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seana and marissa's picture

Fast & Furious Creamery

It’s been 20 days since we finally got the building permit, and there hasn’t been an idle day since. After all those months of waiting and trying to navigate through red tape and overcome bureaucracy, it’s actually happening. The creamery is really coming to life. The action has been fast and furious as we rush to bring the creamery into a functional state. We are pretty much working at a pace that pushes the limits of our budget, and especially our physical and mental stamina. Our muscles & joints have ached in new and interesting places, and we’ve only sustained minor cuts and bruises. It’s amazing though how the body can be so dead-tired, but the mind keeps racing. Well, mine does anyway. To paraphrase the lyrics of “Gin & Juice,” one of the greatest rap songs of all time: I’ve got my mind on my cheese and my cheese on my mind. Here is a recap of the big accomplishments of the past 20 days…

 

view of vents for floor drains, wood forms for the curbs that will be poured for the new milk room
another view of the drain vents as well as the rebar for the new concrete
a major bargain - we got this sink for $300 from a guy who used to have a BBQ place in Berkeley. It needs some cleaning up.
Dave is removing the worst toilet in Tomales (well, it looked like the worst to me)
here is the clean shiny new low-flow toilet, which Marin County required
The concrete truck is setting up to pour the new floor
Here is Gary, Marissa's dad, lending a helping hand to spread the new concrete around.
New business license for Marin County. I'm annoyed by the fact that they called me Seana "Dalton" -that's not my name.
Framing and doors for new milk room
Dave is boring holes for the new plubming on this "wet wall" where most of the plumbing will run
Here is the plaster crew applying a base glue type product to help seal and fill the old plaster's cracks and holes
These are some of the color options for the new plaster. I chose "Dove Gray"
The plaster crew worked 8 hours straight while Dave worked on plumbing.
Sparks were flying as Dave and I both took turns grinding off old nails and bolts from the walls
Working into the night, Dave finished up the plumbing on this wall
A view into the creamery from the area we call the "nook" which is for dry storage.
A view from the entry way, with Dave checking on his plubming work.
A fair amount of beer has gone into this creamery project. On this evening, it was brews from Deschutes in Oregon.
As you can see, it looks like a construction site!
seana and marissa's picture

Fall is in Full Swing

It's getting cold in Tomales!

Which means it's almost Winter, which means it's almost January 31st, which means it's almost time to build the creamery if we want to stay on track!

Amazingly, Seana and Dave finished composing all the drafts for the Building Dept. to review before being officially submitted. To me, this feels like a huge step forward. Also, the cheese vat is due to arrive soon! It feels like waiting for a baby to be born...is it here yet?? Have we reached the due date?? I'm sure it's even more exciting for Seana and Dave, since it's really their vat and their creamery being developed. But ultimately I, too, will use the space (hopefully sooner rather than later), so I feel pretty elated at the progress. It doesn't actually feel real yet, as most dreams-come-true probably don't at first. But I bet once the jackhammer hits the concrete, reality will hit me, too.

Fall is in Full Swing