Inspiration Station: Solar One

A piece I wrote about a phenomenal nonprofit called Solar One, based out of New York City, is now live on Green Edge NYC's Web site.

Check it out—this organization's ideas about solar power are right in line with our plans here at Better Farm! (And be sure to note the Better Farm mention in my bio!)

Spotlight On...Not-For-Profit Organization Solar 1

By Nicole Caldwell

Stuyvesant Cove Park is a green space resting atop 1.9 acres of Manhattan waterfront that once held a concrete factory. The native plants and grasses stretching lazily along the East River at 23rd Street attract and sustain native bird species and butterflies; and offer a fitting backdrop to New York City’s most cutting-edge green space: Solar One.

The building—and park—is maintained by a nonprofit of the same name striving simply to “empower people of all ages with the vision, knowledge, and resources to attain a more environmentally sound and sustainable future.” It’s a microcosm for what Solar One’s next big project, Solar Two, could be for all of New York City when it’s constructed on the same space and becomes the first self-standing, carbon-neutral, net-zero energy structure in the five boroughs.

Read the rest of this story here

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Recap: Memorial Day Weekend at the Farm

Since I can't figure out the intricate workings of posting multiple images on blogger, a (late) pictorial recap of Memorial Day weekend at the Farm has been posted up at my wordpress blog, F that S. Check it out!

Better Farm: The Green Effect

Sun Chips and National Geographic have teamed up in a contest called The Green Effect, which asks us what we would to to green up our communities if given $20,000. From the contest Web site:

The objective of the SunChips® "Green Effect" Contest (the "Contest") is to provide an opportunity for contestants to share their Green Idea, which is an environmentally-friendly project that would help their local environment and community ("Green Idea"). Five (5) winners will each receive a cash prize to be used towards executing their respective Green Ideas. See below for details.

This seemed like a no-brainer for Better Farm to sign up for STAT. Here's our entry—please cheer us on by ranking our proposal on the site! Ten finalists will be posted on the site July 7...

Better Farm, Memorial Day 2009

Better Farm was a busy place this Memorial Day Weekend, with lots of renovations, reorganizations, a service for our founder, Steve Caldwell, and excellent quality time among old and new friends.

A bunch of original communards came out, as well as the new wave of Better proponents. The weather was perfect! One part work and many parts play, we enjoyed a big barbecue Sunday afternoon...

Special thanks to Fred Ciliberti for his culinary prowess and carpentry expertise, Mike Babcock for help in setting the whole thing up, Gary Ferina for offering wallpaper-stripping and bookshelf-building tutorials, our amazing work crew (Corinne, Butch, Nils, Cigir, Alec, Dev, Tyler, Mike, Lana, Josh, Ellen, et al), and everyone who came out to share their Better memories.

Better Renovations: Upstairs Hallway, After

Thanks to a generous donation from Corinne's office, Better Farm is the lucky recipient of a ton of Flor's heavy duty red carpet squares. The pieces are extremely durable and easy to clean—a major plus in a high-traffic farm house. We'll be using them on the staircase and in the loft, as well.

Corinne, Butch, and I ripped up the old carpeting first, which was half disintegrated and the source of a HUGE dust cloud during removal. Corinne followed up with a good sweep (39 years of dust is pretty intense), I went in next with some wet rags, and then Butch got to work patching holes and old stove pipe ducts before measuring the awkwardly shaped upstairs hallway and laying down the squares. Here are some before shots:




And... after:

Better Renovations: The Kitchen, After

One of our big tasks at Better Farm was to make the kitchen pristine. That meant doing away with the old, cracked, mismatched wallpaper, sanding down the walls, washing off the discovered boot print on the sheet rock underneath, taking down old musty bookshelves covering up gorgeous reclaimed barn wood, patching (a lot of) holes, and washing all the blinds (bathtubs work best for this—really). It's amazing to work on a house last renovated in 1970 by a bunch of 20-somethings (lots of newspaper stuffed into crevices and random, jerry-rigged solutions never meant to last 39 years).

We were finally ready to paint by the end of Day 1. To keep things basic, we went with plain white paint from Olympic's green line (only $15 at Lowe's—who said going green had to be expensive?), and hung fresh lace curtains reclaimed from storage. And, voila:

A Cautionary Tale: Book Organization

Note to self: Always push books flush against the wall in a library. Not doing so is the equivalent to an open invitation for mice to create a completely hidden empire, only to be discovered while laboring at book reorganization. Case in point, this gem—found while revamping the Better Farm Library (alphabetically by author, naturally):

Better Farm Holds First Fundraiser

Better Farm's first-ever fundraiser brought in more than $400—plenty to buy our much-needed bunkbeds and fresh, eco-friendly paint!

The event, coined as a "Drink Better" beer pong tournament, pitted more than half a dozen teams against each other in a winner-takes-trophies showdown. Congratulations to Julie and Josh's team for mopping the floor with their competition.

Special thanks to Kristen and Jeff for organizing and hosting—and for all of you who came out to support us! Stay tuned for more events throughout the summer and year...

Teach For Us!

With summer just around the corner, it's time for you specialists to start thinking about teaching workshops at Better Farm in the coming months.

A large crew of worker bees will be going to Better Farm over Memorial Day to do a bunch of painting, bring in some bunk beds, and complete some very basic and minor house renovations. As of June 1, Better Farm is essentially "open for business."

We're looking for people who are interested in running small workshops at Better Farm. Sound interesting? If so, please contact us with a basic outline of the workshop. What kind of workshop would it be? What sorts of courses would it entail? How many instructors would it require? How are you qualified? Do you have people in mind who you could work with? How many students? How long would it run for? What dates are you available? What equipment would be needed? Don’t feel limited to the arts, and go as broad as you like.

You can get most info on the building and property at the Better Farm site, but feel free to contact us with any additional questions.

Better Be,
Nicole

Live With Us!

Better Farm is looking for a few good artists, builders, green-energy experts, readers, thinkers, rowers, climbers, green thumbs, hikers, cyclists, painters, lovers, runners, dancers, movers, shakers, bakers, doers, and anyone else who would like to spend some time out-of-doors doing whatever it is that makes him or her tick. Is this you?

Better Farm will be opening its doors June 1 to a community of curious dwellers. Rent will be based on a sliding scale of capability, work, and capacity. Please contact us through our Web site if you're interested in getting away for the summer (or a portion of it) - rooms and beds are available on a nightly, weekly, and monthly basis.

Viva Better!

Better Renovations: Sleeping Quarters

Green theories: reduce, reuse, recycle.

That's the name of the game at Better Farm, so scouring rural New York's Craigslist is an integral part of renovating this place. The universe is responding to the work going on in Redwood a thousandfold. Why else would we have found not one, not two, but 60 bunkbeds?!:

Bunk Beds for camp, cottage or home. Heavy all steel angle iron construction with head and foot boards and stainless steel springs. Just add a mattress!! $20 single, $35 for set of bunks. 60 available. Very sturdy and durable. Call 315-778-0834, leave message.


The nice guy in charge of all this is holding all requested sets (we actually don't need all 60) until we get up there around Memorial Day for the first round of major house renovations. Soon there will be room for all of us! Let us know if you've got some twin or twin extra-long mattresses we could use...

Green Screen at Better Farm?

Spotted this "green screen" while browsing Green Bytes, the blog of the Horticulture Society of New York. Here's what they said about it:

This screen can actually help conserve energy by providing a layer of insulation, and even act as soundproofing. Plus these plants will grow and fill in the window creating a privacy screen.

Not sure exactly how much energy would be saved with a setup like this, but it sure looks nice! Also, Green Bytes mentioned how they stocked theirs with plants that had varied bloom times, equaling a year round display. Just a thought!

Better Renovations: The Loft, Before

First step in beginning any renovation is assessing your space. Tyler and I headed up to Better Farm over the weekend to do just that, walking the house and property with the trusty Josh Babcock, Sadie the dog, notebook, camera, and about a dozen energy-efficient bulbs (will replace the rest over Memorial Day Weekend).

My favorite room of the house growing up, the loft was built in 1970 by a fellah called TJ who was the only member of the original communards with building know-how. He determined it would make sense to take a little bedroom and connect it with one-half the attic by a little staircase and the removal of the ceiling. The top sleeping quarters were infamously known as "TJ's Love Loft."

Ah, to be young.

The loft is still a wonderful space, even without all the attention of its first incarnation. That said, there are several basic improvements to be had...

• A few of the steps to the Love Loft are loose. They should be replaced.
• Fresh coat of paint definitely needed!
• Mattresses are very old and very mushy. We could probably do two singles spaced apart in the love loft, but that almost seems sacrilegious. So maybe a full or queen on a box spring up there and a bunk bed and single down below? We'll have to measure.
• Some sort of light treatment to deal with the two exposed bulbs at the top of the stairs
• Deep clean
• Ripping up the carpeting
• Perhaps some kind of wood stain?
• Removal of clutter