Tuttle Farmhouse Documentary
by Adam Bedient
This short documentary follows the remarkable journey of the historic farmhouse: from Ken Sevene's painstaking board-by-board dismantling of a 18th century classic cape, to the master craftspeople at Preservation Timbers who reassembled it using the same methods and materials as the original builders would have used nearly 250 years ago.
Future Forward
The Desert is a visible reminder of the complex choices that people faced in the past, not unlike some of the challenges that face us today. European-style farming had been stripping top soil in New England since the early days of colonization. And while it may seem plausible that people “didn’t know any better” when the Tuttles farmed here in the 1800s, in fact farmers were well aware that their fields would “run out” if they continued to remove crops year after year and “put nothing back.” So why did they continue a way of life that jeopardized the health of the land? Can we not ask ourselves that very question?
Future Forward
The Desert is a crucial site of Freeport's agricultural history that nurtured close-knit communities that have much to teach us. On the other hand, the Desert is also a visible reminder of economic decline and harmful disturbance to the land. CAE is committed to telling the stories of the past with complexity as Freeport builds a future on the cutting edge of agricultural innovation in soil regeneration and sustainable farming as part of a nature-centric future.
We've cultivated partnerships with similarly mission-driven groups and organizations all across New England.
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