Moving slowly, so as not to dislodge its over sized cargo, a truck hauling a flatbed made the short trek from Old Tavern Farm to Old Homestead Farm on Sunday, moving a 30-year-old greenhouse from one location to the other.
Chelsea and Ben Hatcher, owner of Old Homestead Farm on Greenville Road in New Ipswich, have been planning the move for weeks.
The greenhouse was built by Chelsea’s father, when her family owned the land Old Tavern Farm is built on. When her parents retired, much of the land was placed into conservation, but a nearly 40-acre piece was subdivided, and is now where the Hatchers are building their own smallholder farm, where they board horses, raise chickens, turkeys, pigs and beef cows. And, soon, will be growing their own vegetables in Chelsea’s family greenhouse.
When the owners of Old Tavern Farm offered the greenhouse to the Hatchers, they were eager to bring home a piece of Chelsea’s childhood.
“It would have been cheaper to buy a brand new one, but it’s definitely a piece of her family’s history, and we definitely wanted it here. With it being her dad’s greenhouse, we wanted a piece of him to be part of this farm, too,” Ben said.
“The sentimental value is worth more than anything,” Chelsea added.
When the greenhouse was built, her parents used it to grow flowers and some produce, despite the fact that at the time, the property wasn’t a large working farm, and certainly didn’t have need for such a large greenhouse, according to Chelsea. But her father built it anyway, and it carries with it a lot of good memories from her childhood, Chelsea said. She knew she wanted to bring it to her new home – the land which once was one piece with her childhood home, and still carried that legacy.
But, the trouble was, how to move it from one farm to the other.
“Originally, we though we would take it down piece by piece. But after looking at it a little bit, we realized the easiest way would be to just pick it up as one piece and move it,” said Ben Hatcher. “We’ve moved big things before – gazebos, and that type of stuff, but nothing this big. But once we determined this was the easiest way to move it, that’s what we did.”
And “easiest” turned out to be a relative term.
For several weeks before the move itself, there were preparations that had to be done on both sides of the move. At Old Tavern Farm, the greenhouse was jacked up, and steel I-beams were placed underneath it, so that it could be moved from its current foundation. At their own farm, the Hatchers poured a new, custom foundation, which would allow the greenhouse to be set down, and the I-beams removed so it would sit on its new foundations.
On Saturday night, the greenhouse was moved onto a flatbed trailer, and ready to be moved to its new home, accompanied by a police escort, and an accompaniment of family and friends walking alongside, to ensure that the oversized load wasn’t damaged by tree branches.
The move wasn’t without its bumps, Chelsea said – the greenhouses’ attendants had to cut a few tree branches overhanging the roadway, and in one case, had to remove a mailbox from its post temporarily to get it through. But shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, the truck carrying the greenhouse made its final trek up the Hatcher’s driveway, to deliver it next to the foundation they had poured for it.
“We’ve learned a million wrong ways to move a greenhouse, but we figured out the right way. We’re really happy, and the fact that it’s here, and it’s a 30 year old building that we picked up off its foundation and moved here with not even a broken panel, that’s pretty good,” Ben said.
“I’m so excited. I can’t wait to drive up the driveway and see it. I just know it’s going to make me smile every time I see it. And I’m excited to start growing produce, too,” said Chelsea.
Old Homestead Farm currently sells their meat through a farm store, on their farm. While the store does offer produce, it’s produce sourced from other local farms, Chelsea said. Once the couple has the greenhouse up and running, they hope to not only grow vegetables for their own table, but also selling them at the store and, in the future, local farmer’s markets.
The farm, which has become a full-time occupation, is still in the growing stages, Ben said, but they hope to continue to increase their cow herds to up to 100 head, and expand their produce growing.
The greenhouse, which is expected to be installed and ready for their first plantings in December, will be part of that future.