Solid footing for the Cidery

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At Vermont Family Forests’ Anderson Wells Farm in Lincoln, a sweet, simple, 12′ x 20′ barn stands at the head of the long, apple tree-lined driveway. Likely built 80 or so years ago, the barn’s sills were set close to the ground, inviting moisture, and as a result, the dirt-floored barn was slowly rotting from the ground up.

This summer, VFF hired Miles Jenness of Vermont Heavy Timber to build a solid new foundation topped with timber-framed sills and floor. To do that, Miles moved the barn off to one side so that he and his crew could excavate, pour concrete piers, lay foundation stones, and build the Japanese larch timber-framed sills and deck atop a white oak mud sill.

Last week, it was time to move the barn back onto her solid new foundation. The short video below catches the action. We’re calling this beautiful building “the Cidery,” since she stands amid the 40 or so apple trees at Wells Farm whose cider sweetens so many VFF gatherings. She’ll greet visitors for many more decades to come on her high-and-dry footing.