under construction

Over the last three years Steuart - with the help of family and friends - has been renovating the barn. Throughout these years our plans for the space have evolved until finally the vision for Farmata came into focus. Progress was often slower than we expected, or wanted. Having our first child during this time certainly affected the pace! Our life, along with the barn, has changed dramatically. And yet, being rooted to this land, pouring everything we have into it, has given us a sense of grounding and constancy that we have never felt before. And we feel eager to share this place with others.

Here are some photos of the renovation process:

First we removed all of the old oak siding, keeping many of the old boards for other projects. The old beams are still holding strong.

We replaced the siding with wood and built a new stone foundation.

We replaced half of the roof (all we could afford), adding some barn doors using the old tin from the roof, and added a small porch.

The brick floor labor intensive but we love it.

Here you see the start of the cordwood walls, alongside some beautiful old doors that came out of an American Legion building in Wisconsin.

The glass bottle wall, almost complete.

Steuart used some building techniques that have one thing in common: they take a lot of time. He built some of the walls using cordwood (logs stacked and held together with mortar) and one wall out of glass bottles, with much of the foundation made from stone and mortar. For the floor, he laid each brick by hand. In a time when quick and cheap promises a better a life, sometimes it was hard to remember why these real materials and skills mattered. But the process was life-giving, and community-building. And we think the results are beautiful.