first days

We’re here! N. and I drove to central PA this past Saturday after receiving a ton of moving help from my dad and well-wishing (and travel snacks) from K. and J. On Sunday we completed the trip from Lamar, PA to Menomonie, WI, arriving at 1:30 Monday morning. The weather was mercifully mild, and we unpacked and returned our truck by Monday afternoon.

And now work! Our name is Hexagon Projects and Farm, and we will be working on building a business here in Menomonie, which is in western Wisconsin, close to the border with Minnesota and located along the Red Cedar River, which flows south to join the Chippewa before emptying into the Mississippi. South of the center of Menomonie and near Downsville are Hexagon’s 9 acres, forming an irregular hexagon, and including a house, garage, 2 pole barns, and a large and beautiful but crumbling dairy barn. About 3.5 acres are sloping tillable field, and here we anticipate a combination of vegetables, berries, beans, and grazing. 2 acres have been nicely grazed by sheep over the past few years, and we plan on continuing this, as well as establishing an orchard. Anything related to animals will require much research and I’m sure will result in constant mistakes!

The remaining land is covered by buildings or is wooded, and we’ve worked in these first few days to learn these wild areas and also to figure out where the wells are, how many trees are dangerously close to buildings, and what we’ll need to do to keep certain things from deteriorating. This sounds like a downer, but it’s amazing work! As we do as much as possible before it is extremely snowy and/or cold, I’ll give all the updates. Thanks for reading!!

-pppppp