Fall Field Note
Fall is in full swing at Walhalla Farm! Leaves are floating down, wood stoves are lit, pumpkins are ready for carving and everyone is busy preparing for the quiet winter months ahead. We’re happy to report: there is PLENTY of firewood stacked in the Pole Barn, the garden is prepped for garlic planting, and the new chicken coop is winter-ready!
The Walhalla and New Roots teams are also
busy working on the Studio Barn, Corn Crib and out in the fields. We’re nearly ready to welcome New Roots’ first cohort of artists next week! With seven acres, six buildings, and some new animal additions…preparing for our artist residents and prepping for the coming winter has been a massive and joyful undertaking. We’re very grateful to our entirely LGBTQIA+ staff and volunteers who’ve made New Roots possible.
Volunteers Lucy Thurber and Andrew Kreimendahl, hard at work clearing out the Studio Barn’s ground floor.
Well into these chilly fall months, renovations will continue at the farm as we work towards a future that serves many types of artists. We’re currently finishing the winterization of this summer’s main project: The Pole Barn. This mostly open-air barn has two side buildings: the Sugar Shack and the Chicken Coop. We’ve been focusing our labor on the Chicken Coop; a project that emerged unexpectedly when our neighbor, Todd Bell, was using his excavator to clear out an old farmers’ road on Walhalla land. Buried under decades of vines and overgrowth, Todd uncovered a hidden treasure…
The old structure had severely shifted off its foundations, supported only by an aged tractor tire. After gutting the inside, Basil jacked up the building, repaired the old foundation, and then pushed (yes, pushed!) the building back into place. It quickly became clear that this building would serve as Walhalla’s new Chicken Coop!
Our nephew, Andrew Kreimendahl, arrived at the farm just in time to help renovate the Chicken Coop. Andrew and Basil restored an antique door to serve as the coop’s storage entrance. They also removed rotted trim, replaced siding, repaired concrete, installed large barn window frames (donated by a neighboring farmer), and painted!
They constructed a new wall to section off the coop from a storage room, and built nesting boxes. Staying up late at night to complete the chicken run with work lights, Basil and Andrew managed to finish just in time; our chicks were rapidly outgrowing their brooder box!
Basil ran electrical to the new coop and a neighbor helped finish the wiring, adding outlets and lights to the Sugar Shack and running water to the storage area. This month, Basil has been finishing up insulation in order to prevent new water pipes from freezing, while Andrew has been working hard to finish painting the entire Pole Barn before winter sets in!
There’s still plenty of work to be done to fully restore the Pole Barn, which we ultimately envision as an additional performance space and workplace studio for New Roots artists. But we’re inspired by the progress made this summer, and we’re looking forward to beginning work on the Sugar Shack and open-air storage area next spring. We’ll be building an outdoor stage and rehearsal space under the covered/open-air section! As for the Sugar Shack, we’ll be adding flooring, sinks (for washing syrup pans), sap storage tanks, a permanent evaporator, and installing a stove. Let the Maple Mayhem begin!
