Howard Hall Farm Blog

Traditional Sheep Shearing Today at Howard Hall Farm

2008-05-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

(from the morning session:Michael and Fred using an antique hand-crank shear)

Bring the kids. Two sessions: 10-1, 1:30-5
$7 at the door

Fred DePaul, a notable sheep farmer, who hails from Vermont will come to Howard Hall Farm to demonstrate shearing on our flock of Shetland Sheep using techniques from three separate centuries. His presentation will include wooly tales, and an antique hand-crank machine. This presentation is suitable for children and adults who are interested in observing or learning the traditional art of sheep shearing.

Fred is the farm manager of The Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth, Vermont, and has given demonstrations at numerous historic sites and schools, including Clermont, Hancock Shaker Village, and the Tappantown Historical Society.

About Shetland Sheep:

The Shetland experienced near extinction when the industrial revolution and synthetic fibers decreased the need for all wools, and especially the colored wools. The decline in the need for fine "natural" wools resulted in a drastic fall-off in the Shetland's numbers. In Great Britain, several conservancies were established to help in the Shetland Sheep's recovery.

In 1980, Colonel Dailley of Canada joined in the effort to save this breed. He introduced the first flock of Shetlands into North America.

84 Howard Hall Road, Athens, NY 12015

CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS.

PLASTER RAISING PARTY

2008-04-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

THREE COAT LIME PLASTER ON RIVEN LATHE


Come and learn the materials and methods of lime plaster on wooden lath.
Howard Hall will have a plaster raising party for two successive
Saturdays, scratch coat then the intermediate coat on the main parlor
ceiling and walls.

(A time will be set up for the finishing coat in the near future.)

We will be:

mixing lime plaster
plastering
celebrating

Joining in is free as a learning workshop,
but you will have to work with a trowel. Lunch is provided.

Booking in advance is required. 
Call 518-945-1253
or email: howardhall.farm@gmail.com

Open to people in the trades as well as homeowners eager to learn.

This is a unique and free opportunity to learn about historic lime plaster
in a workshop setting.  We will be practicing on the ceiling of the parlor
at Howard Hall Farm in Athens, New York.


______________________
Related events:
______________________


REMAKING LIME CROWN MOLDING
in July with Rory Brennan, the plasterer from  "This Old House".
This is a structured as a paid class with fee limited
number of students.  Click the classes tab for more information
or contact us: howardhall.farm@gmail.com

PRIVATE MORTAR CLASSES
with Reggie Young on exterior pointing with lime mortars.
We will cover mixing of mortar, proper prep of the area, pointing and curing.
Whitewash recipes and appilcations can also be covered.
For more information, contact: howardhall.farm@gmail.com

House of Fire

2008-03-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Unless I've missed some significant advances in quantum mechanics, it is not yet possible for the average historic home-owner to travel back in time and take digital
photographs of the past, but last Saturday we did the next best thing.
We invited Mercy Ingraham, The Open Hearth Cook to visit us here at Howard Hall Farm. Completely clothed in Federal garb, Mercy Ingraham arrived on the steps
of our Federal Home looking like she had just emerged from a Vermeer
painting to teach us how to cook on our recently restored historic hearth.

*Note the similarity:

Wearing Dutch linens and bearing an armload of iron and brass cookware, she lit a roaring fire, and proceeded to charm the hell out of all of us. She is a fascinating and intelligent woman, and one of the most incredible teachers we've ever had here.
The workshop was filled with people from vastly differing fields, yet they all had some strange tie to historic buildings, so we all had plenty to talk about. We met a lot of incredible people. Clothed by references to rare films and literature, historic images, and odd chemistry facts (ex: ash+ saliva= lye, which I almost learned the hard way), Mercy gave us a treasure-trove of information....and as far as I'm concerned, it was the very best kind of knowledge: The sort you can eat afterward!

*******************************************************************

Among other things, we made and had:

Shirley Plantation Mushroom Soup (which was so delicious it was gone before I could take a picture),
String Roasted Chicken (Literally: it was roasted by hanging from a string),
Southall Cabbage Pudding, Ember-Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Yam Pudding,
Dover Cake, and more....

****************************************************************

Mercy just finished her latest book, and
signed copies for all of us after the class.

For all of you who were here, thank you
for making this weekend such a
scintillating experience. And Mercy,
you are truly a wonder. I can't think of
a better way to have brought the light
and life back to our hearth. For the first
time in probably a century, this house
had a blazing, open fire and good company
to enjoy it. I hope you'll all come back soon.

*******************************************

***********************************************************
If you participated in this workshop, and have pictures,
please send them to us!
We'd love to add them to our collection...
howardhall.farm@gmail.com

To view a complete listing of our 2008
classes and workshops: CLICK HERE

NEW RESTORATION PHOTO LIBRARY COMING SOON

2008-02-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

Last 20 Years

November 2005

February 2008

We're organizing photos of the entire progression of the house's life, downward spiral into devastating disrepair and hideous renovations, and our ongoing historic restoration. Check back soon to take an in depth tour of each of our restoration projects and track our progress day by day...

Early February Update

2008-02-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

Harry is working on the fascia boards, soffits and crown moldings for
the front of the house. We are trying to save as much as we can of the
original, but sadly much of it is rotted beyond use...

Lorena is prepping all
these boards so we can
get them up primed.
Can't wait until spring
to get this all finally
painted.

Andy has been jack hammering off the
last Portland Cement left in the place.
We will white wash these walls, even
though they must have been plastered
at one time.

This area in the front of the basement
hall never had white wash on walls or
ceilings like the rest of the hall, so
we suspect it was a closed storage room
with plaster ceiling and walls.
Very odd as it would have blocked the
light in the hallway.


  

Ralph has been steaming off the paint in the hallway.
Getting closer to final plaster throughout the house.

Let's Go Green: Green Goods Fundraiser

2008-02-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

When green products are just as affordable as their market equivalents, will you buy green?

A:
Of course!

The day has come. In our continuing effort to green our lives, our research has led us to a company called Let's Go Green. They makes affordable,
environmentally friendly products that often cost less than
their unfriendly equivalents. All their products are eco-friendly and
designed to either
help save resources, money, or both.

Let's Go Green and Howard Hall Farm have decided to join forces to do a green fund-raiser, and make environmentally friendly products more easily available to eco-conscious consumers. Now you can help support a green and local business by spending less on items you regularly buy for your home. Let's Go Green has agreed to donate 25% of every purchase to the Howard Hall Farm Green Restoration, so your contribution can be substantial.

All you have to do is visit www.LetsGoGreen.biz,
choose your items, and specify our group at checkout so that we get credit. It
couldn’t be simpler.

GREEN OPTIONS

NOT GREEN

All-Purpose Cleaner

• Non-toxic

• Biodegradable

• Alcohol, solvent, chlorine and phosphate
free

• Contains no organic volatile compounds

• Dye and fragrance free

32 oz. spray bottle

$4.89

www.LetsGoGreen.biz

409
All-Purpose Cleaner

Eye irritant. Do not get in eyes.
Wash thoroughly with soap and water after handling.
Avoid contact with foods.

32 oz. spray bottle

$4.99

100% Recycled Paper Towels

These paper towels are free of dyes, inks and fragrances.
They are recycled without chlorine bleaching.

3 rolls per pack

$4.69

www.LetsGoGreen.biz

Brawny Paper Towels

NOT RECYCLED
3 rolls per pack

$5.59

Good Green Neighbors

2008-02-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

TWO GREAT SITES I WANT TO SHARE:

RECLAIMED HOME

Those masks are no joke. Talk about a survivor! This woman has lived
through 13 years of renovations, and now shares what she's gleaned by
donating time to blogging about affordable real estate, diy, period
restorations, decorating bargains, and sustainable living. She writes
more than any other house blogger I know, and always has interesting
tidbits and links to share. I wanted to thank her for helping us out with our green fundraising efforts and always posting great content! You can visit Reclaimed Home by clicking HERE.

KEN GREEN AT THE SEED LIBRARY
Heirloom Seeds for Northeast Gardeners.

Ken Greene's efforts to revive the local seed trade and save
heirloom seeds and their stories has culminated in the creation of a unique regional Seed Library. Like us, Ken and his friends are trying to share information about environmentally conscious skills and trades with workshops like Permaculture in Action and by sharing planting instructions for all to learn and grow from...
You can read the article Ken wrote after his visit to Howard Hall Farm below.

Dennis Heaphy, the tin man behind the restoration of statue of liberty and Ellis Island, coming to Howard Hall, a center for Historic Restoration and Green Technology in Athens.

The History of Mortar may sound like a heavy subject for a workshop, but Reggie Young at Howard Hall Farm finds the topic enlightening. For years Reggie and his partner Nora Johnson had been dreaming of finding a stone house that they could afford to buy and restore. Young, previously a New York City restaurateur, had been doing restoration in the Hudson Valley for six years. “I had thought about offering training on the lime/mortar issue,” he says.”I had seen too many buildings screwed up by using the wrong mortar.” Young had gone out of state, to Chicago, for his training, but it wasn’t until he looked at a dilapidated house perched on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River that the idea of creating a training center crystallized in his mind. “It took five seconds,” he says. “The building lent itself perfectly to the idea.” Young and Johnson bought the house and have dedicated themselves not only to its restoration but to its development as a hands-on learning laboratory.

Young sees the Federal-style home’s potential to be transformed into a modern, functioning dwelling that preserves the home’s historic integrity and has a minimal impact on the natural environment. Three years after purchasing the property, Young and his team are deep into the renovation of the structure and are still tinkering with the training center’s mission statement. Currently, the center’s main purpose is to “investigate, restore, and revive every facet of the structure in a green manner, and provide a forum for other interested homeowners and craftspeople to learn to do the same.” Part of this process of educating themselves and others involves bringing in preservation and restoration experts from all over the country. “With the help of these incredible individuals,” says Young “we can all learn to bring an old home out of the cobwebs and into the green. We are in a global crisis, and conservation and restoration can be very green.”

Young sees his responsible approach to renovation as one facet of solving many environmental problems. He advocates fixing up existing structures rather than building new, reusing as much as possible, locating local materials, and incorporating alternative energy practices into historic renovations. In at least one instance, Young found that being green and historically accurate go hand in hand. He located and used a type of sand from Saugerties for his mortar mix which brought him closer to replicating the mix originally used on the home.

Mortar is not the only mixing happening on the hill. Young’s use of the Howard Hall website and blogs reflects his pride in working collaboratively. One site, howardhallfarm.wordpress.com is called the Faces of Howard Hall Farm. Its pages are an enthusiastic and affectionate introduction to the core group and their contributions to the project. The home site howardhallfarm.com is overflowing with before and after photos, short videos, archives, history, introductions to visiting experts, and an impressive list of workshops past and present.

The fall series of offerings ranges from the practical to the esoteric. Young’s partner, Nora Johnson, will bring New York City artist Toby Nutall and collaborator Moira Kelley to teach a workshop entitled “Historic Paints and Finishes: Faux Wood Graining: Creating Fantasy Wood Finishes”; it takes place October 13^th and 14^th. For those in historic homes, there is the quintessential lime plaster workshop with famed plaster professional Roy Brennen. On the fascinatingly obscure end of the Howard Hall workshop spectrum is Lady Liberty’s personal face lift professional (and fourth generation tinsmith) Dennis Heaphy—also known as the Tin Man. He will offer a lesson on working with Terne Tin, the material that keeps the Statue of Liberty clothed and smiling. In addition to the workshop, Heaphy will also be working on Howard Hall’s tin ceiling and conducting a presentation for children on October 20^th about the making of the Statue of Liberty.

For a complete list of workshops, presentations and available internships, visit Howard Hall Farm’s extensive website (www.howardhallfarm.com ), email howardhall.farm@gmail.com, or call 518-945-1253.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T06:42:00.000-08:00

We are hoping that 2008 finds the world a lot greener and bit better preserved.  
Here at Howard Hall, we continue to work toward this goal. I had to move out for
part of the winter with all the chaos that was happening in the house every day.
We insulated with Soy foam in December, which was very exciting. I know that
there is limited soy in this version of insulation but it has the green effect of doing
a very tight high R value job, and (that's not nothing/ that counts for something). 
I would never use fiberglass as it is a bad idea to introduce workers to it, doesn't
get very good R value, and if you research you will see that it causes endless
future problems that you would rather avoid. Our application was tricky in that
we wanted to do entire second floor ceiling without any demo of the original
plaster, and without man-handling the old attic floor. We were able to take out
some flooring and blow it in, and it did the job.


The view that day:


We also got the Co-generation unit up and running. That little boiler now 
just hums while heating this place, and it is so tiny. (Nora says it purrs). 
We have sold several of these units to our restoration clients as well.  
Everyone who comes here just wants a moment in the boiler room to see
the beautiful install job, and see and hear the thing working. 
On Top of that we also got Our Jutl stove in and working, so it's all  
about warmth here these days. I have moved back in and can actually
get warm without leaving a huge carbon footprint!  (If you would like
to see the Co-generation unit for yourself, call us:518.945.1253)
 
On other fronts, we just had a great class with Rory Brennan.
 
 

It was our best attended class so far, and filled with a lot of
knowledgable people.We are getting ready to do all lime wash finish
on walls of the first floor. For the first time we will be posting a 10
minute video of the class, so watch for that soon.
*(The video is now up in the video section of the blog)
Rory will be back for another lime wash class this spring.   
Lots of paint steaming and stripping happening now: 


Our Soffit story and fascia boards continue, as do the pointing and
whitewash stories.




We have a few cooking classes in March, which is our deadline for 
having beehive oven back up and running. The chimney for that side of  
the house is 4 feet from complete. So soon those fireplaces will also be 
up and running:  Beehive Oven (2),Parlor Fireplace:

 

NE Bedroom Fireplace:
 
 

Our Spring line-up is coming together and we have many exciting classes to
green your historic world and rock you preservation boat. Come join us and take
in the beauty of the Hudson Valley and it's fantastic Historic fabric, the local
foods on our lower loggia, and the good cheer of our crew and staff.   All of our other restoration and preservation projects are going full steam ahead.
We will post soon on some of these. Our crew and professional base continues
to grow with as we introduce other teachers in to the mix.
 

This season we owe thanks to many people. Bob Godwin for all his time and
Architecture expertise, not the mention his sharing
Annie Katz, his beautiful partner, with us. We all were so excited that after months
of cancer treatment she joined us last Saturday for a moment of cheer here.
Go Annie!!!!! We love you. Peter Mattei for housing our office when it was too cold here
to work here with no heat. Mike Veeter from Kool Temp for a fantastic co-gen boiler install job.
Tom Harkins for his plumbing our cast iron baseboards and his good humor. 
Gary Dodson for his ongoing electrical install, and his southern charm.
Eric Guyer at Climate Energy for creating this great boiler. 
Rory Brennan and Laurie Klenkel for such a great class on lime wash finishes.
Sarah Gonek for her never ending blog and class work, and being in such  
a state of grace always. Harry Klarr for his wonderful finish carpentry combined with his quiet 
seriousness. Patrick Pulver, Christoph Vilaghy, Ralph Mauro. Nicky Karas, and Andy 
Bolevic for their never ending work on the house.  Dan Laffin, for his kindness and for
being a hero to our distressed electronics. Dennis Heaphy for his tin expertise and oral stories, 
and last but not least Dan Grabinger for his excellent chimney  construction.
Love those fires Dan.

 *And thanks to Reggie and Nora for their inspiring compassion and
productivity in this busy season. -Sarah