Work has begun to restore the farmhouse at 1089 North Pleasant St, in North Amherst MA to something closer to its original form.  Here are a few pictures of your community farm members at work!

David and Donnie cleared out most of the basement — including demolishing the wood root cellar structure. 

We successfully took down the rear chimney down through the roof and we will continue the demolition down to the ground.

We still have more to do!

Now the backstory
With the land debt retired and a long-term lease finalized, we are moving to put the farmhouse into a fully functional, durable state so that our lessee, Simple Gifts Farm, can accept full maintenance responsibility. Using the Community Preservation Act funds from the Town of Amherst, we engaged a historic buildings consultant, Gregory Farmer, to help us understand the past life of our farmhouse.

We then completed a restoration and remodeling design. It involves a great deal of work — we are estimating around $400,000 — but completing it will achieve the following:

A: providing an enduringly useful and affordable farmhouse, able to accommodate multiple occupancy scenarios into the distant future.
B: adding two bedrooms, and achieving full compliance with building codes for multi-family accommodations
C: reducing the maintenance cost to a manageable level.
D: restoring the building to being an attractive presence on North Pleasant Street.
E: improving the building to provide healthy, comfortable accommodations for its occupants.

The cost of the renovation will be shared among several partners including the Town of Amherst, Simple Gifts Farm, local volunteers and donors.  If you would like to make a donation or participate in one of our upcoming fundraisers, please contact Bruce Coldham at bcoldham155@comcast.net or call 413-348-6706.