DOLLARS CORNER — Most days, you’ll find Dean Yankee in his chair by the wood stove. The garage door on his outbuilding will be open, so he’ll see you coming. You probably saw his Craigslist post, or heard from a friend and just had to see the place for yourself. Just bear in mind: There’s a method to the madness.
Welcome to Yankee’s Custom Farming: Sales, Salvage and More!
The exclamation point is necessary. The emphasis really is on the “more.”
“If you want it, I can find it,” said Yankee, the proprietor of the 60-year-old business just north of Dollars Corner.
Turning onto his 15 acres from Northeast 239th Street, a rare moment of December sunshine illuminates the tractor parts, furniture, old gas pumps and barrels full of metal that decorate Yankee’s yard. He’s in his chair, talking to a contractor who’s going to make the big garage even bigger.
You’ll smell the muted campfire scent of the wood stove as you walk past a brass ashtray from the early 20th century, along a shelf filled with tools, random memorabilia and an at-home radiation detector.
If you ask, Yankee will give you his life story, and he’ll meander through his 59 years like a river without any dams to stop the flow of his voice.
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