Breaking Ground: Managing Change
August 20th, 2025 - The Gerhardt’s
At long last we’ve broken ground! After nearly two years of observing, map making, planning, organizing, and talking to relevant authorities and experts over and over, we’ve made meaningful physical change to our farm. It feels like everything has been moving snail-like, but we deeply value carefully thinking, assessing, and planning.
Due to this lengthy process, in just a few short days we have a driveway, running water, and barn foundation. It’s real now!
As part of our planning we want to take tender actions. So the day before the excavation started we went to the farm to triple check everything and to have a moment with the land. Jason has a lot of experience starting farms from scratch and knows there’s a certain amount of disruption that’s unavoidable while excavating. He also knows that one can act sensitively and artfully with heavy equipment. With an offering of incense, we took a moment to let the land know about the disturbances to come and that we’ll be doing our very best in our lifetime to act with love in this place. We’ve planned well, hired expert equipment operators, and therefore put our best foot forward.
As the start date approached some of our plans started to come into question. Before we began excavating we were in contact with the Town to firm up where to tap the water main. Based on a lot of good conversations we originally thought we were going to be able to bore under the road directly across from our entrance, as the town water supply runs down the other side.
We met with our excavator operators and the Town staff onsite the morning of ground breaking and came to the conclusion that the more affordable path was to bring the water from up the road a couple hundred feet to the edge of our property, even though the distance was significantly lengthened to get the water to where we could actually use it. From there we would clear a path along the edge of the forest to bring the water line into our field and house area. We walked the route with our excavator operators and charted a course that eliminated the need to remove any trees except a single, mostly dead, old apple tree.
Progression of our driveway
Water line work
We’re big on planning, Jason in particular does this for a living. Part of being a planner is leaving mental space for things to change. We had already thought through this other possible water line location and so it didn’t take too much mental agility to pivot, having previously taken the time to understand the parameters of this option through our design process.
Progression of rubble trench foundation for the barn
Another change occurred during the three days of site work with the excavators, and this one was truly a revelation. We had yet to settle on how we were going to handle the wastewater from our house. One option we’ve been strongly considering was to connect to the sewer because we didn’t want to give up valuable farmland for a leach field (we had already ruled out compost toilets and greywater due to legal complexities). Our excavator operator approached us on day two with a thought. With a wealth of knowledge from decades of experience, he said, “we’re planning to convince you to drop this whole sewer thing and build a septic system.” He was direct with his use of the word “convince” and we knew who was talking, so we were all ears.
After working on the land for a day he had identified an area that was out of the way of our farming, knowing the rest of our plans since we had marked out space for farm plots and our greenhouse. We grabbed the long tape measure and walked it out. It fit perfectly. We expressed our concerns and he batted them away with sound and satisfying answers. Coincidentally, we were meeting onsite with the engineer he said we needed to talk to the next day.
All has worked out and we are no longer scrambling to think up ways to make tens of thousands of dollars to connect to the sewer. The lesson for us is to go with the guy who shows up with a rainbow belt and bright socks sticking out of his construction boots. It’s an indication of creativity.
We’ve employed some creativity ourselves as we waited for our excavator to arrive over the last month. We salvaged materials for our house and barn by befriending an older gentleman who runs the antique shop in the village where we rent. We learned not only does he have a lean-to full of windows and doors at his shop, but several large barns packed with salvaged building materials at his sprawling farm.
We spent time in the last few weeks going through thousands of items and were able to source all the windows and doors for our barn, the front exterior door for our house, our mudroom exterior door, and a couple interior doors. We also scored a super heavy duty hard maple butcher block counter top that we’ll repurpose for some counter spaces in our kitchen. All in all we’re saving thousands of dollars, repurposing materials that otherwise would’ve been thrown in a dumpster, supporting a local business, and in the process building a friendship with a local legend.
Some of our salvaged items
Coming up in September our Amish neighbors who live a mile down our road are starting the building of our barn so we can finally have a place to get out of the elements and keep items secure on our farm. Long-term this barn is for the washing and packing area, walk-in cooler, tractor and other odds and ends storage, and a workshop. Further down the line our excavator will be coming back to install our house foundation and start the build of our newly solidified septic system. Plus we’re bringing electricity into the property, starting with the barn.
We have a ways to go to finish all we intend to before the snow flies. What other changes from the plan might we encounter? These changes don’t disturb us. It’s almost become trendy today to say some variation of, “planning never works out.” With all the uncertainty in the world we get the sentiment, but that’s not the right takeaway. The proper takeaway is that design is a process of understanding and creatively moving from that place. Attachment is not a legit part of a healthy creative process. After years and months of doing our best to understand, we’re open to new information coming to light and considering how it fits with everything else. This perspective has worked out in our favor, at least for this round.
Until next time,
Sarah & Jason