walls

If you have visited Sunnyside Farm you probably entered through the mudroom/laundry room. An odd room with an outside wall inside and a window that had been closed off and the remains stuck up over the washer/dryer. If you visited in the colder months you had the opportunity to feel the wind blow through this room, even with the doors closed. And if you were here on a truly windy day you got to hear and feel the wind blow through this room!

Homer has cleaned up, insulated and dry walled this drafty space. Turns out there was nothing but tar paper between the inside and outside walls. Now there is lots of lofty insulation along with foam in all those little areas known to allow air in. No unwanted drafts anymore! The exterior/interior wall is covered, the rest of the ceiling and walls are now done, with tape and mud to go on this afternoon. And paint will go on next winter, other projects and the farm are calling! Even without paint a 100% improvement.

back on the farm!

The tests for asbestos turned up negative, so we are back on the farm. A tad nervous about our electric system, we have an electrician coming to the house to advise us how to rewire. Too many odd things happen between our circuit breakers and outlets..like things are still on when circuits are off! Time to clean that up..

seed starting

Yay! "Farming" starts again this week!

OK, it is in miniature, in the basement and under lights. Nevertheless it is soil and seeds and lights and warmth! This weekend I'll start kale, kohlrabi and cabbage under the lights. They will be inside germinating and growing until it warms up a bit, not too long. In less then 8 weeks these cold hardy plants will make their way outside. Also getting ready to go in the ground soon are lettuce and spinach seeds. Under a floating row cover (those fabric blankets you see over planting beds this time of year) these seeds can grow easily, and mean that soon we can eat from our garden again. Can't wait, starved for greens at this time of year!

fire!

While making dinner a couple week s ago I smelled an odd smell. On investigation, discovered a thin wisp of smoke from between the inside and outside wall of the mud room. I called Homer in, and in the short time it took for him to get in the house smoke was pouring out of the wall! Then flames! A couple of calls to 911..the first "maybe our house has a fire", the second "HELP THERE ARE REAL FLAMES NOW" and our local all volunteer fire department arrived and extinguished. But the smoke damage was extensive enough to require smoke remediation and lots of work crews in the house. Almost done now, but we both have a new found respect for how quickly a fire can grow and take out a house. The fire only affected a small corner of the mud room, but the smoke coated the entire interior of our house. And the firefighters told us the smoke is what usually kills people. Happy we made it out alive and with damage to our property fairly easily corrected. It could have been much worse.