 siding and the bottom of the ridge beam to improve airflow through the coop, while still providing the needed protection from cold, wet weather.

As with all of our backyard chicken coop designs, we clad the open areas of the frame with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth ; a burly steel mesh that’s strong enough to thwart the long list of predators - from falcons to foxes, rodents to raccoons - that are sure to put our new coop to the test.  And since we know how sneaky some of these furry little marauders can be, we always bury a strip of hardware cloth around the entire perimeter of the coop. This unglamorous but important step prevents predators from digging underneath - under the cover of darkness - and without it, the most stylish and spacious coop could be compromised on the very first night - rendering all that effort at form, worthless without the essential function.

And we can’t have that, now can we.

Anna requested a Dutch-style entry door for the front gable wall, and we were happy to make that happen. 

 

Decorative tee-hinges and sturdy, lockable latches.

A chicken-sized ladder leading up to the chicken-sized, arched hen house entry.

A touch up here and there with the stain.

This coop was finally move-in ready, and not a moment too soon, either.

As we loaded up our gear and prepared to head out, we’re sure we heard a sharp uptick in squawks and cackles from the dozen hens that were still huddled together in their old coop, on the other side of the backyard.

Was the family’s backyard flock excited about moving into their new residence, and trying to let us know about it with all that commotion? 

We’d like to think so.

After all, they say that chickens are smarter than people think.

And the Givens family's backyard flock certainly does have a smart-looking, new coop to call home.  

 

Repurposed Stone Garden Beds

You won’t have to poke around our website or social media pages for long before you’ll see that red cedar is our building material of choice. 

We use it to build raised garden beds.

Chicken Coops.

Greenhouse Frames.

Potting benches and tiered shelving.

Arbors and trellises.

Compost bins.

Outdoor furniture.

We build these projects with red cedar because it needs no chemical treatment to hold up for many years, exposed to the elements and hungry insects. In fact, for eons, human beings have been using lumber from this special tree for these same building applications. And for the same reasons.

Aromatic red cedar is soft and easy on our tools.

I’s lightweight and easy to carry.

And the iconic red color and unmistakable ‘perfume’ never fail to deliver the ‘wow’ factor on every red cedar garden project we build.

 

But...every so often, a customer asks if can repurpose natural stone from an old patio or pathway to build raised garden beds. 

And even though building with stone or other repurposed or recycled materials isn’t our specialty, we still delight in these occasional chances to ‘mix it up’ and work with natural stone.

 

Natural stone is a lot heavier and more tedious to build with than red cedar.

But natural stone is the undisputed champion of durability.

 

And natural stone can hold its own in a beauty contest with red cedar, too.

 

When natural stone pieces are patiently cut and fitted together, the result is usually a raised garden bed that’s every bit as delightful as the same project made with red cedar. 

 

And what makes these ‘recycled stone’ projects especially fun for our team is that the stone material is already on site - usually not far from where the new raised beds will be built. We don’t need to have the building material delivered to the work site, or bring it over ourselves.

Sometimes we cement the natural stone pieces together with type-s mortar, and sometimes the project is simply a ‘dry stack’.

 

But whatever the case, the objectives of repurposed stone raised beds are the same as with any of our red cedar garden bed installations ; 

6+ hours of sunlight.

Convenient to the kitchen and a water supply.

Filled with a premium organic soil blend.

Set up for success.

 

Twelve Raised Beds. And Growing.

We’ve met plenty of people with large organic gardens. 

Lots of growers have two or three cedar garden beds out in the backyard. 

Four raised garden beds isn’t uncommon.

You might be surprised how many of your neighbors have eight, or even ten cedar planters in their backyard kitchen garden.

But Mike and Melissa McGuire’s request for twelve of our19”-tall Kitchen Garden raised beds, raised eyebrows. 

At least, here at Microfarm.

Now, twelve raised beds might seem excessive - especially for just two people - until you get to know the McGuire’s a little.

See, Mike and Melissa love to cook with fresh, organically-grown ingredients. 

Every day.

And for them, healthy cooking isn’t an occasional whim, it’s a dedicated part of an everyday, healthy lifestyle.

And if anything ever had a hope of rivaling their passion for cooking, it’s their love of organic gardening. 

And this is no fleeting crush, either.

We’re talking about a lifelong, soul-mate level connection here. 

And so, even though it’s just the two of them preparing meals at home, they included twelve cedar garden beds in their new landscape design to help ensure a continuous supply of organic produce.

 

To make Mike and Melissa’s edible garden visually appealing, the couple’s landscape designer - Alverde Landscape Design - varied the cedar garden beds in size from 2’x5’ to 4’x8’ , and arranged the raised beds in a visually appealing layout that also included edible fruit trees, and a series of delightful pea stone pathways for easy access.

Mike and Melissa especially wanted their organic to have the feel of a ‘tranquil alcove’, that conveys a sense of ‘delightful discovery’ when entering the garden. Alverde delivered this request beautifully, with thoughtful placement of the cedar garden beds and pathways, and by subtly screening the perimeter of the organic garden area by specifying garden beds that included 4’-tall, built-in trellises. 

 

An automated drip irrigation system was a foregone conclusion for an organic garden this large. So, we fitted each cedar garden bed with a drip irrigation grid, with a stub out. This made it easy for the Alverde team to connect the drip irrigation in the raised beds to the landscape’s primary irrigation system -  allowing the garden beds to be watered on a dedicated zone at the control panel.

And, as with all of our Kitchen garden raised bed installations, we filled each of the cedar planters with a premium organic soil and amendment blend.

Another edible garden mission accomplished.

But just how useful have all those raised garden beds actually been to Mike and Melissa since we installed them?

We had the perfect opportunity to find out in person, when Mike had us back over about six months later to install yet another cedar planter  -  this one with a built-in trellis to screen a generator and some swimming pool equipment.  

When we arrived with the new planter/trellis, we were delighted to see the signs of activity in the garden that we hoped to find;

Every one of the raised beds filled with thriving edible plants. 

Pruners, garden twine, and hand tools lying close at hand. 

Whimsical garden art, plant stakes, bird feeders, and other fun enhancements that the couple had added since we completed the project. 

Evidence of an active organic garden was everywhere and unmistakable.

But, when Mike came out for a quick photo with his new trellis planter, he erased any doubt about how much the couple might use use their new organic garden.

“We harvest from it and cook meals with the produce just about every day.” he smiled, before turning to walk back to his personal trainer and their morning workout. “We love it.”

Happy Gardeners. Disappointed Wildlife.

When it comes to hungry wildlife and organic gardens in the Charlotte area, we’ve found that no two backyards are exactly the same. 

One grower can’t give away her surplus of vine-ripened tomatoes, while the next-door neighbor’s dreams of harvesting even just one ripe tomato are dashed every summer by squirrels or birds - often just days before harvest, making the loss sting even more.

Our first suggestion for keeping wildlife out of an organic garden is a simple wildlife barrier made with flexible fiberglass rods, covered with plastic netting that’s pinned to the soil with sod staples. This low cost option is especially useful when seedlings are first planted ; giving them a chance to get rooted and put on new growth before becoming a meal for rabbits or deer. 

The seedlings can be watered through the netting and the barrier can simply be removed once the plants reach the top of the enclosure.

 

But the height of this wildlife barrier design is limited to only about 16” above the soil surface, making it fine for seed starting, and growing some leafy green varieties, but too small for edible plant varieties that grow taller.

Another inexpensive, remarkably effective - and rather amusing -  way to keep wildlife away from your raised garden beds is to place realistic-looking toy snakes all around your organic garden.

We’ve heard many instances of this low cost wildlife deterrent ending overnight, what had been relentless garden incursions from squirrels, rabbits, birds, and chipmunks. If you try the rubber snake method, remember that you really can’t have too many toy snakes out there in the garden. And the more realistic-looking, the better. Have fun with it.

But rubber snakes, and tent poles with plastic netting aren’t for everyone.

Many of our customers live in upscale neighborhoods in the Charlotte area - places where the bar for architecture and landscape design has already been set very high. This makes it essential that whatever we bring to the table - cedar garden beds, a cedar-framed greenhouse, chicken coop, cedar compost bin, etc. - enhances and harmonizes with what’s already in place on the property.

And for this reason, we offer attractive and sturdy wildlife enclosures and fences for everything from one raised bed with a 3’-tall rabbit barrier, to 8’-tall deer fences - framed with red cedar and clad with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth - that enclose large organic gardens with an array of cedar garden beds.

Organic gardener Kristin Hinson lives in just such a place ; Charlotte’s iconic Eastover neighborhood, known for its elegant homes with beautiful landscapes. 

Just a few years before, we had installed three 4’x6’ Kitchen Garden raised beds with drip irrigation, and a cedar compost bin in Kristin’s backyard.

With her edible garden site already carefully selected to maximize sunlight, and the automated water supply to her cedar raised beds, Kristin’s organic garden soon thrived - and in both cool and warm seasons, too. Summer plantings quickly showed healthy new growth and flowering - those promising signs of rewarding harvests ahead that every organic grower looks for. 

In the early spring and fall growing seasons, well-timed plantings of leafy varieties like collards, kale, spinach, and chard started out just as promising as Kristin’s summer garden.

But Kristin and her family weren’t the only ones who noticed how well their organic garden was thriving. Rabbits, squirrels, birds, and deer had also taken an interest in those vigorous, edible plants growing in the family’s cedar garden beds. 

And predictably, all that hungry wildlife soon took far more than their fair share of the garden’s produce. 

Nearly-ripened tomatoes were pecked at and chewed off of their vines, just days before harvest. 

Broccoli and kale plants were razed to the ground overnight.  

Discouraging. Frustrating. Heartbreaking. 

After a few growing seasons with this disappointingly familiar  pattern, the Hinson family felt all of the above, and was finally ready to take action.

One day, Kris sent us a photo she had found online, that showed a cedar-framed wildlife barrier placed on top of a garden bed. 

The concept was already familiar to us, as we had built versions of this design many times before.

But the wildlife barrier design Kris show us featured a gable frame with a much steeper pitch than our typical forty-five degree gable structures. And the steeper pitch Kristin’s example photo substantially increased the height of the frame, allowing for taller plant growth inside the enclosure

“Could we build something with a steep pitch like that? With a hinged lid on both sides for easy access to the garden?”, asked Kristin.

“Certainly”, we replied. 

We’ll even make them a littler more robust than the example in Kristin’s photo - framing her new wildlife barriers with burlier pieces of rough-sawn red cedar and cladding the frames with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth steel mesh.  

We sized Kristin’s gable-framed wildlife barriers to fit neatly on top of her three existing 4’x6’ Kitchen Garden raised beds, and anchored them down to the cedar garden beds with structural steel screws.

To make it easy for Kristin and her family to reach the entire garden area in each raised bed, we limited the height of the 6’ sides of the wildlife enclosures to about a foot. 

With the enclosures anchored down and hinged lids installed on both sides of each enclosure, it was time pack up our gear and to hand the keys of the newly secured garden over to Kristin. 

How are things going over in Kristin’s organic garden, now?

Disappointing. Frustrating. Discouraging.

For all the relentless wildlife that used to raid Kristin’s organic garden.

And for Kristin and her family? 

You could say that it’s a whole new chapter in their organic gardening adventure. A much more rewarding chapter. And with a few successful seasons of growing - and harvesting - edible varieties under her cedar-framed wildlife barriers, it looks like this will be an organic garden story that’ll ‘live happily ever after’.

We Want a Rematch!

We’d like to think that every greenhouse we build here in the Charlotte area can handle all whatever Nature decides to heap on it -  from tropical storm winds to piles of snow and ice. 

And they usually do.

But our undefeated record came to an end, when one of our cedar-framed greenhouses finally lost a fight with Nature ; KO’ed by a towering, ancient long-leaf pine tree that fell right on top of  the greenhouse during a high-wind storm. 

And it wasn’t a light jab, either ; Lisa’s cedar-framed greenhouse sat right in the path of this colossal tree - it’s massive trunk landing on the greenhouse’s gable roof like a clean right hook to the chin. 

Fortunately, the giant pine tree fell away from the couple’s home, and no one was injured.

The portion of the greenhouse’s red cedar 2”x4” rafters, 2”x6” ridge beam, and 8mm twin-wall polycarbonate roof panels that lay in the path of he tree were predictably crushed.

But, when we first saw the wreckage, we had to give this rugged little greenhouse design some credit, as its 5’-tall sidewalls - made with rough sawn red cedar 2”x4” -  remained fully intact. Almost if to say, “we’re not going down without a fight!” 

And we were equally impressed to find that greenhouse’s base, made with two courses of 

4”x4” red cedar timbers was unaffected by the impact of the huge tree, and could be reused. In fact, we saved Lisa a little money by building her new cedar-framed greenhouse right on top of the existing base of 4”x4” cedar timbers.

Of course, unforeseen events like this are the reason that there’s such a thing as homeowners insurance, and Lisa’s insurance company quickly approved our quote to replace the damaged greenhouse.

This 8’x10’ gable greenhouse design is framed with rough sawn red cedar, using 2”x4”, using 2”x4” for the gable and side walls, and 2”x4” red cedar rafters joined to a 2”x6” red cedar ridge beam for the gable roof. The greenhouse’s wall studs and rafters are spaced 24” on the center - giving tremendous strength to the structure, while minimizing shadows cast by the roof frame, and increasing the amount of sunlight into the greenhouse.

Just like with the first greenhouse, we glazed the new one with 8mm twin-wall, clear polycarbonate.Twin-wall polycarbonate glazing has outstanding insulation value, and this material is virtually shatterproof. Choosing this high-performance polycarbonate greenhouse glazing instead of single pane glass not only delivers better insulation value, it eliminates the risk of injury from shards of broken glass.

Twin-wall polycarbonate is far less likely to  even be damaged at all, when compared to single pane glass. And polycarbonate greenhouse glazing is easier and safer to clean up, remove, and replace if it ever is damaged - say, by a falling tree limb. Or even a whole tree. 

In the case of Lisa Smith’s crushed greenhouse, for example, while the twin-wall polycarbonate was damaged so much that it couldn’t be reused, there were no dangerous shards or splinters of the material to clean up after the tree crushed the greenhouse. In fact, twin-wall polycarbonate greenhouse glazing is designed to crumple, bend, and in extreme cases, tear from extremely heavy blows ( like Lisa’s ogre-sized pine tree ) - as opposed to shattering into small pieces and shards, like glass glazing can.

As with her previous 8’x10’ gable greenhouse, we fitted Lisa’s new 8’x10’ cedar-framed greenhouse with two automated roof vent windows, and a single 36”-wide hinged entry door centered on the front gable wall.

To help waterproof this gable greenhouse design, we first tape all of the seams between polycarbonate panels, then cover the taped seams with red cedar trim, and seal the edges of the trim with a premium, exterior-grade silicone.

Replacement greenhouse completed. Mission accomplished.

But will Lisa’s replacement greenhouse hold up to whatever Mother Nature might

throw at it next? 

We’d like to think so, and you can be sure that we glanced around more than once to see if there were any  precarious-looking large trees looming over the new structure.

None of the other trees in the couple’s backyard stood out to us as suspicious, but Nature  always has the final say, doesn’t she.

But if the past performance of our cedar-framed gable greenhouse design is any indication, Lisa can feel good that - barring another fallen pine tree, a bullseye shot from a meteorite, or a careless flying saucer - her 8’x10’ cedar-framed greenhouse will stand up strong against all the wind, snow, and ice that Mother Nature will pile on it.