Intern Files: End of week three

By Joe Pintaudi

Time moves fast up here.

The last few days have been spent weeding the raised beds and transplatting more flowers from the greenhouse. Another intern arrived on Wednesday, giving us another set of hands to get things done. The crops we recently transplanted into the garden look good. All that rain has done them well.

Also, it's warmed up in the last few days. The air seems to be getting thicker.  Still, at least it’s not 112 out.

Originally posted at Joe's Blog.

Intern Files: Week three challenges

By

Joe Pintaudi

The end of last week and beginning of this week have been busy.

We've been transplanting more from the greenhouse stock. I direct-planted a variety of beans yesterday; and today I finished up some spinach and okra just in time to get inside, away from the rain.

I welcome the rain, and attempted to work in it as long as I could. The small drizzle was no problem; but eventually the sky opened up and rain fell with greater force. The rain still falls as I sit in my window seat a day later writing this post, droplets managing to shift every few moments to follow the winds.

The sky is gray, but it is nice to have rain come right when you need it.

This brings us to the challenges of the farm. When I think about it, there seem to be many different challenges here. Some are day-to-day, and some are larger in scale and in time. There is an overall challenge to this entire operation because we are building and improving an existing structure and landscape with the idea to create a place focused on self-sustained living while having the least negative environmental impact.

After discussing this topic with

Better Farm staff members

, the basic long-term problem is funding for the business of sustainable living on a piece of property that dates back to the late 19

th

century. While the house and land are paid off in full, there are many improvements that must eventually be made.  One example is the fuel for the house.

Prior to the “green” era of this communal farm, renovations were made without a thought to sustainability. Convenient options—not green ones—were put in place. The

furnace

is fueled by oil, and the

kitchens

are dependent on propane.  While replacing these options are not financially an option now, they are on the list to be made sustainable when the time or the money comes.

In the meantime, there have been small but significant changes made to the house. The water heater is now

insulated

, as is the entire eastern wall of the home and attic. This, along with

smart energy-consumption techniques

has

greatly reduced the energy demand of this 5,000-square-foot house

.

Another example of this is where the farm gets its electricity.  Once money is available, they will consider options that will bring the farm further away from the grid by installing

wind

or

solar

power.

Better Farm seeks to be an independent entity that can survive without becoming a nonprofit organization. The goal is to succeed without financial assistance such as grants and become a completely self-sustained and self-sufficient place. This is possible, and the potential for this goal to be reached is realistic, but due mainly to limited funding options it will have to be done over the course of years rather than months.

Originally published at

Joe's Blog

.

Better Farm Presents: DIRT!

Better Farm last night screened

Dirt! The Movie

as the first in an upcoming series of movie nights. Hosted by

Jamie Lee Curtis

and featuring

soil experts the world over

,

Dirt!

tells the story of the human-dirt relationship. Through the film's explanations of how dirt sustains all living things (food, shelter, water containment and filtration, climate regulation, plant growth, etc.), we also come to understand the link between human and environmental degradation and mistreatment of dirt.

Mass starvation, drought, floods, global warming, wars, and disease are all byproducts of misused or underserved soil, the

movie

contends. And if practices such as

monoculture

planting and

rainforest razing

continue, dirt may just find another use for us humans.

One thing's for sure: The gang here is going to be out in our garden today planting a bunch of organic produce while worshiping that organic matter making all life possible. Long live dirt!

Special thanks to

Corinne Rochelle

for organizing this week's

Dirt!

screening.

Intern Files: This week so far

By Joe Pintaudi

It has been gray and cold, two things  I can appreciate since escaping the excessive heat at home. When the rain stops it is nice to be outside. Yesterday I transplanted some tomatoes and peppers into raised beds made from old tires I found out in the open-air shed. I was lucky enough to get them planted just before the rain started in the afternoon.

Monday also consisted of more transplanting from the greenhouse to the garden; and conducting a nutrient test on the soil where we will be planting the majority of our produce.

On Tuesday I walked a steep three miles into town to help a local woman clean out a house she had just bought. The sun was shining, but walking to left side of the road created a nice shade cover and the breeze kept the bugs mostly away.

Tonight is movie night.  We are having anyone who wants to come and watch a documentary called Dirt! The Movie.

Blog post originally published at Joe's Blog.

Upstairs Bedroom Ditches the Blues

Once upon a time, there was a young boy who got to design his very own bedroom.

Only problem was, that little boy moved out and left Better Farm his bright blue walls. It was time for a little updating; though the room itself is in very good structural shape. That is, except for the closet:

The first thing we did was put up a wall between the closet and the room next door. Then we reinsulated, and installed a shelf and clothes rack. Many thanks to Fred Ciliberti for getting that sorted!

Next up was the room color. We went with basic white to give the room a clean jump-start. Then we brought in Clayton "Ikea" Carlson, who had a killer furniture collection that is all clean lines and airy patterns. The result? Well, you might not recognize the space...

 

Amazing what a fresh coat of eco-friendly paint can do.

Front Entranceway: From clunky to clutter-free

It's a no-brainer that your entranceway should set the tone for the rest of your house. But by its very nature, the entrance to your home is often the receptacle for things like shoes, jackets, keys, junk mail, and anything else you—or your roommates—are too lazy to put away at any given moment.

Better Farm's front hall was mismatched. Without a cohesive color palette or storage setup, it was an easy target for forgotten items.

So, we made a few simple improvements that made a big difference:

• Giving the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of white, eco-friendly paint
• Removing gross, musty, old carpeting from the staircase
• Painting all the wood trim and stairs the same color
• Creating shelving for items such as shoes
• Initiating a landing pad for mail, e-mail list sign-ups, and guest book
• Hanging a mail and notes organizer from the wall (found at an antique shop, it's significantly more lovely than a boring old bulletin board. Old clothespins affix notes and letters to the wire)
• Hanging reusable shopping bags next to the front door so people on their way into town can avoid paper and plastic

Results after the jump!

Lofty Idealism

Wasted space is the cardinal sin of intentional living. In an old farmhouse with upwards of 12 people sleeping over at a time, and with any number of projects in the works on any given day, what might be a "junk drawer" in a New York City apartment becomes a "junk room" or "indefinitely unclaimed section of an entire house."

We've worked in the last year to remedy a lot of the clutter at Better Farm—first with trips to the transfer station, then with a dumpster rental, and finally with a reclamation of unused, wasted space. It's a renaissance of sorts; complete with the sweet addition of cozy sleeping lofts and nooks in places that would otherwise go totally unused and ignored. All it took was a little ingenuity, some high ceilings, and an innate desire to live in something resembling a big treehouse.

Better Farm's office and side entrance were natural choices to add sleeping accommodations, as each room boasts extremely high ceilings. Through some additional research, we discovered a crawl space next to the loft on the third floor that had, in the 1970s, been an actual bedroom (thank you Fred for putting so much work into that room so many years ago!). The entrance to said space was long-since covered up; so we decided to re-reveal the sleeping quarters by punching a hole in the upstairs hallway ceiling, and installing a ladder. Before and after photos following the jump!

Before & After:

The loft series

 

All carpentry work by Craig Rice

Side entranceway
(yellow paint selection courtesy of Mike Brown; paint job courtesy of Brian Hines)

 











The Office

Upstairs Crawlspace

Veggin' Out

What do you do with roughly 50 feet of narrow lawn along the southern side of a wraparound deck? You build raised beds out of reclaimed barn wood, fill them with veggies, herbs, and flowers, and enjoy an attractive salad from the convenience of your back door!




And there was even time left for some herb and veggie beds made out of old drawers found around the house.



There's still a lot left in the greenhouse to plant....


So it's a good thing we have this huge garden area to work on next!

Starry Night

Colleen Blackard, Better Farm's latest resident artist, hails from Brooklyn by way of Austin, Texas. Now 23, Colleen studied studio art at Hampshire College and finished her time there with a show titled For the Universe. She works primarily in black ballpoint pen on paper, with a method she describes as "infinite circles."

Colleen heard about Better Farm's betterArts residency program from her alma mater, and from friends who thought the opportunity would suit her personality and creative spirit. Sure, she'd just moved to New York City; but Colleen figured a month in the country would be a good precursor to her new, urban life—and a chance to inspire a new body of work.

Rhythms of Light

Before she got into galaxies, Colleen's drawings leaned more towards landscapes. She started with a focus on tornadoes, then clear skies after a storm. Slowly she let go of the concrete; finding it more comforting to get lost in the unknown abstraction of the universe. Having always had an interest in science, Colleen mostly focuses on the light in her compositions, and thinks she may veer into the realm of trees next. She'll find plenty of those here!

Having been at the Farm a little over a week, Collen says she finds the quiet extremely inspiring and every day here gets more interesting. Having expected a more structured and scheduled environment, she feels the looseness and freedom available here helps with her creativity... And the stargazing doesn't hurt either!

See more of Colleen Blackard's work at www.colleenblackard.carbonmade.com, and follow her blog at http://colleenblackard.blogspot.com.

Our New Intern Goes a-Blogging

Joe Pintaudi, an Arizona native who ditched the world of corporate retail to pursue a sustainability degree at ASU, last week joined the ranks at Better Farm as a summer intern. He fills his days caring for Henrietta; researching, planning, planting, and tending our organic herb and vegetable gardens; executing soil tests and raised-bed construction; and designing rainwater catchment systems and chicken coops.

Boy, are we happy he's here.

You can follow Joe's projects and progress on his very own blog, which we'll be linking to regularly. Please help us to cheer him on!

Chris Makes the News!

Marshalltown native hopes to inspire others

By TAMMY R. LAWSON, TIMES-REPUBLICAN
(article originally published May 23, 2010, in the Times-Republican)

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Sitting outside the Better Farm Education center are, from left, Chris Menne, Clayton Carlson, Nicole Caldwell, Brian Hines, Illana Leizin, and Corinne Weiner.

Growing up in Marshalltown was all well and good.

But Chris Menne was searching.

"I wanted to find something new that would make me happy, and get more in touch with myself," he said. "I felt like something else was out there for me."

So, the 25-year-old packed his belongings and headed toward the 'Big Apple,' eventually finding a place called Better Farm.

Set on 65 acres in Redwood, New York, its principles are founded on the "Better Theory" - a belief that every experience brings with it an opportunity for exponential personal growth.

The education center was started in 1970 as a hippie commune, according to Executive Director Nicole Caldwell, but last year it was transformed into a retreat designed for attracting the curious and creative.
Through artist residencies, internships and year-round workshops, individuals participate and teach a variant of subjects including yoga, green living, organic gardening or rustic furniture building.

And as far as Caldwell is concerned, Menne has turned his life around.

"Chris has become integral to the goings on at Better Farm," she said, "from its mission of community outreach to day-to-day operations on the property."

In addition to organizing events such as an Earth Day cleanup, Menne has thus far played a huge role in on-site green projects - rewiring lights, performing minor renovations and assisting in the construction of a greenhouse made from recycled materials.

Plus, he has lost 20 pounds.

"I'm not eating fast food like I used to," he said. "That alone has been a good thing."
Menne hopes to become a full-time employee of the facility, teaching children how to be green while encouraging adults to rely on themselves and become healthy.

"I've learned a lot in the past year," he said. "I plan to take that knowledge and help other people."

----
Contact Tammy R. Lawson at 641-753-6611 or tlawson@timesrepublican.com

Subscribe to Times Republican

Local Calendar: Wednesday night bluegrass jam in La Fargeville

Time to polish off that dusty banjo...

The American Legion  in La Fargeville, N.Y., hosts a 7 p.m. open mic bluegrass jam every Wednesday. Admission's free, refreshments are cheap, and the company is second-to-none. There's a bluegrass festival coming up June 4 to 6, so there's no time like the present to brush up on a few songs. Here are  photos from last night's event:

American Legion: 1788 W Main St, La Fargeville, NY, 13656. (315) 658-4492

Next time someone tells you communal living's unrealistic; or that you can't possibly figure out a way to live that's in tune with your deeper self; or veganism's futile; or community outreach doesn't do squat.

When those around you would say your dreams are silly; your ideas are too "out there"; that you've got to be practical and—dare we say it—rational; or, worst of all, if someone ever tells you something's impossible:

We dare you to prove them wrong.

xo,

Better Farm