The Front of the Chicken Coop

As we’ve noted many times in the past, we believe that farming is a key economic engine that will help in the quest to preserve and restore Northern New England’s architectural heritage. We’ve personally taken the first small steps in our goal to become a small-scale farmer–the chicken coop project.

Over Christmas, we took possession of 8 chicks–four Rhode Island Reds and four Plymouth Rocks. We thought that by the time it warmed up we would have built them a comfortable chicken coop. However, much to our surprise, chicks grow quickly into chickens.

The Back of the Chicken Coop

At the same time, the chicken coop grew in size and complexity. The coop is 5 by 10, has four windows, is fully insulated, has a metal roof, and connects to a 10 by 10 chicken run . . . all built in the garage during the coldest months of the year. With each passing weekend, the chicks grew exponentially while the coop slowly took shape.

So if you’ve wondered why postings here have lagged over the past few months, you can blame the chicken coop project. Fortunately, we managed to get the coop done just as they were discovering that they had wings and got them out of the basement before they started roosting (and pooping) all over.

Meet the Ladies

And as with any project, the costs soared above budget. The eggs shown in the picture were the first two eggs laid and were worth more than their weight in gold–about $1,000 each. Hopefully we will get enough eggs such that we will at least break-even one day . . . but even if we don’t, the ladies will certainly make-up for it in entertainment value

Expensive Eggs

Recent “Controlled Burn” of Historical Home

On our way to church a few weeks ago, we saw a large plume of smoke rising from near the downtown of our little village. We over-heard rumors from from fellow church-goers that the local fire department was doing a “controlled burn” of house. There are some dilapidated, vacant homes in the area so we didn’t think much about.

However, after church we drove over to check it out. To our shock and dismay, the home being burned was not one of the dilapidated, vacant homes we presumed it would be. Rather, it was a nice, older home that had been a multi-unit. In fact, it was up for sale about a year ago at a non-distress price. Why in the world would someone burn down a perfectly good home?

From what we can surmise, the house is very close to the headquarters of a major local employer. There were clearly some parking issues, perhaps even security issues, so our best guess is the company bought the home and decided giving it to the local fire department for fire training exercises as the cheapest option of disposing of the property.

The pros of this option is at least they didn’t sit on the vacant property letting it slowly be “demolished by neglect.”

However, in our opinion, the cons outweigh the pros:

• While the house was not overly “historic,” it was an historical element of the downtown. So this demolition diminishes the historic fabric of the downtown area.

• The downtown area does not have a lot of stand-alone housing so demolishing this reduces the potential number of owner-occupied housing downtown.

• The house was built into a hill with nice views and, if not housing, would have made a fine commercial establishment–such as a restaurant.

However, this episode highlights the large number of threats to our architectural heritage in Northern New England. Even well-intentioned situations, such as this controlled burn, can lead to the irreversible destruction of our architectural heritage. As more and more of our historic stock is lost, especially in our downtowns, it can threaten the historic integrity of entire towns.

Everyone knows that the winters in Northern New England are long, cold, and snowy. A fireplace is a great way to heat your home and beat back the winter-time blues. Unfortunately, as we drive around we’ve noticed that the use of a fireplace is much less common than one would imagine as witnessed by the lack of stacked cord wood. It seems you just can’t beat the convenience of fossil fuels–and we don’t just mean burning fossil fuels either.

Northern New England’s historic homes are energy hogs by today’s standards. They are difficult to retrofit with insulation and, thanks to years of settling or deferred maintenance, are often drafty around windows and doorways. To the modern homeowner, these are problems to be fixed and that is when we end up with vinyl-vandalism as they slap on vinyl siding or install vinyl windows.

However, as we’ve discovered, an easier and cheaper solution is to install a woodstove, or two, to simply beat the cold into submission. The picture above is our hardworking woodstove that has been running 24/7 since the cold arrived. What we have learned is that by itself it is sufficient to keep our home of 2,200 sq. ft. pretty comfortable with minimal supplement from our propane-fired radiators. Frankly, we are still in awe over how much heat can be produced by a single log of wood.

We are convinced that if more people used wood then there would be less demand for vinyl siding or windows and would be a boon for historic preservation. And thanks to advancing technology this would also include new wood pellet stoves and furnaces for those who don’t like the mess and upkeep of traditional woodstoves.

Also, you would be helping the local economy since wood-based fuel is, obviously, abundant and cheap in Northern New England. Fossil Fuels, on the other hand, come from out-of-state or out-of-country. The hardworking folks who locally supply firewood are not only your neighbors, but also help support other local merchants that you may rely on yourself. Wood is also a renewable resource.

What do you think–has the death of the good ol’fashioned woodstove contributed to the vinyl-vandalism of Northern New England?

The Hassett House in Northfield Center, Vermont

As part of our building history series, today we take a look at The Hassett House in Northfield, Vermont:

The Hassett House, an early Methodist Parsonage, located at 65 South Main Street was moved to this location and restored as  Norwich University faculty housing in December 1987. The house was acquired by David and  Mary Ann (Burke) Hassett in 1859. Their son William, who served as secretary to presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, was born in this house.

Source: Building Plaque

Follow link for more information on William David Hassett.