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99-001 Headquarters Prototypes Development
Numerous prototypes saw progress during 1999, and the headquarters site received attention. Nancy, the headquarters site owner, is the Principal unless otherwise noted.
- Storm Shelter
- Originally billed as a demonstration of a bermed hut with a metal roof, for surviving the pole shift winds and firestorms, the cost of renovating an old stone barn foundation and fixing a roof on the foundation proved to be excessive. $2,000 was contributed toward this demo in 1999, but has been set aside toward the purchase and installation of an off-the-shelf buried storm shelter with a metal trap door. $1,500 is needed to complete this project.
- Family Garden
- An old garden site, neglected for decades, site required extensive tilling and weeding before a garden could be planted in 1999. The Board designated $725 during 1999 to cover a tiller, hand planter, weed sprayer, and other supplies such as a drip hose, fertilizer, and weed killer. Tenatious weed vines were choking the old apple tree and raspberry bushes, so were erradicated. The garden produced 15' high seed corn as well as yellow and white corn and several varieties of beans and squash, from which seed for the Seed TEAM was collected. Biennial produce was stored in the Root Cellar to produce seed the following year. Ron was the Principal during 1999.
- Root Cellar
- An ideal spot, cool and dark, exists in the basement of the headquarters building under the steeple, as it is surrounded on 5 of 6 sides with stone walls without windows, and has a narrow opening into the rest of the basement. Produce from the 1999 growing season was stored behind old insultation board. A request for $400 for lumber to build a wall and a door and for storage containers is outstanding.
- Hand Tools
- The headquarters site provided a variety of antique hand tools, donated by the site owner to the nonprofit. These include scythes, drills, saws, hammers, and grinding wheels. Additional tools may be purchased at local auctions. Cleanup of the rusty tools was started in 1999 by Ron, but extensive cleanup remains.
- Wetlands as Food
- The wetlands on the headquarters site host edible weeds such as cattail and arrowroot, and being spring fed hold the potential of hosting wild rice. A bushel of wild rice was sown by Nancy and Ichi in 1999 at a cost of $125, not yet authorized as an expense.