With the cost of solar panels coming down and with the rise in energy consciousness, I thought it might be time to try out solar panels myself. Just starting out, it seemed to be prudent to get a small, trial size panel kit to see how it works. I opted for a simple 100W monocrystalline […]
Category: Farm
If I were a farmer…
While checking out the latest headlines and otherwise perusing the PLOSONE site in search of some new and interesting research, I came across a meta-analysis that sounded interesting. With the provocative title of ‘A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops’ [ref]Klumper and Qaim, A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops. PLoS ONE 9(11): […]
Pipeline Update
~~~UPDATE: Â The project has been officially scrapped its pipeline project May of 2016.~~~ Undoubtedly many of you had heard me speak about the proposed Kinder-Morgan/TGP Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project over the past year or so, and until now there hadn’t been any major developments. Before I dive right into the recent changes for the […]
The Farm gets some Heat
As many people have realized, this winter look like it will be quite similar to the last: bouts of cold arctic air sweeping down across the country making all of our lives a little bit chilly. The farm is unfortunately located in an area that already gets much colder than most of the areas east […]
Snippet — Removing Plaster at the Old Dam Farm
While nothing spectacular, here is a brief look at one of the least glamerous jobs I’ve been working on while at the farm. The old plaster has to go before we can run new lines, insulate and hang the drywall, so here I go:
New Flooring Today
What became fairly obvious the last time we were up at the farm was the pressing need to put down the finish floor in the kitchen. Typically such projects would be cast aside since they are finish and therefore critical to form–not function. But here the case is a bit different. Since we want the kitchen cabinets […]
Kitchen Windows for the Farm
Today we completed one more step on the path to a finished kitchen at the farm. Since kitchens are usually well lit and open places—who wants to cook, clean, and serve food from a shadowy little corner anyway?—we had decided to install two new windows: one behind where the sink will be and the other […]
Networking Jacks
This is a bit less a personal piece as much as an esoteric description of a system I recently discovered that anyone who is going to wiring up AV, telephone and/or ethernet networks should check out. The package is called the Keystone Module System [ref]Checkout the Wikipedia article for more info.[/ref]. It consists of a snap-in […]
Biking around Warwick MA
While my ride yesterday wasn’t my first ride out on the roads by the farm, it was the first with my new Fenix 2 sport watch made by Garmin. My first impressions of the area’s friendliness on the roads were quite positive and I only wish the roads around the cape were so wide and […]
The Kelly-Hubbard Farm
This summer my parents and I bought a farm in central-west, or is it west-central mass? Well either way, it’s a plot of land with an old farmhouse, barn, and shed about 10 miles off the scenic Mohawk Trail (Rte 2) in Warwick, MA. There’s 67 acres, most of which is still forested with somewhere […]
Winery Adventure
Last week while at the Farm, I was chewing over the potential crops and uses for the several acres of cleared land behind and beside the farmhouse. After going over the typical list of crops such as corn or potato I looked up to see a dilapidated fence, or rather fenceposts, in the field across […]