Here at North Branch Farm, we have broken the stasis of winter. Proof is in the dripping taps in the sugar maples, the ever-lengthening days, and the flock of cedar waxwings devouring the remaining Amber Cider Crab apples. It feels great, but there's also a sense of impending chaos and obligation that comes with the growing season.
Over at the farm the other day, Graham and Tyler were converting a horse-drawn sickle bar mower into a horse-drawn, ground-driven PTO shaft. This means that we'll be able to use power generated by the wheels spinning over the ground, pulled by April and May, to run equipment that we could otherwise only use behind a tractor. Pretty exciting! I don't think I could explain the details without making a mess of it, but stop by the farm someday and if any of us are around we'll show you how it works.
North Branch Farmers will be making their first appearances at MOFGA-sponsored CSA Fairs this weekend, looking for members for our 2011-2012 Winter CSA. Come out and see us Sunday, February 27th, from 1-3pm at the Unitarian Universalist churches in both Bangor and Belfast. We are growing all kinds of tasty storage crops, including carrots, potatoes, squash, garlic, onions, cabbage and beets, to give out over the course of next winter. If you'd be interested in coming by the farm and getting a pile of our veggies every other week from November 2011 to February 2012, let us know!
Ada's waking up, so I'm back on momma-duty. Until soon!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
February Thaw
People are calling it a February "thaw" which you'd think would involve the temperature rising above 32 F. But it seems to count as a thaw when it gets warm enough that salty road ice melts and the sun beating on dark roofs causes the snow to shed off. I turned 26 three weeks ago and Lucretia gave me a new download cable for my birthday, so now I'm able to make use of photos taken again. Phew.
Our fabulous winter farm assistant, Graham, is back after a couple weeks helping prepare for the season at his next farming gig. The oil furnace at the farmhouse ran dry, sucked up gunk into its pump and filter, and died a gurgly death. This motivated a whole house fuel-reconfiguration which involved installing a woodstove in the basement to prevent frozen pipes and hooking a copper water tank to the Waterford wood cookstove in the main room, which now heats more than enough water for dishes, showers, laundry, etc. Not to mention the increased thermal mass and increased classy rustic-ness of the scene there.
The livestock had a bout of malnutrition that caused the steers to get weak and lethargic and the sheep to eat their own wool. When we started feeding them selenium, salts and kelp meal they got chipper again and seem to be doing much better. All the critters are in the barn now except for April and May, the Percherons, who eat hay and snow and work in the woods with Tyler & Co a couple times a week. I asked Seth if he had noticed the horses getting stronger, and he said, "I don't know. Actually, their butts have changed shape...they've gotten more square." I think they're pulling their weight, so to speak.
Seth has been putting in time on the Yentes-Quinn house, which may actually get a roof next week! Here is a photo looking out the east end of the upstairs of our house. I couldn't get it to rotate for some reason, so for full effect you should turn your computer screen 90 degrees clockwise or look at it while laying your left ear on your left shoulder.
Ada Ruth in one of her very first unassisted chimp sits, dad as spotter...
and he has quick reflexes.
Sweet Ada Ruth in a puddle of nap drool.
It's good to know you all are out there, living through winter in its various stages and thinking of us every now and then. We think of you as well, despite sparse posts here!
Happy Valentine's Day,
Anna
Our fabulous winter farm assistant, Graham, is back after a couple weeks helping prepare for the season at his next farming gig. The oil furnace at the farmhouse ran dry, sucked up gunk into its pump and filter, and died a gurgly death. This motivated a whole house fuel-reconfiguration which involved installing a woodstove in the basement to prevent frozen pipes and hooking a copper water tank to the Waterford wood cookstove in the main room, which now heats more than enough water for dishes, showers, laundry, etc. Not to mention the increased thermal mass and increased classy rustic-ness of the scene there.
The livestock had a bout of malnutrition that caused the steers to get weak and lethargic and the sheep to eat their own wool. When we started feeding them selenium, salts and kelp meal they got chipper again and seem to be doing much better. All the critters are in the barn now except for April and May, the Percherons, who eat hay and snow and work in the woods with Tyler & Co a couple times a week. I asked Seth if he had noticed the horses getting stronger, and he said, "I don't know. Actually, their butts have changed shape...they've gotten more square." I think they're pulling their weight, so to speak.
Seth has been putting in time on the Yentes-Quinn house, which may actually get a roof next week! Here is a photo looking out the east end of the upstairs of our house. I couldn't get it to rotate for some reason, so for full effect you should turn your computer screen 90 degrees clockwise or look at it while laying your left ear on your left shoulder.
Ada Ruth in one of her very first unassisted chimp sits, dad as spotter...
and he has quick reflexes.
Sweet Ada Ruth in a puddle of nap drool.
It's good to know you all are out there, living through winter in its various stages and thinking of us every now and then. We think of you as well, despite sparse posts here!
Happy Valentine's Day,
Anna
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Here's that ram I was talking about:
I think he's done his time here and is ready to move on to his next home.
Here is the Yentes-Quinn house:
It's come a long way since this photo, but this will help mark the progress until I get the newest shots loaded. Seth, Lao and Craig put in a few days every week on the house, and it's amazing how quickly it grows in this framing stage. We were out there today, taking advantage of briefly thawed ground to plant tulips, narcissus, an azalea and an English walnut tree.
Here is a shot from the 2010 Slaughter-a-thon, more subtle than last year's but no less cheerful. In two bouts, two pigs, three lambs and two steers were added to the freezer. Tip of the year: to add less lead to the environment, use a sledge hammer instead of a gun. Tyler, Seth, Jonny and Graham were on this crew.
And for lack of any other strictly farm-related photos, here are a couple of Ada Ruth and her 'rents:
In the nursery, helping out digging trees to send to the Fedco warehouse.
In the apartment. The orange hat reminds me: everyone I know who hunts managed not to get shot this November, but no one I know managed to tag a buck. Better (retroactive) luck to rest of you.
I think he's done his time here and is ready to move on to his next home.
Here is the Yentes-Quinn house:
It's come a long way since this photo, but this will help mark the progress until I get the newest shots loaded. Seth, Lao and Craig put in a few days every week on the house, and it's amazing how quickly it grows in this framing stage. We were out there today, taking advantage of briefly thawed ground to plant tulips, narcissus, an azalea and an English walnut tree.
Here is a shot from the 2010 Slaughter-a-thon, more subtle than last year's but no less cheerful. In two bouts, two pigs, three lambs and two steers were added to the freezer. Tip of the year: to add less lead to the environment, use a sledge hammer instead of a gun. Tyler, Seth, Jonny and Graham were on this crew.
And for lack of any other strictly farm-related photos, here are a couple of Ada Ruth and her 'rents:
In the nursery, helping out digging trees to send to the Fedco warehouse.
In the apartment. The orange hat reminds me: everyone I know who hunts managed not to get shot this November, but no one I know managed to tag a buck. Better (retroactive) luck to rest of you.
Friday, October 29, 2010
I am about as disconnected to the farm as I've ever been, but I have been missing it and wanting to give an update on it--as best I can. So here it is:
Ovine: The big, new sheep have been combined with the small, old sheep and they are happily grazing inside their electronet fence. I said we were done acquiring animals for this year (maybe I said it more than once) but I was mistaken: we bought a ram. We'll keep him for a month or two and then sell him to another young farmer who keeps sheep not far away.
Porcine: The two little piggies are just about of feed, which means that their lives are just about over. We'll wait for a good weather before we do them in.
Bovine: Cows moved into the barn for the winter about two weeks ago, along with the Haflingers, and, as such, the barn smells, all of a sudden, quite barn-y.
Chick-ine (?): All happily living in their tractors. Donated Araucana roosters are in the belly or in the freezer, and our new batch of hens should be laying in six to eight weeks. More eggs: something I'm looking forward to.
Dry Beans: Almost totally threshed and winnowed--a beautiful palette including Jacobs Cattle, Jacobs Gold, Marifax, Bumblebee, Calypso, Pinto, Crow River Black, King of the Early, Cannellini, and Black Turtle beans.
Tyler, Elsie & Dad at the thresher
Winnower, or fanning mill.
Final drying in the barn on screens.
Equine: April and May have been plowing and discing the future veggie and blueberry fields. The seat on the disc harrow broke while Tyler was sitting on it, so now he's mostly just plowing. And attending the animal power field days in Vermont, and getting all fired up, and looking after the farm in all its small intricacies and huge needs. Thank you, thank you, Tyler.
Ovine: The big, new sheep have been combined with the small, old sheep and they are happily grazing inside their electronet fence. I said we were done acquiring animals for this year (maybe I said it more than once) but I was mistaken: we bought a ram. We'll keep him for a month or two and then sell him to another young farmer who keeps sheep not far away.
Porcine: The two little piggies are just about of feed, which means that their lives are just about over. We'll wait for a good weather before we do them in.
Bovine: Cows moved into the barn for the winter about two weeks ago, along with the Haflingers, and, as such, the barn smells, all of a sudden, quite barn-y.
Chick-ine (?): All happily living in their tractors. Donated Araucana roosters are in the belly or in the freezer, and our new batch of hens should be laying in six to eight weeks. More eggs: something I'm looking forward to.
Dry Beans: Almost totally threshed and winnowed--a beautiful palette including Jacobs Cattle, Jacobs Gold, Marifax, Bumblebee, Calypso, Pinto, Crow River Black, King of the Early, Cannellini, and Black Turtle beans.
Tyler, Elsie & Dad at the thresher
Winnower, or fanning mill.
Final drying in the barn on screens.
Equine: April and May have been plowing and discing the future veggie and blueberry fields. The seat on the disc harrow broke while Tyler was sitting on it, so now he's mostly just plowing. And attending the animal power field days in Vermont, and getting all fired up, and looking after the farm in all its small intricacies and huge needs. Thank you, thank you, Tyler.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Welcoming Ada Ruth!
The long pause on blog entries has been due not to a dearth of excitement but rather to an overwhelming amount of momentousness! Our baby, Ada Ruth Yentes-Quinn, was born at 4:23 am on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. She weighed 8 lbs, 3 0z, was 20 3/8 inches long, and she is a star. Chris and Lucretia attended the birth, and of course Seth. Julie, the other midwife, almost made it, and had she been driving at 80 mph from Mount Desert Island instead of only 70 mph she would have gotten here in time--as it was, she was there for most of the important parts afterward.
I want to give a giant thank you to everyone who has helped us out in the last two and a half weeks with food, laundry, dishes, company, and work on the farm. The local family members kept us overflowing with tasty dishes and help in many forms from day one, and the not-so-local family members have been beating back the piles of dishes and diapers and building our house and threshing our beans and mucking our barn for close to two weeks now. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks also to everyone who sent kind words through phone, mail and email. It has been such a boost, even though I may not get the chance to personally thank each person.
Here are some photos of Ada and our families, for those who are interested.
Just a few minutes after she was born...
Chris giving Ada her newborn check-up, under the watchful eyes of the family.
Above: Ada about to get weighed.
Below: Copious numbers of photos of Ada and people who adore her.
David
Mary Kate, my dearest one and only sister.
Gran, Aunt Mary Kate, Greatgran
Granhappy
Grandad
Ada and a good view of the super-cute hemangioma on her ear--something that will probably go away by itself over time.
Noni and Grandpa
On the second floor of our little house!
I want to give a giant thank you to everyone who has helped us out in the last two and a half weeks with food, laundry, dishes, company, and work on the farm. The local family members kept us overflowing with tasty dishes and help in many forms from day one, and the not-so-local family members have been beating back the piles of dishes and diapers and building our house and threshing our beans and mucking our barn for close to two weeks now. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks also to everyone who sent kind words through phone, mail and email. It has been such a boost, even though I may not get the chance to personally thank each person.
Here are some photos of Ada and our families, for those who are interested.
Just a few minutes after she was born...
Chris giving Ada her newborn check-up, under the watchful eyes of the family.
Above: Ada about to get weighed.
Below: Copious numbers of photos of Ada and people who adore her.
David
Mary Kate, my dearest one and only sister.
Gran, Aunt Mary Kate, Greatgran
Granhappy
Grandad
Ada and a good view of the super-cute hemangioma on her ear--something that will probably go away by itself over time.
Noni and Grandpa
On the second floor of our little house!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Mountains of Treasures
Dear friends--
Oh my goodness gracious, how time flies! I thought it had been barely more than a week since our last post, but it looks like it's been a full two and a half. Let me see what I can pull together.
We had another epic round of salsa-making in early September. I forgot to take a picture of all of the tomatoes together, but we really did have mountains of them. I think we're over the peak of that mountain though; they're starting to slow down now that we are getting nights in the low forties. Here are some of our puniest little cherry tomatoes...oh wait, those are Brandywines.
They make great turbans, too.
Other mountains of treasures we have on our farm:
Chicken manure, trucked in from southern Maine, four 32-ton loads. Here are two of them.
An ever-increasing supply of woodchips (good for mulching blueberry bushes and fruit trees), dumped by the road-trimming crew that is working its way through downtown Monroe. Here are three loads, but we now have over ten:
Mountains of dedicated hard work: while Seth and I scurried around preparing for last weekend's framing party, Tyler, Elsie, Gib and his friend Matt tackled the long-standing barn roof and laid down those panels until there was no more metal to lay.
This was the morning, three panels in.
And here was the end of the day, twenty panels and a new farm record!
Mountains of livestock:
New sheep arrivals (6), and probably the very last of the new livestock for this season:
Black face=friendly, white=skittish. They weigh about three times as much as the stunty Coopworths we have, and they are meat-fiber crosses. Mountains of trouble? They may be that too as they have already broken out once, but they seem quite herd-able.
Little chickies, all growed up! We lost a few to an unknown predator, but the chicks have since grown up enough to not be such tasty morsels, and they really appreciated getting moved into an outdoor movable chicken tractor. They are now grass and bug enthusiasts.
As we speak, Tyler and Seth are getting the horse-drawn plow ready to go, and Tyler hopes to be plowing in the peas-oats-vetch cover crop with April and May today! We are having Too Much Fun on the farm, and are happily working our hearts out as the days get shorter and cooler. We had our first light frost two mornings ago, September 18th, and we are all looking forward to the Common Ground Fair this coming weekend. On our local community radio station, WERU, all the DJs are playing fall season music, and the transition from summer to autumn feels so tangible right now. I hope you all are enjoying these days, wherever you may be!
Oh my goodness gracious, how time flies! I thought it had been barely more than a week since our last post, but it looks like it's been a full two and a half. Let me see what I can pull together.
We had another epic round of salsa-making in early September. I forgot to take a picture of all of the tomatoes together, but we really did have mountains of them. I think we're over the peak of that mountain though; they're starting to slow down now that we are getting nights in the low forties. Here are some of our puniest little cherry tomatoes...oh wait, those are Brandywines.
They make great turbans, too.
Other mountains of treasures we have on our farm:
Chicken manure, trucked in from southern Maine, four 32-ton loads. Here are two of them.
An ever-increasing supply of woodchips (good for mulching blueberry bushes and fruit trees), dumped by the road-trimming crew that is working its way through downtown Monroe. Here are three loads, but we now have over ten:
Mountains of dedicated hard work: while Seth and I scurried around preparing for last weekend's framing party, Tyler, Elsie, Gib and his friend Matt tackled the long-standing barn roof and laid down those panels until there was no more metal to lay.
This was the morning, three panels in.
And here was the end of the day, twenty panels and a new farm record!
Mountains of livestock:
New sheep arrivals (6), and probably the very last of the new livestock for this season:
Black face=friendly, white=skittish. They weigh about three times as much as the stunty Coopworths we have, and they are meat-fiber crosses. Mountains of trouble? They may be that too as they have already broken out once, but they seem quite herd-able.
Little chickies, all growed up! We lost a few to an unknown predator, but the chicks have since grown up enough to not be such tasty morsels, and they really appreciated getting moved into an outdoor movable chicken tractor. They are now grass and bug enthusiasts.
As we speak, Tyler and Seth are getting the horse-drawn plow ready to go, and Tyler hopes to be plowing in the peas-oats-vetch cover crop with April and May today! We are having Too Much Fun on the farm, and are happily working our hearts out as the days get shorter and cooler. We had our first light frost two mornings ago, September 18th, and we are all looking forward to the Common Ground Fair this coming weekend. On our local community radio station, WERU, all the DJs are playing fall season music, and the transition from summer to autumn feels so tangible right now. I hope you all are enjoying these days, wherever you may be!
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