Beautiful day and spring on the way

Mother Nature has blessed us the past couple of days with some early spring temperatures.  Gorgeous weather combined with a wonderful visit from family didn't do anything for my productivity.  As the length of daylight seems to grow so does the to-do list.  Sometimes you have to stop and enjoy family and playtime lest that piece of paper makes you its slave.  

Ignoring the mountain of items to do and while playing king/queen of the snow pile, you can't help but notice the air thick with the smell of boiling sap.  Two days of sunshine and warm temperatures have the sap running full bore.  There will be no boiling on this farm again this year.  An inexpensive, used and in-need-of-repair hobby rig and salvaged wood shed is in the plans for next year if only to supply us and our baked goods for market with that sweet gold.

Little man and his Pop (my father) played in the snow; I am not sure which one of them is more tired!  Pop also took a look at my oven/electrical problem.  Farmers market is looking a lot more promising now that the oven appears to be working again.  I have learned how to fix and build a lot in my years, but one thing I don't monkey with is electricity.  Replacing a light fixture or an outlet are not out of the question; changing out breakers in the main circuit panel - not by these two hands.  Thankfully Pop has more than my lifetime's worth of experience in that area.

With a couple of days away from the off-farm job, this weekend's list is especially ambitious.  After family departs tomorrow, there is hope that the kitchen wall project will finally come to conclusion.  Tomato starts, which are already a couple of weeks late, will finally see their place in pots, albeit inside the house for now.  Minor vehicle maintenance and perhaps some jams and jellies from that which was frozen at the peak of freshness will also be crossed off the list.  The incubator will be double checked, cleaned and fired up before weeks end.  Three or four dozen eggs into the incubator means three or four less in my refrigerator.

Warmer weather and melting snow have encouraged the chickens to venture further than the garage and across the dooryard.   Spring is fast approaching, this farm will be amazing this year and this woman is ready to make it happen!

When you know you are where you belong

Driving home after ten hours away from the farm I switch off the administrative and dispatcher side of my brain and start thinking about the next seven or eight hours of work on the farm.  Sap from the maple trees around the house has taken occupancy in every barrel, bucket, gallon jug, glass jar and other storage container available to me save for the bath tub.  If we don't boil, we will be wasting precious sap as it dribbles down the sides of the trees.

I arrive at the house to find that Little Man and his father have gotten the fire started and the contents of our wash tub evaporator are just about to a boil.  We visit with my cousin over steam rising from the clear liquid.  After a short time the color deepens and the air takes on a sweet smell just as Little Man's mood turns sour.  Time to go inside, make dinner and begin our evening ritual of bath, brush teeth, story and bed while his father tends to the boil.

At 9:00 p.m. I take the reins of the boiling operation as Little man's father has to get cleaned up and get some sleep so he can leave before sun up for his off farm job.  The evening is cold; winter still has its claws in this night.  The clouds let forth small bursts of flurries every now and again and I am sitting on an overturned plastic bucket in mud at least two inches deep, in front of a roaring wood stove and vat of sweet liquid.

Around 11:30 p.m. the sap has finally come to and stays at the perfect boil.  Every last joint in my body aches from carting wood across the lawn to the wood stove and chopping it by hand.  My feet are soaked through to the bone as I realize I am still wearing the clothes that I wore to my off farm job - certainly not ones made for playing in the mud.  The makeshift door to my boiling rig is burning through and I have scalded my hands too many times to count as I draw off syrup by lantern light.  Shortly before 1:00 a.m. I head inside with my 'blackstrap' maple syrup, steam rolling off the hot bucket melting any snow flakes that dare come near. 

As I pass through the garage (aka rabbit shed), I notice a doe carrying hay in her mouth (a tell-tale sign of ensuing delivery).  She is early and I am out of nest boxes.  Syrup bucket placed inside and out of reach of furry critters, I start to work crafting a nest box out of scrap wood in the garage.  Thankfully the garage is plenty far from Little man's crib lest I wake him during the wee hours of this morning.  Nest box in place, I retreat inside. 

Clothes reeking of campfire smoke, maple syrup and mud are discarded directly into the washing machine.  A quick shower for the purpose of warming the bones and joints and a couple of over-the-counter pain relievers to ensure this beaten body can get moving in the morning.  Exhausted, I fall into bed, the cold seeping out through my pores drives the cats off the bed.  My last thoughts - in less than five hours I am actually looking forward to starting all over again.

Forecast for tomorrow - 45 degrees!

I purposely omit the frozen precipitation they so ominously include since at forty-five degrees there is little chance of it hanging around very long.  Unfortunately, Friday will be the last of the warm days anywhere in the extended forecast.  I am eager to use this day to its fullest and get outside and tackle every project on the to-do list including ones which require far more time than I will have available. 

My lofty goals include small projects like putting the roof on the rabbit shed - by myself, while the ground is still frozen and icy, while I am the sole person home to take care of Little Man - and the nearest ambulance is more than fifteen minutes away.  Along comes the common sense fairy with a smack on the back of the head like Gibbs to Dinozzo, 'Pick one, Jen.'  There is only so much one can accomplish with Little man in tow or during the short 90 - 120 minutes that he is snoozing.

While I still have the desire to jump head long into my to-do list weather be damned; I waffle between taking the evaporator pan out of the basement and cleaning it up outside or working on the chicken coop.  Both smaller projects which can, ideally, be almost completely accomplished in less than two hours.  All will depend on how much regular farm maintenance Little man and his father were able to get done today while I was working off the farm. 

The plans for the chicken coop include removing the rotting/damaged floor, removing ill planned chicken nesters and replacing them with roosting poles and installing fewer, new, well-placed nesting boxes.  I like some of the Chicken Chick's idea's in this post and hope to incorporate a few of them into our coop before summer.  A complete overhaul of the coop (a project which has only been over a year in the making) WILL happen before the snow flies this fall.

The conversation turns to sap

With the impending arrival of mud season, the predominant conversation in Northern Vermont involves sugaring.  Temperatures have been flirting with forty degrees.  Days above freezing and nights below are ideal for the clear, sweet liquid to pour forth from the tree.  Traditionally a small hole was drilled in the tree and a metal tap similar to this one is inserted.  Sap is diverted from the tree into the waiting bucket below.  Most small farms and some larger ones still collect sap in this traditional manner.  But there are some who collect it by gravity or even by vacuum pump.

In every industry efficiencies are developed and what used to be accomplished by trekking through the woods with a bucket in hand or accompanied by horse and sleigh, can now be accomplished by electrical or gas powered pumps and plastic pipeline.  A sugar wood can be developed in even the most treacherous terrain, pipeline strung and either gravity fed or vacuum system applied to move the sap from the trees into a waiting collection vessel.  This vessel can be at the roadside or even right in the sugar house.  No longer is the processor required to arduously trek through the woods to collect sap. 

Applying reverse osmosis technology to syrup production now allows the processor to remove upwards of 75% of the water from the syrup before boiling it.  This reduces boiling time significantly and produces finished syrup at much faster rates.  Those using RO often use oil or gas to boil instead of wood, thus making the processing of concentrated sap a financial necessity.  By the time one has invested in an RO unit and an evaporator large enough to process multiple gallons of syrup per minute; the value could easily exceed that of a medium sized house and a new 4 x 4 truck.  While the financial windfall from selling several thousand gallons of syrup at between $40-$50/gallon (depending on the year) is impressive, it must be carefully weighed against the cost of these jumbo evaporation units.  Then, if you have a bad year, the weather doesn't cooperate, the wind blows down trees and limbs onto your pipeline, the price of oil goes through the roof, etc.  Your couple to several hundred thousand dollar investment in sugaring equipment can collect dust and the bank or finance company still expects their payments on time. 

What does vacuuming syrup from the tree do to its longevity?

There comes a time when one has to decide whether they want to work hard or just plain be stubborn.  Sometimes I find a happy medium, other times I can't see the forest through the trees and end up repeatedly rapping my head off the branches until I realize there was a much easier way to do this!  Then there are traditions.  I collect syrup in a traditional manner with metal buckets and taps.  I do; however, take the tractor with my storage buckets out to my maple trees in order to collect it.  If we were farming full time then perhaps we would consider doing away with the tractor and employing horses to do more of the work around the farm.  Until then, the horses would not be worked enough to keep them in shape and their feed would cost more than several years worth of tractor fuel, overhaul and maintenance would cost.  Maybe someday.

In the meantime, Mother Nature has provided us with two days above freezing and the forecast foretells two more.  On my way home from work Monday night I saw my friends and neighbors rushing to get their taps in and get the last fixes to their pipelines completed before the flow of sap which will probably happen this week.  When I got home I took a long look at the longer range forecast and predictions are for temperatures to dip back into the twenties for most of the weekend and next week.  Since we tap our trees with the traditional metal spigots, DH and I were both concerned that any taps we might have installed this week would dry up or freeze up in the colder weather and we would either have to re-tap (hurting the trees) or call the season a bust.  The decision to wait was made.  Tomorrow, Little man and his father will search out the ten taps from last year as well as the additional 25 taps we purchased over the summer.  Buckets will be examined to determine how many can no longer be patched and how many more we need.  Extra egg sales this week have supplemented the farm fund which will be used to purchase those buckets and covers.  The taps, storage barrels and buckets will all be washed on Friday and Saturday and made ready for their seasonal debut, probably at the end of next week.

Finally, the decision will need to be made on whether we will try and make the evaporator pan - which I thought would certainly fit the wood stove in the basement - work with our current stove, purchase fire brick to make an arch for the pan or buy some other kind of food grade pan to fit into the barrel stove.  Perhaps if the weather stays warm enough I might be able to see if the plastic my cousin has will work for the greenhouse.

Time flies when you are flying by the seat of your pants

Colleague: "What happened?  Did you give up farming?"

Me: "Heaven's no, why?"

Colleague: "It has been more than a month since you posted anything on your blog.  I miss it!"

Me: "A month - no, it was only a week or so..."  She was right, more than a month has passed and I lost complete track of time.  Days have, passed into weeks, and now over month without my realizing it.

I endeavor not to talk about my perceived misery on this blog.  So, I didn't post when I was in a bad mood, nor did I post when I thought I had nothing positive to say.  What I didn't realize is that there are people out there who are really eager to hear about not only my adventures but the misadventures as well.  So I will be posting much more regularly, they may be short, or they may only have a picture with a short comment, but I will be posting.

The new year arrived and with it an over abundance of rabbits.  Our processor had not been accepting rabbits since the beginning of deer season; they were busy with not only processing venison but also everyone who contracted with them for processing of their fall beef and pork as well.  48 extra rabbits consume copious amounts of feed, especially when they are weeks past their regular processing weight.  Feed costs are high and I was very worried about putting propane in the tank and making sure the bank wasn't going to come after the car in addition to feeding extra rabbits.  Finally, two trips to the processor, cleaned and repaired cages and racks; 72 rabbits had dwindled to a manageable 24.



This one is so much less rusty than the one I have



A sugaring pan was acquired, very inexpensively, on Craigslist.  It is a little bit rusty, but significantly less expensive than purchasing one new.  It is the smaller part of a much larger boiling rig so it will require some valves and caps in order to hold the clear, sweet liquid which will become maple syrup.  For now it rests in the garage waiting for a day near freezing when it can be cleaned and made ready for sugaring.  Ten below zero on the farm last night and a decent snow storm predicted for the weekend give the false impression that spring is still a ways away; I am not so confident.

DH found a full-time job off the farm.  I was worried about mounting expenses and lack of farm raised income.   His off-farm income will help toward heat and feed bills.  It will take a little getting used to as we attempt to divide chores for those rare days we both work off the farm; however, it is nice to have a tiny bit more financial wiggle room.

At least that was until the car went to the mechanic to make the repairs necessary to get it inspected.  'Jen, you can't put this car back on the road,' said the mechanic that my uncle uses for all of his cars and has for almost two decades.  I figured he was being overly cautious.  I took it to a second mechanic who told me that I was nuts to even drive the car home.

That was where all progress slowed.  No, more like halted.  Maybe more like stopped on a dime.  Actually - slammed head-long, 75 mph into a rock ledge.  After fighting for most of the fall just to keep our heads above water, getting hit with yet another - NO YOU CAN'T - was about all I could take.  A couple of bottles of wine and a few bad days of self-pity later, I screwed my head back on straight, dug in my heels and decided, that what was happening in my life was not going to beat me.  

My dream is to live life on the farm and if I didn't decide to make that happen, no one was going to make it happen for me.  For now I am back on track.  I still worry far too much.  We have not received an inheritance nor have we won the Powerball so the money concerns are still there.  Thankfully, little man is healthy.  My body is getting stronger by the day as I carry totes full of frozen water bottles into and out of the house sometimes twice or three times per day; although I still have a long way to go.  With DH out in the working world, a new potential market for farm products is being developed.  The car payment is still late, the current rig still needs repair and both it and the newly acquired used rig need tires, the rabbit shed still doesn't have a roof and we are down to less than 20% in the propane tank - but I am not giving up!

Warm weather & baby birds

The weather has been record-breaking warm in Northwestern Vermont.  Daytime temperatures in the seventy degree range have brought our sugaring season to an end.  Just as one project wraps up, another begins; our baby chicks are beginning to hatch. 

Before I left for work this morning there were four of them hopping around in the incubator cheaping away.  If DH has time today he will be cleaning out the brooder and preparing it for the new arrivals this evening.  Before each new set of chicks we are sure to completely clean out and disinfect the brooder to kill any possible germs which might be lurking there.  You wouldn't want to eat off the floor, but we try to be careful.  The small amount of cleaning solution and only a few minutes of our time are very inexpensive in comparison to an entire egg-laying season lost.  We have been lucky and lost only three birds, out of 30 times that, to unknown causes in the six years we have been raising chickens.

We usually have only one round in the incubator each season, but my step-daughter has never seen chicks being born.  She will be with us in late April so we will start one more batch of eggs next week that will be ready when she is here.

Remember that phone call about more rabbits...  we are cleaning out some more room in the garage.

More on the rabbits

I hardly ever get my hair cut, but recently I went to the hairdresser.  I treated myself to a desperately needed haircut and some nice warm highlights to perk up my appearance and perhaps distract onlookers from the growing bags under my eyes.  Through the progress of the conversation we covered many of the activities which are occurring on the farm and the direction in which I hope the farm will go.  "There is a man just up the road who used to raise rabbits who is looking to sell some of his cages."  Wonderful, I made a phone call.

This extremely helpful man and I discussed raising rabbits for the kitchen table and for profit.  Arrangement of cages, cost of feed, hay, pine shavings, etc.  As this exchange neared its end he thought out loud, "You know, I think I know someone who is looking to sell their breeding stock."  The following day my phone rang.

Jennifer and I talked for a little while about New Zealands and Californians, bucks, does and kits, fryers and the next generation.  A short time later arrangements were made to transfer ownership of four does, two bucks, some 4lb meat rabbits and several kits.

This week will be a busy one.  Later this morning, after we say goodbye to visiting family, we are headed two towns over to look at cages.  From there we will stop at the lumber yard to pick up or perhaps arrange delivery of the lumber for the shed which will house the rabbits.  Feed, hay and shavings will be acquired in my travels to and from my off farm job this week.  Evenings this week will be spent assembling cages, housing and daylight and energy permitting work on the new shed.  Saturday, the new venture truly begins when we pick up the furry critters.

Oh, did I mention that it is sugaring season?  Somewhere in there we need to carve out some time to boil sap.  Spring is never boring on the farm.

Maple Syrup 2012: the beginning

We have doubled our sugaring operation this year - 10 taps/buckets!

Here are the results from the 2011 season, which happened

before I realized there would be a new one on the way.

First Ever Maple Syrup!

Thirty six and change years into this life, I joined a long tradition of Vermont farmers and made my first ever maple syrup.  There was a little trial and error in the process, but it is all part of the learning process.

We tapped a wise old Rock Maple in the middle of what used to be the cow pasture and what will this year be a Christmas tree field as well possibly a firewood landing (this one isn’t my project, thankfully).  A few drops fell pitifully into the buckets and after three days of perfect sugaring weather we had an amber colored twelve ounces of sap.  Anyone who knows anything about maple sap (which of course I didn’t) knows that maple sap must be clear and slightly sweet.  The bitter amber colored liquid was discarded.  DH and I discussed the neighbor’s daily yield of over 400 gallons; it was time to consider relocating the taps or giving up on this project.

Five of the six taps were relocated to another, slightly younger, although still well over a century old, Rock Maple and its companions a little further into the pasture.  We watched in amazement as the beautiful, clear liquid poured from the tap hole before the drill bit was even removed.  Three hours later we emptied half full buckets of sap.  Back to the house with 40+ pound buckets of what would soon be liquid gold; the sap was filtered through a strainer and stored in gallon jugs until the fire was ready for the boil.  Each day of good weather yielded just over five gallons of sap from the six taps. 

Sap should be boiled as soon as possible after collection to produce the best quality syrup.  Time and off farm work schedules provided me with one day per week to boil.  With only five taps producing sap, it doesn’t take too long to run out of gallon size storage containers.  Out to the barn we went, in search of something big enough and with enough surface area to evaporate the water from the sap.  No evaporator was found lurking in amongst the years of stored treasures; a ten or fifteen gallon washtub would have to suffice.  Washed and scrubbed clean of the years of collected dust, the washtub was placed over the maple fire on a metal grate.  In elementary school I learned that water weighs over eight and a half pounds per gallon.  I knew that the salvaged grate would need a little help holding up over 100 pounds of maple sap.  Back to the barn again, we found a couple of pieces of rebar which we placed across the fire pit to support the weight of boiling liquid.  Sap was strained through cheesecloth into the washtub and set atop the fire pit.

The first day we boiled, it was windy and cold, but standing next to the warm, delightful smelling liquid for six hours was not at all un-enjoyable.  On the second boiling day, the sun shown brightly, DH started the fire early and the boil began.  While boiling I was able to get a little yard work done and cleaned up some more stones which were deposited from the driveway onto the lawn during snow removal this winter.  Ten hours later and facing imminent darkness, the so-close to syrup liquid was removed from the fire, strained through more cheesecloth and into a 16 quart saucepan.  Inside to the stove top for finishing.

All-in-all this first-ever attempt at making maple syrup was a success.  Ten quarts of varying grades of syrup have been sealed into glass jars and stored in the cool basement awaiting a gift giving occasion or simply to be added to the Maple-Oat-Wheat Bread which we make every other week or so.  The first batch yielded what I would guess would be a medium A grade amber syrup.  The second batch was much darker, although I think tastes even better, and is a solid grade B.

A hobby sized evaporator will be in the plans before next spring and while a pipeline is not in our immediate future, we will be looking into expanding our sugar production a little each year.  Someday I might even have my own sugar shack.  This weekend; however, I will be having pancakes with fresh – HOMEMADE – maple syrup!

The taps are in

With temperatures below zero this morning, the thought of tapping the maple trees was a little ominous.  DH spoke with our neighbor yesterday and he already has over 400 gallons of sap from the little bit of warm weather we had this past weekend.  Northern Vermont is predicted to have temperatures in the 40s and maybe even 50 over the next couple of days.  So out we went this morning, trudging through the feet of snow that have accumulated this winter and tapped our trees.  This particular task was not as daunting as it sounds as we are only tapping six buckets.  Our first venture into syrup has begun.  Boiling will take place over the outside fire pit on my days off.  If we are successful at making even a syrup-like substance then we will look at obtaining more buckets and taps for next year.  An old barrel woodstove is stored in the basement and I have found plans for making a homemade evaporator for this exact type of stove.  I will keep everyone updated on our sweet sticky journey.

These two buckets are on two different trees, one behind the other