Under Construction

Lots of stuff going on around the farm. The first load of lumber arrived Monday afternoon from Lowes. Lowes had the best bid out of the three building supply places that I put the bid out to. I ended up acting as the general contractor on this project, which I’ve done on two previous houses. For anyone with good organizational skills and basic lumber knowledge, it really is the best way to go to get the cheapest price on a project. Since the greenhouse and barn share a wall and there is some complexity to the greenhouse blueprints, contractors were hesitant to give me a bid on the project or it was so high that it put it out of reach for us. By us assuming the cost for materials, it takes that fear of the unknown out of it for them. All they do is give us a price to build it. The builder will usually be willing to work up a material list for you to work from. If you do a project like this, even the most well thought out material list will miss something. Always factor in 10-15% as a contingency for missed items.

Lowes has several different credit card programs that they promote but the one that was the best for us was their commercial business account. Instead of the delivery fees being $55 each time, with this program they are only $20. And you accumulate points, from American Express and from Lowes for every dollar that you spend with them, which can be used to purchase gift cards and other neat things.  If your material list is going to be more than $2500 in cost, make sure you run it through their QSP program, which is their in-store bid program. You’ll get a discount off of everything you order. On our first load (for the barn) we ended up getting a discount of 10.9% off the total cost. On the greenhouse materials, it ended up being over 13% (and this was a smaller order). You just never know how it will come out. If you don’t have a minimum order of $2500, you’ll still get 5%, just by using the Lowes credit card and you get the points. You won’t get 5% and the QSP discount…one or the other.

We got 37 free pallets off of Craig’s List recently and have been turning them into useful items around the farm. I built a compost bin with some of them and we took 13 of them and turned them into picket fence sections.  Last weekend we had some of the grand-kids come up for a painting party so they could each put their own artistic touch on one section of fence. We’ve got enough sections so that each of our kids and grand-kids will get to do a section of fence. I’ve got the area all leveled up and ready for them, once everyone gets theirs painted. Here are some of the masterpieces so far. As Linda and I work around the farm, we’ll get to see these up and it will bring a smile to our faces. It makes each of the kids and grand-kids part of the farm. I’ll post pictures of the other 7 once they get done.

 

I am finalizing work on the store for our web site. Sweely Lane Sweets are delicious honey and maple syrup products that are produced all naturally, without any additives or preservatives. Produced the way that mother nature intended it…..the web site will be up very soon. I’m just finishing up a few things on the site and it will show up as a “store” tab on the top of our web site. Will be up just in time for holiday goft giving. Give the gift of nutrition…..buy some maple syrup or honey for your family and friends.

On Monday work will begin on the pole barn. Hoping For great weather so we can get things under cover and have the work progress quickly. Will post more as things start to take shape.

 

LiveJournal Tags: Lowe's,American Express,construction,Craig's List,fence,pole barn,commercial,business,maple syrup,honey,website,New View Farm

 

Busy Month

It’s amazing what can happen in just a month’s time. Last month, things were moving really slowly and we were trying to get all of our utilities hooked up so we could park our RV on-site to be close to mom to help her with daily chores. All of that got done and we spent our first night on the farm on Sunday September 21. It did take a little longer to get the electric hooked up and not without issue.
We spent the week of Sept. 29th in Tennessee, at aquaponics training. We had about 17 other folks there from all over the country and a young man from Moldova, in eastern Europe. His name was Simion and he flew to the US (after many hours on buses, etc to get to an airport). Moldova is an independent state, landlocked between Romania and Ukraine. Simion is too young to rent a car in the US so we gave him a ride to and from class each day. It was a great way to learn more about him and his country. He is studying IT back home but wants to start growing food aquaponically when he returns home.
Talk about busy brains during the week of training ? We had such an inspiring group of classmates, all with neat projects in mind for growing food aquaponically for their respective communities. Aquaponic food systems are so efficient and would help wherever there is a need for conserving water, growing nutritious food without the use of harmful chemicals and growing lots of food in a small footprint. For anyone who currently buys organic food, at the grocery store, you’ve heard the rumors that many so called “organic” farms actually do use pesticides and herbicides on their farms. Since it’s hard for certifying agencies to police day to day practices, sadly there are some farms who don’t follow true organic measures and the consumer pays the price. With aquaponics, our fish are the “canary in the coal mine”. If harmful chemicals are used, the fish die. It’s as simple as that ! Since we grow food in a closed loop system, where the fish provide all the essential nutrients that the vegetables need, anything that would be sprayed on the plants gets back to the fish. They need clean water to live in and harmful pesticides will kill them. Clean water = healthy, nutritious food.
We learned about different construction methods for greenhouses, depending on the climate where the vegetables will be grown. Since our climate here can get brutally cold we’re still working on what style will work best for us. We want to be able to grow year round in order to provide fresh, local vegetables when everything is getting shipped in from thousands of miles away. We’ll keep you posted on construction as it gets underway.
Construction will begin on the storage barn/packing center in two weeks and we’re super excited. Lots of planning going on at this point. Our web site is up and much more will be added to it in the very near future. www.newviewfarm.com  We’ll be getting  items in the “store” for on-line purchasing. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Lots of ways to stay connected to what we’re doing. Happy to have you along for ride….