this week's updates

This weeks updates:
Hi all,
I was planning on a meeting tonight, but between the extreme cold and Board members with the flu,  Roger and I decided that it should wait.
BUT if anyone wants to stop in or call me for updates and decisions please please call me!!!!

If you are on Facebook I have consistently been adding updates and pictures plus adding picture to our online photo album.  All the links are below!

- Furnace work is going well now and may be going as soon as this Friday for parts of the building.  Mike from MAG is very thorough and likes to do things the 'right' way, not just the easy way.  He really wants to be able to put heat upstairs and said it will be about an extra $1000, but in the meantime is putting in the thermostat wire and piping upstairs so it can go in later.  It is pretty cold up there and not much heat comes up from downstairs, and will be even less when the fire doors go in.

- Electrical is coming along, but CMP has not come yet to switch over to the new panel so many things are not working yet or only partly working.  Greg has bugged them and they are supposed to be here this week (maybe even today).

- Drywall is mostly done, taped and mudded and primed.   Painting on those walls will begin very soon.  I am happy with how well Marie and her company has done on the joints and finishing off the drywall.  She has had a heck of a time to get it dry in between because the torpedo heat puts off so much moisture.  Jonathan keeps the torpedo heater going 24-7 and goes in at night and weekends filling it.  It has a thermostat on it, so it works fairly well even in this cold (downstairs)

- Hardwood for floors is in the kiln and should be ready in a few more weeks.  John from Yoders stopped in the other day to check on the building and talked with Jonathan.  The cedar we got there for the refrigeration wall is nice.  Jonathan does have to apply a fire protective coat; so I hope it doesn't change color much

- I heard back from John of Alpha Omega Masonry and his quote is below any others.  He met with me on Christmas Eve and Jonathan made himself available for any questions that John might have.  I am waiting on some pictures of more work similar to what our project is, but I liked him.  I also asked for some customer testimonials and telephone numbers to call and ask what they thought.  This is too big of a project to go with, without pictures and testimonials. This is the 3rd quote I needed for the Grant and it is the best one.

- Fred, Pat and I went to Tillsons yesterday and choose paint colors for the kitchen, sink room, ice cream room and upstairs hallway.  I have the chips at the office if you want to see them.  Darlene and I choose the first colors online, but when I went from one computer monitor to another they changed a lot.  So I took the floor tile and matched 'em up in person.

- Internet and telephone are both working now in the office.  I have a telephone set I took in for now and although we haven't published the number, there were a couple dozen phone messages that were telemarketers.  WHAT THE HECK? 

- Tentative Meeting with Keith and Jonathan tomorrow

- Thats is it for now, please call anytime or drop by!!!  We will shoot for a meeting next week when it warms up a little bit.  I know I forgot a lot, but you have to stop by and see all the work completed! 

judy

-- Judy Wilbur Craig
Dexter Community Farm Project Coordinator
website:  www.DexterFarmProject.com
photo album:  http://picasaweb.google.com/fossageneralstore
Blog:  http://DexterFarmProject.blogspot.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/dexterfarmproject
Fossa General Store:  207.924.DEXTer (924.3398)
 
Photos from our photo album on picasa

Friday updates:

upstairs is cleaned!

If you were wondering, dinner today for the Charleston crew and us, was Pizza Hut Pizza that Rich went and got in Newport.
Today is the last day that the crew is working for awhile and 3 guys came today in addition to Ron the Supervisor... 
They got a lot of odds and ends done that needed to be done. 

-- Scraped all the studs that had foam insulation on them upstairs. 
-- Moved and organized all the wood upstairs we had left from various projects and will use for other things, but now we know what we have.

-- Swept all the floors; clean all the garage and bagged it ready for the dump
-- Carried a bunch of heavy blackboards from 1st floor to 2nd floor
-- helped Jonathan Wilbur downstairs
-- cleaned the sidewalk of ice, the best it could be..... All in 4 hours!!! They do a GREAT job!!!

I HAVE INTERNET AT THE STORE!!!!!

Thanks Sam at Fairpoint for the great!

Yippe Doodle!

Before purchasing new, I thought I would check with our FB friends, looking for kitchen equipment for the Fossa General Store. We are NOT going to be a restaurant, but we will be cooking/baking to sell in the store as well as hold classes for all ages. We will also be renting the Certified Commercial Kitchen out to farmers who don't want or can't invest in a $30+ kitchen.

Some of the needs:
Kitchen Aide mixer (doesn't have to be new, but working)
commercial pots and pans & racks... 

2 bay, 3 bay sinks, hand sink, utility sink and even a toilet...
-- or if you have something you think we might need, let me know.

I have priced out new for all of the these, but maybe someone has a deal and we can buy local or even donations are accepted :)

All the money saved on these types of items, means more buying power for the big items.

Thursday update and thanks to volunteers

Thursday update:  1st Corn beef & Cabbage 'full on dinner' was awesome!  Wow Richard Frank, you out did yourself on this one!!! The Charleston crew, Darlene, Rich and I all sat down for a huge dinner and no one really wanted to go back to work.

Today: 2 trips to Dexter Lumber for insulation today, a couple trips to Tillson True Value.  The crew put insulation up on the 1st floor and Contractor J. Wilbur was going right behind them hanging drywall!!! Kitchen area is going fast.  With only 2 crew members & supervisor Rob and Jonathan they have gotten so much done today!

The crew also cleaned off the deck of ice and tried to de-ice the sidewalk.  I enjoy working with the Charleston crew very much, as do other DRDC board members.

For those of you who don't know, Charleston Correctional Facility is a minimum security prison and they provide free labor to many non-profit organizations and municipalities in Central Maine.  The crew members come with a supervisor and range from 1 or 2 to a crew, to up to 5 (as we have had) or big jobs even 2 crews.  

Since we started our project just over 2 1/2 years ago, the Charleston crews have volunteered hundreds of hours helping us to create our store.  They started when the old building needed heavy duty gutting on all 3 floors and 2 crews came and I was there long enough to get them started and then left.

Last winter a crew of an average of 4 plus supervisor came to tear out layers of the floor on the 2nd story and then laid subfloor and then a beautiful hardwood floor using both new wood donated by a farmer Brown and recycled flooring from the building.  From then on, I have worked along with them personally and have enjoyed earning trust & respect for one another and become a sorta mother figure for some of the younger guys.  They tell me their stories, in their own time, and say how stupid it was and in some cases I have even said “yup, that was stupid”! … and we laugh in a knowing way.

This week, (a new crew) came and have been insulating, helping with dry wall and tomorrow a lot of different tasks and already they want to bring their families back when the store is open.  We, DRDC & I are very grateful for all they help that they give, but also for the respect we give one another and getting to know their stories and how they feel good about 'giving back' by working in the community and helping nonprofits.  I enjoy each day working with these men and knowing that we all are helping one another, and HOPEFULLY it will be a turning point in their lives.  But we must remember when judging and not knowing the whole story, "there but for the grace of God, go I".

Sorry I went on, but I felt it was worth mentioning….

Update: Thursday, December 6th

Thursday update:  Finally got a date for our internet hookup at the Store. (they lost my order from Nov 20th) but found it again. ... and 3 phone calls later "Janet" gave me a date of December 13th for outside hookup.

Casey Macomber, Jonathan Wilbur, Greg Macomber

Cross your fingers, hold your breath and pray to the internet/phone gods that it comes to pass................. It is hard to work in an office without internet access ;)

BUT Fairpoint does have a great deal right now for businesses, $30.49 month for both phone & internet access for 2 years, IF you can get 'em to get it done...
Installation date is now December 13th!!!

 Hardwood flooring, 5" ash is ordered from Yoders and the 1 x 8 ship lapped wall board is ordered, also from Yoders. 

Tile from Harmony Decor is ready to be ordered and is all is on budget.

Door is installed in the office upstairs (by DRDC board director Tim Breen).
Was pleased to find (real) lights working upstairs when I got there today!  We won't be running all those extension cords for lights in the very near future or fumbling around in the dark to get in and out of the upstairs~
Thanks Seamans Electric!!!  AND CMP is coming to make our new electric panel LIVE!  

More sheet rock is hung by our contractor, Jonathan Wilbur and he cleaned up the work site again which is a constant battle; they are doing a great job!

Heating system is being delivered tomorrow and more electrical tomorrow.

Kitchen ceiling sub contractor stopped by to access the situation is coming back tomorrow for measurements. Won't be installed for a few weeks.

Oh and got the printer/scanner that Fred Donovan donated hooked up and running.  That is a BIG thing, I wont have to run home and do it and run back again :)

Good day and very productive!!!

Update: Tuesday December 4th

Tuesday update: Earlier I was sitting in the Fossa Office (using someones wireless connection for a minute) and thinking what a difference a day makes.
I was waiting for DRDC's monthly meeting to begin at 6:30 and thought I would do an update.

SprayFoam insulation is done! What a difference already!

Sheet rock is up in the stairway to the 2nd floor and on walls in the mercantile area & downstairs bathroom.

I was wandering around the 1st floor a little while ago and actually visualizing where coolers are going and shelving will be built. In the kitchen, seeing where counters and
refrigerators will be for an efficient space. WHAT fun!

The CnC Spray Foam guys did a great job, they are from Clinton, Seamans Electric, Gregory Macomber & Casey his son and of course Jonathan Wilbur of J. Wilbur Construction and his man.

They are all working together well and the communication is something we hadn't experienced in the past.

I gotta say, we are so happy to be working with local companies! We are trying to buy local and hire local!!!! 'Cause that is the kinda people we are :)l

Recent updates: December 1st

Friday, December 1st update:

-- Furnace and all the stuff that goes with it being delivered Monday and should be done in a couple weeks.

-- Spray Foam (if delivered to sprayer) going in Monday - all 3 floors where intended
-- Insulation in Kitchen installing Monday Dec 10th (so electricians can finish 1st)
-- spraying of open ceilings in the next week or so
-- LOTS more for me to do but I won't bore you with that
.. for pictures taken today: (kinda boring but not to me :)

Darlene and I found the "perfect" tile for the kitchen tonight at Harmony Decor from Bonnie in Corinna!!! It was what was in my head, but have not found it yet. She pulled a sample out of a box while on the phone with the distributor and I kept saying that is the one, that is it!!!! AND it is on sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perfect! It is a rough surface 16" tile that is slate color, with hues of rust, creams, even subtle greens, but looks like a slice of a rock! Perfect!

Last week, up on the recommendation of DRDC Board of Director Ernest Rollins, I took my camera and photographed all the electric wire, boxes, etc that has been run & installed BEFORE the spray foam insulation was done and walls put up!  Brilliant!!!  So I did all 3 floors and will have the record for the future if ever needed to know how to locate something....

$16 million purchase would boost industry and help federal food programs

 BANGOR, ME – Today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it intends to buy up to $16 million worth of wild blueberries for federal food programs, a move that was requested by the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission. Congressman Mike Michaud weighed in with USDA and urged them to make a timely decision on the request.

 

“Our wild blueberry growers and producers not only provide a nutritious and quality product, but they are critical to the health of our state’s economy,” said Michaud. “This USDA purchase is a win-win that will help address the needs of the industry as well as our nation’s food programs.”

 

According to the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission, the USDA purchase request was made to help the industry address an oversupply situation as a result of a large crop of Maine wild blueberries also impacted by a growing supply of frozen cultivated blueberries.

 

According to the USDA, this purchase of wild blueberries will support federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) purchases also help to stabilize prices in agricultural commodity markets by balancing supply and demand.