Save Jude's Plant Business

Nancy Haverington is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Jude Haverington is a deaf entrepreneur and owner of The Silent Seed, a rare and unusual plant business. When he went to fix a leaky roof in his propagation house, he discovered irreparable damage. Please help us raise the last $50 to get Jude out of the woods and into the plants.

We hope you'll scroll all the way down and enjoy new pictures of our adventure as it nears the end.

We hauled as many of his thousands of plants outdoors as possible. Amazing friends showed up to help. Through dangerous circumstances for humans, plants and business in the cold rain, we removed the old ridge, roof, and north wall...

Then an early season nor'easter hit...

Happiness is a room without a roof? Not so much.

We built a new wall and raised the new ridge over troubled waters.

The sun came out creating half a blue sky as we built the new roof frame...

and Anthony and Jude covered it with plywood.

Next day Geoff and Jude finished covering the south side with plywood under clear skies.

Before they could finish closing in the roof, another nor'easter hit.

Jude and I worked through the night trying to protect plants and building materials, but in the morning, it looked like this:

We moved most of his plants back inside but it was almost as cold as being outside.

Jude's beloved fish, Starbuck, a Giant Gourami and the ambassador of The Silent Seed, did not make it despite our desperate attempts to keep her warm.

We are extremely grateful to Anthony, Spencer, Peter and Geoff who labored through horrible conditions with us, to Peter B who showed up to help me measure birdsmouth cuts in rafters, to Laurel whose lunch and homemade cookies soothed our cold, soggy bodies and lifted our spirits, and to Jean whose lunch the next day kept us going.

Spencer in the midst.

And we are beyond grateful to you whose financial help will enable us to finish the roof with trim, flashing, ice shield, tar paper, venting, shingles, and insulation. It takes about a week to access donations, so soon after, I'll share pictures of the progress that you've made possible.

In the meantime, Jude has begun working on the interior and assessing the damage inside. He lost close to 50 plants; the others show signs of stress but are incredibly resilient. It's exciting to see new green shoots on dead-looking stems. Moments after I shot this photo of the rafters against the blue sky, a bald eagle flew over head.

From tragedy...

To new life sprouting.

                                                       THANK YOU for sharing this adventure with us! Please help
                                                       spread the word so that we can finish up.

                                                       We lost the next weekend to another storm, this one with snow.
                                                        I couldn't bear to take a picture of our materials and roof sheathing
                                                        covered with white stuff. We had to wait till the sun dried everything
                                                        to resume work.

Chapter Two: the adventure continues.

Doing it right. Anthony brought in consultants to analyze the plant house and come up with a strategy for creating an indoor environment that will keep the humidity and condensation from harming the new wood frame. We're installing a good ventilation system, plastic, and layers of rigid insulation boards that will also make his propagation house more energy efficient.

John cutting joists...

Jude's plants perking up!

Our crew still smiling. (Anthony, his daughter, Lauren, his son, Spencer, and my son, Jude)

Outside, Geoff installs trim.

Drip edge for the front gable.

Our fearless leader, Geoff.

Geoff and Spencer installing trim and drip edge on the back gable end.

Erica shows up to make the crew homemade soup, rice, roasted squash, and bread for lunch! When we open the door, the kitchen smells like Thanksgiving.

Speaking of thanks, we're committed to being good stewards of your donations. We bought materials after doing cost (and quality) comparisons. We got deep discounts for perfect materials in torn packaging. We bought un-primed trim. As the guys worked, I primed. You can see my priming station behind Erica in our garden above.

Jude, Lauren, Anthony, John. We couldn't tempt Geoff and Spencer off the roof.

Jude hauls bundles of shingles onto the roof as Spencer and Geoff install the ice shield and felt paper. I tried to help carry shingles from the trailer to the plant house but couldn't lift one. It's like trying to haul a dead body - floppy dead weight - not that I know what hauling a dead body is like! But Lauren hauled them right along with Spencer, Jude, and David who came out to help.

Saturday, November 18. We have half a roof!

Tomorrow, the south side will bring its own challenges with the old addition hanging onto it.

Sunday, November 19. Jude using his new favorite toy (a multi-something-or-other) to prepare the south side for trim above the old addition.

The crew lays shingles on the south side. Jude watches me sign to him from below. "Ready for the ridge vent?"

Trusty ridge vent.

Jude, Brian, Lauren, Geoff, and Spencer.

Geoff leaves the crew to finish the roof while he installs the soffit vent.

The fearsome threesome.

Girl conquers roof.

Trimming the shingles. Gable walls and old addition have to wait till spring.

"Doesn't anybody want lunch?" Jean so wants to feed the crew but it's Sunday and everybody's anxious to keep working so they can salvage a bit of their weekend. Thank you anyway, it's the thought that counts!

Meantime, Brian hauls insulation for the ceiling.

Testing the ceiling solution. Jude will continue working on it this week.

Anthony the problem solver. He'll figure it out.

The whole project is a thinking thing because...

First, it's an old building built before rulers or levels were invented, apparently.

Second, the old addition is putting strain on the south side. And rebuilding the roof is putting strain on it making it sag more and sag oddly enough to make finishing the eaves a puzzle. We will shore up the addition roof as soon as the plant house is buttoned up and rebuild it next spring.

Third, it's Jude's propagation house, a year-round heated greenhouse. The wood needs protection from humidity and condensation and the plants need a healthy, mold-free environment.