At home, my wife and I are in the process of replacing our current 160 year old farm house. Before the historic preservationists start beating down my door, take note the difference between historic and simply old. This house has a bad foundation, drafty windows, limited functional plumbing, and horribly obsolete wiring. It has served my family well for the past 5 generations, but it’s time has passed.
A friend of mine called me up one afternoon in September of last year, noting he had heard through the grape vine of a house that may be available soon. Being on a limited budget we jumped at the opportunity and made arrangements to see the house. Well long story short, we settled on the house and lined up the contractors, and we will soon have a 2 story house coming down our driveway.
I see this as the ultimate in resource conservation. The house we will be moving was built around the early 1900s, and is in great structural shape. Homes of this vintage are made of materials unavailable to the building market today. The framing lumber is largely well cured old growth lumber, and has been well maintained through the years. In my opinion it would be a shame to landfill or burn such a rare resource. With our replacement house secured, the next question became - What to do with the old house?
In our county zoning regulations allow for only one home per 20 acre parcel, so we have to remove the old house within one year of bringing in the replacement. With a bit of web searching I came across The Green Institute. After a week of phone and email tag I finally made contact with a representative from their “Deconstruction Service”. He described their services, and it sounded like a good fit for what we had in mind. The general idea being that we donate the building materials in our old house to them and in return we receive a tax deduction for the value of the lumber and building supplies they are able to salvage. They then sell that lumber to cover their expenses for the deconstruction service. There are a few more details, but that is the general process.
I know there are many old vacant barns and farm houses in the Three Rivers RC&D area collapsing from neglect. I would like to encourage any property owners in a similar situation to consider using any one of the building savage companies in Minnesota. It seems in many cases this is a good option to eliminate demolition costs while saving massive quantities of building material from the land fill. Check back later as I’ll be posting updates here and here as the process of house recycling unfolds…
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
It’s been a busy but exciting week here at Three Rivers RC&D. After returning from the North Central RC&D conference in Rochester, MN I immediately got back to preparing a proposal for the Farmers Market Promotion Program. If we receive funding, this project will develop a variety of educational programs that will benefit Farmer’s Markets through out the Three Rivers RC&D area. There will also be a component aimed at recruiting and developing new farmers for the area markets.
Three Rivers RC&D is very interested in developing programs and educating the public about the environmental and economic benefits of Local Foods and Sustainable Agriculture. We will also be involved with the development of the Friends of the Mankato Farmer’s Market organization, which we hope will be a valuable asset to the Greater Mankato area local foods movement.
Recently we were notified that we have received $75,000 in funding from the Conservation Innovation Grant program for “The Three Rivers Economic Conservation Project”. This project will fund projects that demonstrate economically and environmentally compatible agriculture practices in the Three Rivers 9 county area, as well as conducting a consumer education campaign. This concept of using sustainable agriculture as a rural economic development tool is central to our current project Productive Conservation on Working Lands. Funding for this program is expected to be available in October of this year, so check back for more details…
The idea behind the economic conservation concept is that we should encourage and promote profitable practices that conserve our soil and water resources rather than simply paying farmers to take land out of production. With uncertain Federal support for conservation programs it is more important now than ever to make conservation a profitable agricultural practice.
The organization Greenhorns was recently brought to my attention by one of my local foods and sustainable ag co-conspirators Ryan Ihrke. This group is highlighting young farmers who are developing viable and vibrant businesses and organizations based on ecologically sound farming practices. The majority of farmers profiled are currently working in urban California, but they are looking for nominations across the nation for farmers that fit this profile. It is very encouraging to see my generation stepping up as the torch bearers for sustainable agriculture, a field commonly written off as sovereign territory of multi-national agri-business.
Spring is on it’s way here in Minnesota, with the temperatures finally reaching into the 50s. This winter has been full of planning and scheming, and hopefully we will see the fruits of our work ripen during this growing season. We expect to see several hundred acres of perennial crops established this spring with the assistance of funds from PCWL, as well as developing a land management plan for the upcoming organic garden at the Putting Green in New Ulm.
Three Rivers RC&D is very interested in developing programs and educating the public about the environmental and economic benefits of Local Foods and Sustainable Agriculture. We will also be involved with the development of the Friends of the Mankato Farmer’s Market organization, which we hope will be a valuable asset to the Greater Mankato area local foods movement.
Recently we were notified that we have received $75,000 in funding from the Conservation Innovation Grant program for “The Three Rivers Economic Conservation Project”. This project will fund projects that demonstrate economically and environmentally compatible agriculture practices in the Three Rivers 9 county area, as well as conducting a consumer education campaign. This concept of using sustainable agriculture as a rural economic development tool is central to our current project Productive Conservation on Working Lands. Funding for this program is expected to be available in October of this year, so check back for more details…
The idea behind the economic conservation concept is that we should encourage and promote profitable practices that conserve our soil and water resources rather than simply paying farmers to take land out of production. With uncertain Federal support for conservation programs it is more important now than ever to make conservation a profitable agricultural practice.
The organization Greenhorns was recently brought to my attention by one of my local foods and sustainable ag co-conspirators Ryan Ihrke. This group is highlighting young farmers who are developing viable and vibrant businesses and organizations based on ecologically sound farming practices. The majority of farmers profiled are currently working in urban California, but they are looking for nominations across the nation for farmers that fit this profile. It is very encouraging to see my generation stepping up as the torch bearers for sustainable agriculture, a field commonly written off as sovereign territory of multi-national agri-business.
Spring is on it’s way here in Minnesota, with the temperatures finally reaching into the 50s. This winter has been full of planning and scheming, and hopefully we will see the fruits of our work ripen during this growing season. We expect to see several hundred acres of perennial crops established this spring with the assistance of funds from PCWL, as well as developing a land management plan for the upcoming organic garden at the Putting Green in New Ulm.
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