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So, what's happening with the Amidon's ? Things have been a bit nuts over the past year or so, but hopefully it will be calming down soon. Really really hopeful.
A bit over a year ago we decided that we needed to move. This was because both girls were going to be going off to college really soon, our house is huge, and my hobbies with gardening,making jam, chickens, hopefully goats, and other stuff,'t is really suited to where we are.
Here's where things get interesting and a bit sad. Many of you knew Bill Callocia. He was a college classmate of Mark's, and many other people I know. He also was involved in many other groups. Land Rover road rally groups, electronics, music, Jazz Fest (Mark saw him annually there),and he worked at Left Bank with many people I know. Bill passed away last year on October 8. I apologize if you are someone finding this out from this posting.
At Bill's wake, I was chatting with Paul Krause, Bill's best friend and executor, about how we were planning on moving so we could have a smaller house and I could have chickens and goats, and it didn't ping then. A week later I was having nibbles and drinks with Kristen Norwood when she asked me what we were looking for. I said "A smaller house on at least 1 acre of usable land in a Freedom to Farm community near rt495 which would be Bolton,Stow, Berlin, or Harvard. Maybe Hudson". Without missing a beat Kristen said "That's exactly Bill's house".
It turns out that, along with his many other interests, Bill was into small hobby farming. He had a small house on 2 acres of land that he was already turning into a farm.
Long story short, we're buying it, we signed the P&S last week. This is a perfect place for me. He put in 60 fruit trees, which have been neglected horribly, but at least 1/3rd have survived. We picked 80# of Asian pears today, and apples. There is over 1/3rd an acre fenced for a back yard and dog run. There is 3/4 of an acre I can turn into a goat corral, and then lots of space to put in gooseberries, currants, blackberries,raspberries, elderberries, and blueberries. It's across the street from a farm with large farmstand, that I can buy tomatoes from instead of trying to grow my own. Lots of space easily turned into a chicken run. There is plenty of space for me to try out lots of different things, from berry bushes, to guinea hens, to goats, to whatever I want. Anything that turns out I'm not so into, I can stop and switch to something else.
At first we didnt think the timing would work. Paul has had a huge amount of work to do, sorting and dealing with the legal issues attached to a property stuffed with huge amounts of stuff from Bill's various interests, and getting them to the appropriate folks sometime soon.However, the whole ice debacle has delayed our selling our house, and now I worry more that we won't sell our house in time. It looks like we can carry both for at least a while, but everyone needs to wish really hard that someone buys this place.
I am also sad that I never knew Bill was into all this. I only met him a few times, Mark saw him every year at the Jazz fest. Unsurprisingly, they talked about jazz and work, Mark didn't tell him about his wife's chicken stuff, and Bill didn't talk about his farm. I think Bill and I would have had a lot of fun talking about this stuff with each other. It makes me, and a bunch of other folks including his family, feel good to think that I'm going to be carrying on with his plans. I'll still be calling it The Wee Farm , as he did, and I hope to get the ow defunct website updated and continue on.
A bit over a year ago we decided that we needed to move. This was because both girls were going to be going off to college really soon, our house is huge, and my hobbies with gardening,making jam, chickens, hopefully goats, and other stuff,'t is really suited to where we are.
Here's where things get interesting and a bit sad. Many of you knew Bill Callocia. He was a college classmate of Mark's, and many other people I know. He also was involved in many other groups. Land Rover road rally groups, electronics, music, Jazz Fest (Mark saw him annually there),and he worked at Left Bank with many people I know. Bill passed away last year on October 8. I apologize if you are someone finding this out from this posting.
At Bill's wake, I was chatting with Paul Krause, Bill's best friend and executor, about how we were planning on moving so we could have a smaller house and I could have chickens and goats, and it didn't ping then. A week later I was having nibbles and drinks with Kristen Norwood when she asked me what we were looking for. I said "A smaller house on at least 1 acre of usable land in a Freedom to Farm community near rt495 which would be Bolton,Stow, Berlin, or Harvard. Maybe Hudson". Without missing a beat Kristen said "That's exactly Bill's house".
It turns out that, along with his many other interests, Bill was into small hobby farming. He had a small house on 2 acres of land that he was already turning into a farm.
Long story short, we're buying it, we signed the P&S last week. This is a perfect place for me. He put in 60 fruit trees, which have been neglected horribly, but at least 1/3rd have survived. We picked 80# of Asian pears today, and apples. There is over 1/3rd an acre fenced for a back yard and dog run. There is 3/4 of an acre I can turn into a goat corral, and then lots of space to put in gooseberries, currants, blackberries,raspberries, elderberries, and blueberries. It's across the street from a farm with large farmstand, that I can buy tomatoes from instead of trying to grow my own. Lots of space easily turned into a chicken run. There is plenty of space for me to try out lots of different things, from berry bushes, to guinea hens, to goats, to whatever I want. Anything that turns out I'm not so into, I can stop and switch to something else.
At first we didnt think the timing would work. Paul has had a huge amount of work to do, sorting and dealing with the legal issues attached to a property stuffed with huge amounts of stuff from Bill's various interests, and getting them to the appropriate folks sometime soon.However, the whole ice debacle has delayed our selling our house, and now I worry more that we won't sell our house in time. It looks like we can carry both for at least a while, but everyone needs to wish really hard that someone buys this place.
I am also sad that I never knew Bill was into all this. I only met him a few times, Mark saw him every year at the Jazz fest. Unsurprisingly, they talked about jazz and work, Mark didn't tell him about his wife's chicken stuff, and Bill didn't talk about his farm. I think Bill and I would have had a lot of fun talking about this stuff with each other. It makes me, and a bunch of other folks including his family, feel good to think that I'm going to be carrying on with his plans. I'll still be calling it The Wee Farm , as he did, and I hope to get the ow defunct website updated and continue on.
