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Moved!

2/28/2011

 
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The driveway at our old place was so icy we couldn't get enough traction to turn the van around with the trailer on. Fortunately our borrowed pickup with 4WD was able to help out. The drive up to Easton was miserable.
We moved!  The water's technically undrinkable, only half the heat works, and we have no appliances, but we moved!  And we feel great!  This is our fourth move in three years as we've moved from farm to farm, learning and looking for land.  We don't plan to EVER do this again.

With luck on our side, we got a nice wintry mix of freezing rain and snow to carry furniture down our exterior staircase.  Up in Easton, we had a solid foot of new snow to shovel to get our rented trailer into the driveway.  But we moved!
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Cara and Tucker (the dog--that black lump on the ground) having dug out our driveway enough to back in the van and trailer. We're looking forward to the time when returning home doesn't require shoveling feet of snow.

$15,000 worth of harvest boxes!

2/27/2011

 
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Harvest cases at Crandall's Corners Farm, waiting for neighbors to come pick them up.
In the midst of all doing home inspections, water testing, moving, snow-shoveling, house-buying, and working full time, we're also trying to start the farm.  It's hard to manage your priorities when everything has to be done ALREADY.  You set the alarm for 6am, have coffee, and put your nose to the grindstone.  Some time in mid-afternoon we surface for lunch, then back to work.  We usually break for dinner--quick and dirty since we have no appliances--then back to work til 9 or 10.  The only change to the routine is work:  Cara's working 5 shifts a week waitressing in Saratoga, and Luke is trying to offset our mounting expenses by freelancing some electric work.

One of the things we did manage to do, though, was to coordinate a massive order of harvest crates.  These are the cases we harvest produce into, wash in, and take product to market.  If we'd bought only enough for ourselves, they'd be about $19 each with freight.  By organizing a number of farming neighbors, though, we ordered 1200 of them at about $12 each.  It meant signing a purchase order for a $15,000 shipment, which was a bit scary, but it saved us almost 50% on a very necessary farm purchase.  Our friends at Crandall's Corners Farm took receipt of the shipment, since we don't have the means to unload pallets. 

That's one thing off the list!
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(Most of) our portion of the 1,200 cases, back at the farm.

Tried to turn the water on, but...

2/6/2011

 
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Should have gotten the tractor before the house. Shoveling out 3 months of Washington County snow is not my kind of fun.
Bob Wright was kind enough to meet us at the house this morning to explain some of the creative plumbing in the basement.  The house has been shut down since a hired plumber "winterized" it back in November, and we need to turn on the water and fire up the boiler for inspections and water tests etc.  Old houses are always a little quirky, but we were still bummed out to find the basement floor covered in shattered PVC from a blown water pipe, and numerous copper heat pipes burst...  After Bob left, Luke shoveled out 3 months of Washington County snow while Cara made to-scale drawings of all the rooms.

In other news, we solved the mystery problem with our van:  Turned out to be a burnt up injector harness, which resides INSIDE the valve cover.  Getting the valve cover off in a van is kind of like taking your socks off without removing your boots:  You can't be 100% sure it's impossible, but it sure seems like it.
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Hard to see in the blogosphere, but this is $250 worth of burnt up injector harness. The valve cover is part of the wiring harness. Ingenious but break-y.

Contract signed, keys acquired!

2/5/2011

 
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We finally signed the contract for the farm!

Snowy. Cold and snowy. And blue.

2/1/2011

 
We stopped by the farm today on our way to visit some friends. Looks a little cold... and really blue.
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    Author

    Quincy Farm is a family-scale vegetable farm run by Luke Deikis and Cara Fraver in Easton, NY.  We use organic methods to grow the most delicious veggies ever for the well-being of our family, our community, and the flora and fauna that make it all possible.

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