welcome, and thank you for joining me on my farm and studio in southern lancaster county, pennsylvania
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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

things to do, places to go, people to see

At 7 a.m. sharp, the tree guys came and began removing five trees right next to where the greenhouse will live. I hate cutting down trees. For me, it's on a par with ruining books or tearing apart musical instruments. But it needed to be done. Two were silver maples, two bradford pears, and one white pine. All weak trees that could easily have dropped limbs on the new structure. And that structure, I hope, will be a good part of my future livelihood. So bye-bye trees. On the plus side, I have quite a lot of wood chips for garden paths as well as a decent pile of future firewood! Not a bit will go to waste.

Just after noon, I went back to the zoning (no, you're not a farm) office to drop off my paperwork and make sure I have all my ducks in a row. It appears that I do. Next week they'll be out to see the site and by the following week, I should have my permit.

This evening, the electrician came by to give me a rough estimate on hooking the greenhouse up to my existing electrical system. Not as easy as I thought it would be. We're talking trenches and breaker boxes and who knows what else.

Not much about this whole process is as straightforward as I imagined back in the spring. Everything, it seems, is more involved and more expensive than one would think. I mean the project is bleeding money. Every time some new expense pops up the anxiety mounts and the pressure to make this thing pay gets stronger. But it's happening and it's moving forward. And I'm still excited about the possibilities...

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