Hoop House Build: 4/30/11

hoopuppeople What an extraordinary day. The weather fully cooperated while more than 50 people pitched in to help erect a new hoop house at Stone Coop Farm in Brighton, for farmers Shannon Rau and Joannée DeBruhl. Beginning at 8am and working until 7:30pm, this group accomplished an incredible amount of work. SELMA’s volunteer coordinator Scooter Merrins said it was the most complete hoop house build they have done so far. There were jobs for every interest and skill level, ranging from distributing nuts and bolts for assembling trusses, to climbing those very trusses to secure bracing. We were quite a team, led by the SELMA folks who have developed an efficient system. Everybody who came was necessary, and we all factored into the success of the day. From Farmer Joannée:

joanee “PLEASE THANK all the folks that were at our build. There is NO way we could have gotten it done without all your help with the house and the food. It was fantastic that everyone stayed for the incredibly long day and kept up good spirits. Shannon and I cannot thank you enough! Please plan to visit us this summer to see everything growing. Thanks again!!!!!” - Joannée DeBruhl. For more on Stone Coop Farm: www.stonecoopfarm.com

Special thanks to our wonderful team of UU builders: Ricardo Wyatt, Eileen Wright, John Seeley, Becky Swank, Vanessa Campbell, Cathy Muha, Mike Muha, Phil Tuchinsky, Terry Butcher, Kathy Friedrichs, Connie McGuire, Tim Richards, Hajnal Minger, Robert Minger, Eoin J. Ryan, John Russell, Keely Kaleski, Ruth Vail, Meaghan Foley, Erik Stalhandske, Hannah Kitchens, Jennifer Kangas & Allie & Nathan, Theresa Bassett & Sam & Charlie, Guala Lauzzana and Colleen Crawley; and to the 20 or so others who supplemented our team.

done We couldn’t have done it without the food, glorious food! Many thanks to Guala Lauzzana and the Locavores for taking on the challenge of feeding a team of more than 50 for an entire day. Thanks to those providing food: Lauren Peterson, Connie McGuire, Eileen Wright, Ruth Vail, Guala Lauzzana, Keely Kaleski, Linnea Linnea and Colleen Crawley.

Thanks, too to Benjamin Strutin for the great photos.


Lisa Gottlieb and Jeff McCabe, SELMA organizers	Eoin helps Jeff.

Colleen and Mike strategize.	Somebody has to get way up there!

Power tools are like an extension of Robert.	Shasta was, of course, a huge help.

A lot of plastic to spread - and we had to keep it clean!	Plastic and wind don't mix well, but we held on.

Don't we work well as a team?	Eric's pretty intent on holding that plastic in place.