Artists Sought for Arts & Crafts Sale

Families Together in the North Country has scheduled a Cabin Fever Rummage and Craft Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 19 at the Liberty Building in Watertown.

The event will feature jewelry, hand-crafted items, and artwork by area residents. Artists are encouraged to participate. A 10' x 10' space costs $25 with a table or $20 without.

The Liberty Building is located at 210 Court St., Watertown, N.Y. To reserve a spot or for more information, please contact Family Support Services at Northern Regional Center for Independent Living at (315) 785-8703.

Quilting Class Planned in Rensselaer Falls

Fiber Options has scheduled a three-week quilting course on the Waste Knot design starting 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, in Rensselaer Falls.

Cost for the class, slated for two hours over three consecutive Tuesdays, is $35 plus materials. To register, call (315) 344-7600. Payment is due at time of registration. In the event of low enrollment, full refunds will be given.

Fiber Options is located at 221 Rensselaer St. in Rensselaer Falls, N.Y.

Planning: Art Barn renovation begins

It all begins with a single sketch.

We've been kicking around lots of big ideas for the multi-level barn across the street. The space functioned in previous incarnations as a home for pigs, hay storage, and a catch-all for earthly possessions from tricycles to church altars. In the ensuing years discussions for future plans included recording studio, yoga center, workshop, radio station, and sleeping space.

We've settled on the following ideas for the Art Barn, which will largely be utilized by our new nonprofit venture betterArts:

• Downstairs: studio and gallery space, wood stove heat, convert carport into space for welding, woodworking and the like
• Second Floor: Yoga and dance studio, can also double as a practice space for musicians

The above-mentioned components will also include an exterior staircase to the second floor with deck; wiring that will be hooked into solar or wind (we need to bring in some experts for a good, old-fashioned consult for that); and rain collection bins to supply big sinks with water for cleanup. We've also discovered some amazing, ecologically responsible spray foam solutions for insulation.

Last spring we hauled in a dumpster and emptied most of the barn, leaving us room to begin our Doors Project in the summer. Then the hay was cleared from the second floor, and we took our measurements for sliding doors, windows, a wood stove, outside staircase, balcony, the works.

I sat down a couple of months ago and threw together some rough illustrations, for example this proposed idea for the barn's second floor:

Then I was told our town doesn't allow spiral stairs; and that for art space, indirect light is best (duh). So back to the drawing board I went, moving windows to the east wall and making a mental note that the best access to the second floor without sacrificing space involved an exterior staircase stretching along that same east wall.

Of course, I'm no architect. And seeing as I didn't even use a ruler for the above sketch, we brought in the big guns to draft a real concept. Here's the proposed back wall on the second floor of the new Art Barn:

If you're like us and willing to move ideas around based on what supplies are available, when shopping for windows and doors be sure to check with your local hardware store about their overstock, or ordered items that went unused in previous projects. You can find great deals this way on really good products.

We break proverbial ground this week, framing in windows and doors and completing the batten work on the outside of the space. Once we're weatherproofed and framed in, the barn will get wired for solar or wind, then insulated. Check back in regularly for updates!

Snow-Day Activity: DIY calendar journal

Corinne, our community outreach coordinator, tipped us off to this great arts & crafts idea as outlined on Design Sponge

: DIY Calendar Journal

Growing up, I kept a daily journal. I always enjoyed looking back at previous entries to see what had changed over the course of a year. These days, I can’t seem to find the time to journal, but I do try to jot down a little note from each day on my perpetual calendar/journal. The idea is very simple — flip to the current date and at the end of the day, write down something that happened. Some days it is big things like “Annie took her first steps.” Other days it is small, like “needed more than one cup of coffee this morning.”

Read more at Design*Sponge

The Story of Stuff

(Learn more here.)

Mezzo-Soprano, Pianist to Perform in Watertown

A concert featuring arias and songs about love by Mozart, Bizet, Chopin, Strauss, Grieg, and more is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, at First Presbyterian Church in Watertown.

The program will debut Evgeniya Krachmarove-Sotirov, a world-class, mezzo-soprano opera singer, accompanied by Isaac James on the piano. Krachmarove-Sotirov has performed all over Europe, the Middle East, and United States; and was a soloist in the recently performed Handel's Messiah concert by the Northern Choral Society.

First Presbyterian Church is located at 403 Washington Ave. Proceeds benefit the North Country Arts Council and Watertown Musicales.

Advance Screenings Set for Breakthrough Documentary 'Forks Over Knives'

Advance screenings are slated for Forks Over Knives, a new feature film about food which presents compelling evidence that diseases such as heart disease and diabetes can be prevented (or reversed) through a whole food, plant-based diet. Screenings are scheduled Jan. 27 in Cleveland, Ohio; Feb. 8 in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Feb. 13 in Boston, Mass. Screenings will continue this spring in New York City, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Vancouver, Northern California, Florida, and more. For more information about screening times and dates, visit your local Whole Foods Market store's website or www.forksoverknives.com.

Red Cross Art Show: Call for entries

Watertown— American Red Cross of Northern New York seeks artists to present at the organization's Sixth Annual Art Show and Sale March 4 at Trinity Church in Watertown, N.Y.

A downloadable artist registration form is available on the Red Cross website. Any interested individuals are asked to deliver finished pieces to the Trinity Parish Center between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. or 4 and 7 p.m. March 1 on Sherman Street (parking and entrance in the rear of building). Artists whose pieces are purchased may donate 20, 50, 75, or 100 percent of proceeds to the American Red Cross. Dollars raised help support the Red Cross as it continues assisting families in need in all of Northern New York. Pick-up of unsold work is scheduled between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. or 4 and 7 p.m. March 7.

If you can not drop off your work but would still like to contribute, please contact us at info@betterfarm.org. All other questions may be directed to Cecilia Thompson at (315) 777-3385 or cthompson200@hotmail.com.

News Item: Better Farm syncs up with the FIC

Better Farm has recently been added to an international database of intentional communities.

The Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) hosts a Web site designed to "serve the growing communities' movement, providing resources for starting a community, finding a community home, living in community, and creating more community in your life."

The FIC's site boasts a directory of intentional communities, news items, and events. 

Better Farm's Winter 2010 Newsletter

Photo/Andrew Keys

Hello, friends of Better Farm!

It's been a couple of months since our last newsletter, but there's been no shortage of activity at Better Farm! Now that the New Year is upon us, we can take a moment to reflect on the success that 2010 has been, and focus on our plans for 2011. As always, thank you for all your continued support!

Recap of 2010's Fall and Winter Happenings:

• Plein Air Painters visit Better Farm

• A Chicken Coop Fit for 3 Queens

• The Better Grub Supper Club's Thanksgiving Feast

• A New Wood Stove Heats Things Up

• "Give Better" Clothing Drive A Huge Success

• New York Fine Arts Features betterArts' Residencies

• Future Plans at the Farm

Plein Air Painters Visit Better Farm

Plein-Air Painters of America

(PAPA) is a fellowship of professional artists who stay true to the historic tradition of "painting directly from life." The group, with members worldwide through the larger

International Plein-Air Painters Worldwide Artist Organization,

routinely sets up in various locations to paint what's around them.

We were lucky enough last week to have PAPA's

Thousand Islands chapter

visit us at

Better Farm

. Our Coordinator of Community Outreach,

Corinne

 Rochelle

, had contacted them a while back, and made arrangements for the group's visit. They breezed in Wednesday, October 13th on a most perfect autumn day, set up easels, and got to work. Artist-in-residence Brian Purwin spent the afternoon serenading the group on violin, which was the cream cheese frosting on an already lovely day.

Click here

for more photos.

---

A Chicken Coop Fit for 3 Queens

Back in the spring we built a

modest chicken tractor

for Henrietta, the new, fowl addition to Better Farm. It was a simple enough structure, and a million times better than the cat carrier we were stowing the chicken in after-hours. Chicken tractors are great because they're mobile, so you can put them directly over ground you want tilled, turned over, and fertilized (thank you, chickens, for your need to scratch, eat, peck, and poop). Their mobility also means they're easy to keep clean. And during the day you can open the main door if you like and let the birds run around free range to their heart's content. When we added two chickens to Henrietta's roost (there's nothing lonelier than a solitary laying hen), our little makeshift chicken tractor seemed suddenly cramped. Sissy, Scarlet, and Henrietta were bonding in the close quarters for sure, but it was only a matter of time before they'd need a bigger space to call home.

We scoured the Web for weeks searching for fancy chicken coop plans. Then our buddy Rick tipped us off to some designer  "

chicken mobile stagecoach tractors

", the Web site for which promised the contraptions were simple enough to put together by any skill level. The downloadable plans, which could be had for a whopping $34.99, turned out to be 44 pages of roundabout instructions even the big guns at North Country hardware stores had trouble decoding. If people who construct homes, additions, decks, and roofs for a living were having a hard time with a chicken coop, we knew we were in trouble. But we toiled away anyway; bringing in various brave souls over the course of the last few months to help us out.  Many thanks to Joel DiCaprio, Tyler Howe, Corinne Rochelle, Nicole Caldwell, Brian Hines, Cory Flack, and Brian Mockler for their help and support throughout the process.

Click here

to see more photos of the chicken tractor in progress.

---

The Better Grub Supper Club's Thanksgiving Feast

World harmony begins when Tofurkeys and turkeys can roast side by side. Thursday, November 18th marked the kickoff of Better Farm's Better Grub Supper Club. Locals and roomies converged at the big farm table for a little pre-Thanksgiving stuffing...of ourselves! We are hoping that this marks the first of many supper clubs to come. Stay tuned for our next delicious date. For more information on our supper club,

click here

.

 this   t this will be the first

---

A New Wood Stove Heats Things Up

As many of you know, an old farmhouse is not the warmest place to be during a North Country winter. And with propane prices being what they are, we knew we needed to look into an alternative form of heating. Our friend Milt Davis, owner of Davis Construction, had a stove on-hand that he graciously donated to the farm. That left us in need of a lot of wood, and a new stovepipe. So we brought in the dream team: Better Farm resident and ax-wielding extraordinaire Joel DiCaprio, and master carpenter Gary Stevenson to get the stove situated.

Joel set out into the marshes of the property and felled a dozen or so dead trees. He split the wood, brought it to the yard, while Nicole wheelbarrowed it onto the decks and stacked. And stacked. And stacked (thanks to Joel, David Garlock, Brian Purwin, and Cory Flack for helping to stack; and to Walt Dutcher and Jody Szepeski for doing so much work on the wood splitter in a snowstorm!). Meanwhile, Gary and his accomplice Steve stacked a beautiful stove pipe up along the side of the house, constructed a stone wall in the kitchen, a hearth for the stove, and hooked everything together safely. All that's left to do is install a big hot tub and sauna somewhere on the premises, and you won't hear another peep out of us about the winter weather. Happy fireside snuggling, everyone!

To read more about the history of heating at Better Farm,

click here

.

---

"Give Better" Clothing Drive a Huge Success!

Photo by NORM JOHNSTON / WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

Better Farm's first "Give Better" Clothing Drive was an immense success! Upon finding

an article in the Watertown Daily Times

about a weekly, free, church-operated clothing giveaway our Community Outreach Coordinator Corinne (who was also behind the organization of our

Earth Day cleanup

and

local basketball court painting

), jumped at the chance to help out for the holidays. The outpouring of generous donations from the community was so overwhelming, we had to deliver 6 full truck loads to the Bethany United Methodist Church in Watertown. In fact, even after the donation box was removed, clothes kept piling up! Extra thanks to Butch, also, for helping to transport the clothes.

For those who still want to donate, or those in need of some free clothing, please visit The Shephard's Cloak at the Bethanny United Methodist on Tuesdays from 2-4pm, at 114 West Lynde St in Watertown. For more information, or to set up a separate appointment, call 788-7791.

---

New York Fine Arts (NYFA.org) Features betterArts' Residencies

Great news for betterArts: Not only are we now officially a non-profit arm of Better Farm, but The New York Foundation for the Arts has listed betterArts' residency program on its site.

Click here for more information

. 

And, as always, Better Farm is accepting rolling applications for our betterArts artist residency program -

on our website

.

---

Future Plans at the Farm

• Renovation of the barn to make way for a "fully realized" art studio space. Stay tuned for possible wind power associated with this project as well.

•

Continuation of our interior renovations

•

Completion of the human-sized birdhouse, complete with nature-themed mural.

•

Expansion of our summer intern program

•

A Better Farm

radio station

?

---

Wanna Get Involved?

Just drop us a line at

info@betterfarm.org

. We can always use donations in the form of supplies, materials, connections, money...or even just some positive thoughts. Until next time,

be Better

!

Connect with us:

Website

Facebook

Blog

Merch

Share this email:

Contact Us:

Better Farm

31060 Cottage Hill Road

Redwood, NY 13679

315-482-2536

info@betterfarm.org

To sign up for future newsletters, please

click here

.

Ready those Resolutions

With the new year just around the corner, it's the perfect time to reassess your role as steward over the land you live on.

It's easy in the humdrum daily business of working, socializing, and being alive to forget that the ground we walk on and the air we breathe are what tie us to this world. Lose those things to pollution and misuse, and we're all in trouble. It's a very simple concept; but the vast majority of people still can't seem to bring themselves to feel responsible for such basic things.

To simplify that process,

Practically Green

has compiled a

list of extremely easy green ideas

to help reduce negative impacts on our dear ol' Mother Earth. From

switching to recycled toilet paper

to

installing a graywater system

, this comprehensive list will walk you through the process for each idea.

Green resolutions for 2011 mean sweeter soil and fresher air for all of us. Get your green ideas

here

.

News Item: Local Community Radio Act passes in Congress

There's never been a better time to

start that radio station

you've been fantasizing about.

The Senate on Dec. 18 approved the

Local Community Radio Act

, a bill that will expand radio stations for Low Power FM and which mandates the FCC to license virtually thousands of new stations.

So turn up that FM dial—a satellite station in the Art Barn is in the works!

Many thanks to Walter Dutcher for this news tip.

Green Idea: DIY magnetic planters

What to do with the little shoots and clippings from your houseplants?

While at an arts and vintage gallery store in Jersey recently, I came across these tiny cork planters that had been hollowed out, attached to a small magnet, and filled with tiny jade plant sprigs. Makes a lovely addition to any file cabinet or refrigerator—or you can make your own floating window box by adhering a magnetic strip to any window or wall. The sky's the limit!