Monday, April 16, 2012
Lil Lamb
Lambing season has officially ended. We now have eleven lambs: three sets of twins and five singletons. There is so much cuteness I'm having trouble breathing. Everyone (the ewes) did a wonderful job...the births were normal, and the lambs are healthy and robust. It's been a little touch-and-go with the last lamb, who was born to a first-time mom, barely a year old herself. We've been calling her Teen Mom. Babies having babies! She rejected the lamb initially, but with some coaxing and TLC, she's making progress.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
April Updates
Where do I even start?
Okay...how about the weather? Two weeks ago, I applied sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and shorts for the 80 degree summer day in mid-March. A small group of people went swimming after chores. We had a barbecue. The daffodils bloomed. Sheesh. Last week it became more seasonable with temps in the 40's and 50's. We covered the new garlic shoots with Remay to protect them from freezing cold temps. And finally, on March 31, it snowed! Next week I expect frogs and locusts to fall from the sky.
We have been very involved in the task of pruning fruit trees and bushes. Who would have thought that pruning blueberry bushes could be so meditative and deeply satisfying?
Blue Ox Farm
Expert pruner Brad Maloney gave us a day-long workshop on the art of apple tree pruning. We worked on some of the trees at Maggie's, and in the afternoon he took us to New Salem Preserves to practice in their orchards. I felt like a kid again climbing these trees. Some of them are up to 100 years old, and each tree has such a unique character.
Sonia, our awesome Extension Agent, took us grapevine pruning at Cold Spring Orchard, which is the U. Mass research center.
The ewes are about to lamb. We're officially on "lamb watch" for the next six weeks...each day (and night), two students check the sheep every two hours for signs of labor & delivery. And I thought I had seen the last of OB call! We're eagerly anticipating all the cuteness.
On Friday we all piled in The Farm School van and took a field trip to visit four different farms in New York and western Mass. We visited Roxbury Farm in Kinderhook, Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, and Camphill Village in Copake, NY. For me, the highlight was the healing plant garden at Camphill...I'll definitely return there to learn more about it. We spent the night at gorgeous Blueberry Hill Farm in Mt. Washington, Mass, where I felt like I was staying at a B&B. The Austin family has owned this farm for generations and runs a pick-your-own operation in the summer. There, we enjoyed a fantastic home-cooked meal and a bonfire; in the morning, we woke up to snow on the ground! But that didn't stop us from pruning their blueberry bushes before heading back home.
The greenhouse is looking greener and greener all the time. The alliums are tall and lush, and the lettuces already seem ready to eat. Brassicas, including cabbage and kohlrabi, were seeded last week and are amazingly robust-appearing. Happy April!
Okay...how about the weather? Two weeks ago, I applied sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and shorts for the 80 degree summer day in mid-March. A small group of people went swimming after chores. We had a barbecue. The daffodils bloomed. Sheesh. Last week it became more seasonable with temps in the 40's and 50's. We covered the new garlic shoots with Remay to protect them from freezing cold temps. And finally, on March 31, it snowed! Next week I expect frogs and locusts to fall from the sky.
We have been very involved in the task of pruning fruit trees and bushes. Who would have thought that pruning blueberry bushes could be so meditative and deeply satisfying?
Expert pruner Brad Maloney gave us a day-long workshop on the art of apple tree pruning. We worked on some of the trees at Maggie's, and in the afternoon he took us to New Salem Preserves to practice in their orchards. I felt like a kid again climbing these trees. Some of them are up to 100 years old, and each tree has such a unique character.
Yoo hoo! 
Sonia, our awesome Extension Agent, took us grapevine pruning at Cold Spring Orchard, which is the U. Mass research center.
The ewes are about to lamb. We're officially on "lamb watch" for the next six weeks...each day (and night), two students check the sheep every two hours for signs of labor & delivery. And I thought I had seen the last of OB call! We're eagerly anticipating all the cuteness.
On Friday we all piled in The Farm School van and took a field trip to visit four different farms in New York and western Mass. We visited Roxbury Farm in Kinderhook, Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, and Camphill Village in Copake, NY. For me, the highlight was the healing plant garden at Camphill...I'll definitely return there to learn more about it. We spent the night at gorgeous Blueberry Hill Farm in Mt. Washington, Mass, where I felt like I was staying at a B&B. The Austin family has owned this farm for generations and runs a pick-your-own operation in the summer. There, we enjoyed a fantastic home-cooked meal and a bonfire; in the morning, we woke up to snow on the ground! But that didn't stop us from pruning their blueberry bushes before heading back home.
Roxbury Farm 
The healing plant garden at Camphill Village
Josh takes a break from blueberry pruning
The greenhouse is looking greener and greener all the time. The alliums are tall and lush, and the lettuces already seem ready to eat. Brassicas, including cabbage and kohlrabi, were seeded last week and are amazingly robust-appearing. Happy April!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Early Spring Week-at-a-Glance
Monday
Let the sugaring begin! One of our newest chore duties is collecting sap from the sugar maples on Maggie's Farm. The sugar shack is located at Sentinel Elm, and between the two farms, about 100 trees have been tapped. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, and so far we've made 15 gallons of deliciousness.
Cheryl, Nathaniel and Reid at the evaporator
Tuesday
Sonia, from the U. Mass Extension Service, gave us a most excellent lecture on small fruits - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, and currants. In the afternoon we finished planting onions and shallots in the greenhouse. Our little friends are coming along...it now looks like a green mist has descended over the seed trays.
Wednesday
The final push is on to finish clearing the fields in North Orange. We spent the day felling trees, bucking, limbing, and splitting. I tended the burn pile all day. Warm and toasty.
Thursday
Sheep shearing day. Sheep shearer Fred DePaul from Vermont led us through the task of shearing a sheep. He's been doing this for 40 years, and certainly makes it look easy. He can shear 90 sheep in 5 hours. At $7 a head, it seemed like a pretty sweet gig, until I nearly killed myself and my back shearing a single sheep. It took each one of us 30-40 minutes to finish one sheep, just a little better than minimum wage. Fred was a very, very, very patient teacher.
We used three different tools: an electric shearer, hand shearers, and a hand-cranked shearer.
Here's Fred shearing Junior, our ram. It took him about 2 minutes!
Nothing like a good haircut!Friday
We have been busy clearing a new field for the arrival of sixty pigs in April. The name of this field? Sixty Pigs, of course! Today we began construction of little A-frame houses for them. They're made of slab from the sawmill, and cut to size using a chainsaw. I would live here, wouldn't you?
In the afternoon we visited Blue Ox Farm to prune their blueberry bushes. This is a cool story! The owners, Greg and Micah, bought this farm about ten years ago. They looked at the property in the middle of winter when there was lots of snow on the ground. In the spring, when the snow melted...voila! Fifteen hundred blueberry bushes magically appeared! They now have a pick-your-own operation; for every quart you take for yourself, you pick a quart for the farm, and no money exchanges hands. The blueberries are sold by us as part of the CSA and farm market. Micah also made us cookies. They have to be the nicest people in the world.
Sunset over the sugar shack
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