Artists Farm

Finished Hop Trellis

leathersmith — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:39:36 +0000

Erecting the Hop Trellis

leathersmith — Wed, 01 May 2013 03:55:01 +0000

Today my friend Tim helped me get most of the trellis structure erected. It was very windy and a lot of work, and still have to put up the middle row.

The Current Farm Space

leathersmith — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 04:10:23 +0000

is called Grassroots Farm, LLC. It is just south of Monticello WI.

My experimental band, circa 1995

leathersmith — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 01:23:16 +0000

Usually about 4 people per jam, this project took off in January 1995 and lasted a few months. Ariel Gomez on lead bass, myself on effects bass, Bill Gibson on effects guitar, Jim Miller on lead guitar, and a strange guy named Steve, I never got his last name. The music is off the cuff jam, and Steve does his best to provide some vocals at times using poetry he used to write. To facilitate his writings he took a job as a graveyard-shift cab driver in Madison WI just to find out of the way lonely spots to park and write under the street lamps. Then one day he was gone. I intend to build a nice studio in time, soon as I have the land. I want a new bass & rig, maybe a drum set too. But I might start out with an acoustic guitar, I’ve never had one of those.

It probably helps to skip the first several minutes of these, as the “songs” take shape

A New Home, for awhile

leathersmith — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 00:41:38 +0000

the move is finally complete, and everything in the workshop is almost back in place. It took a few days to get the network back in place, but the shopcam is back together, and I’ll be broadcasting again starting tomorrow.

The move was difficult, the heat unbearable. It took me 3 days to get everything out of my old apartment, and even then the new landlord deducted fifty bucks from my security deposit, convinced I had been dying leather in the kitchen sink.

The new house is great so far, I am finally getting comfortable in the new space. Soon I hope to start the search for the next couple of members to comprise a basic board of directors, in order to launch the not-for-profit business and get all the paperwork in place to begin Artists Farm in earnest.

I signed the new lease today

leathersmith — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 01:16:34 +0000

July 1 I get to move into a two bedroom house in Monona WI. While packing up here, and cleaning up here, and moving there, I still have to keep production running smoothly along. Then its going to take days and days to get everything installed in the new place. My network isn’t fully wireless, I have lots of network cables and coax running all around my apartment. I am looking forward to getting the workshop set up on a concrete floor, it’ll be just like the old days back in South Florida where all the floors are confetti terrazzo.

Looks like I get to rent for another year

leathersmith — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:22:43 +0000

The owner of the rental house I looked at the other day has contacted the references I provided and emailed me late last night that he would like to move forward on signing a lease with me for a year and then it goes to a monthly thing which is fine by me. My biggest worry right now is that having just signed a contract with DishNetwork, it may be difficult for a dish to get an unobstructed view of the southern sky. The house sits underneath a lot of trees, so not only will placing a satellite dish be dicey but at the same time I will lose a lot of the streaming sunlight I have enjoyed in my current flat of five years. I do love lots of sunlight!

I’ll be setting up my workshop in the house’s basement, which of course does not get a lot of sunlight. The only answer is lots of compact fluorescent lights. A lot of network and speaker wiring will have to go in, as well as coax cables. At the same time I get to pull out all the wiring I have installed in my current place and spackle all of holes I drilled over the years.

The new house is small, but it has two bedrooms, so after I get settled in the search for an apprentice goes into full operation.

sent in a Rental Application

leathersmith — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:26:12 +0000

for a small 2 bedroom house with a full (and fortunately, dry) basement in the Madison area. I hoped I would only have to move one last time, into a purchase, but that’s another year away at this point I guess. This house gives me an extra bedroom to try out potential leather apprentices maybe. Hopefully this first one to get his foot in the door will be the right candidate, and this project can take off. Housemates are automatically Board Members, at least at the beginning. Three people are required to make a not-for-profit.

It was looking like a good day until Paypal called me

leathersmith — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:35:15 +0000

George Zimmerman amasses $200,000 using Paypal but an HIV+ artist gets locked out in the cold.

I just did something I didn’t want to do

leathersmith — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:34:05 +0000

After being disappointed by my new roll of sling canvas, I thought I’d cheer myself up perusing Craigslist for a rental house. I have found many “rentals” on Craigslist are actually homes listed for sale on a multi-listing site, and some bright bulbs somewhere in “West Africa” create Craigslist Rental ads from the pics & text they copy from the MLS. They actually expect people to FedEx money orders to Nigeria. I spoke with a person at the local UPS Store who said she knows of at least one person who sent cash to Africa expecting a house key in return.

Teh stupid, it burns!

So I have targeted ads that also have a local phone number, and I just found a place close by with hardwood floors, allows cats, and is less than $1000/month (by twenty bucks…)

I’ll go see it Wednesday. If things go as I expect, as soon as I sign a one year lease I will then find my piece of property without being able to actually move. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place except the rock is my comfy apartment of 5 years and the hard place is my Farm. The only bit that is frustrating is the “stuck” feeling.

If I sign a new lease, I am another year away from owning.