Many Blessings on a Beautiful Day

November 16, 2009

tags: Buffalo ReUse, CAO, CUFF, ESW, hoop house, UBEN, work day

Saturday’s work day at the farm was a huge success. Many, many thankyou’s to all who came to work and contribute. On Friday, Mark and the people from CAO, Dave Bojanowski and Mike Harder, came and spent the morning making sure everything would run smoothly: measuring the perimeter, checking out the equipment and the angles, making sure all the materials were there, thinking through the whole process so that on Saturday people could be put to work without wasting anyone’s time. I spent time in the house with Keturah making bread and baked beans to serve as lunch for however many people would show up on Saturday.

When Saturday morning came, we were all up by 7:00 with individual assignments in place ( in house duties, photogragher, etc. ). At 8:30 people began to arrive. By 9:30 – 10:00 we had about 40 workers. When we took a break for lunch, about 1/2 the metal hoops were up and the east end of the structure was mostly closed in. In addition to that, all the metal rods were bent and ready to go, the perimeter and some of the interior was devoid of sod, leaves were raked, all the garden beds were cleaned out, the trellises were removed, and a sign was made. After lunch, the rest of the hoops went up, the west end was mostly closed in, and more sod was removed. There was also considerable visiting taking place and good ideas were discussed. We broke up around 3:30 – 4:00.

Sunday morning at 9:00 the good folks from CAO came back to finish the job. The bracing was finished, the framework around the bottom of the house was straightened, and more sod was removed from the inside. The plastic for the cover hasn’t come in from the company yet, so the hoophouse is finished as far as it can be taken at this point. There are still doors to be put on and the ventilation system needs be put in. These things are kind of unnecessary to put up at this point, when there is no roof or sides. Hopefully, next week the house will be closed in completely.

We owe a huge thank you to the CAO organization for allowing our site to be considered for the hoop house. We owe a huge thank you to the people involved with CUFF ( Curtis Urban Farm Foundation ) for the many contacts they have made for us and resources they have provided for us. Thank you also to Buffalo ReUse for resourses and contacts. Thanks to Duch’s Hardware and to Dave Majewski for the use of their trucks to transport wood chips/compost. Thanks also to Dave Majewski for donating the wood chips for the floor and special compost for a blueberry bush bed. He and Yuri H. graciously made many trips back and forth to bring the materials to the farm. Thank you to all the people who came and worked hard to support what we are trying to do here. We also want to mention all the many groups that were represented here yesterday: Curtis Urban Farm Foundation, UB Environmental Network (great sign, guys!), Canticle Farm (Yay, no more rotten tomatoes!), Buffalo ReUse, Lombard Clark Block Club, Friends of the Broadway Market, UB Law, Engineers for a Sustainable World, and of course, Community Action Organization. We feel truly blessed and humbled by all your support and energy.

Mark and Janice