Tyler the Magnificent

Everyone works hard around here at whatever it is they're doing, and this post is a special Ode to Tyler. Tyler has undeniably made a lot of things possible, including:
-reflooring the barn, by recruiting Graham for the winter so that he would have a safety backup while working horses and felling trees, by leading the milling up of 8000 board feet of 2" thick hemlock, by leading the work of moving all crap in the barn from one side to the other and back again (or in the case of the piano, shoving it over a bank), tearing up old and rotten floorboards, and putting down the fresh new floorboards
-Seth and I living off the farm while we build our house, by taking on even more of the livestock responsibility, including chores and reviving steers sick with hay belly and making sure there will be enough hay for all critters to stay fed until grass season arrives
-getting bills paid on time (without him, who knows if they would get paid at all)
-having all the right fields prepared at the right times for things like grazing, blueberries, and CSA vegetables
-getting a greenhouse set up this year
...and the list goes on indefinitely.

Basically, Tyler is generous, smart, strong, capable, knows how to strategize and work towards a goal, and has no fear of responsibility that I am aware of. Thank you, thank you Tyler! Three cheers for Tyler. Here is a picture of Tyler with April, May and the manure spreader, fertilizing pasture (and himself) with chicken manure. While Tyler may, at times, find himself covered in poop, he is never, ever full of it.



Easter Saturday, a well-known holiday, was celebrated by the usual meal of Eggs Benedict and a hard-boiled egg hunt. Both took place indoors due to inclement weather.


Moms of new babies reveled in being fed by others and relaxing.


The pregnant cows have today marked their one week anniversary of Spring as defined by living outside and no longer having to stick their heads through metal bars to get food.


One of the new baby lambs born in April on the farm. We have four girls and eight boys, and a mix of black and white ones. If anyone wants to see some good sproinking, come on over to the sheep pen.


Last and least (in size, not spirit): Ada Ruth on a ramp-hunting venture with Seth and my parents. She is no longer the proud owner of a toothless grin, i.e. Ada Ruth has a tooth! Cinco de Mayo!

Thank you one and all for your kind readership and infinite patience. Happy Mother's Day to all!

Signs of Spring

The croci at Chris and Jonathan's house are going wild, like preschool crayons poking up amongst last years dead stalks of lilies, hollyhocks, morning glories, and other summer beauties. Little Ada's asleep on my chest, our neighbor has pulled out his taps, and the temperature is solidly above 40. But, this is what is says on the NOAA website:

Tonight: A slight chance of rain and snow before midnight, then snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. South wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Friday: Snow before 2pm, then rain and snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 35. Breezy, with a northeast wind between 11 and 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.
Friday Night: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after 11pm. Low around 29. North wind between 13 and 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

The cliff notes are: predictions of 7 to 14 inches of NEW SNOW on April 1st, 2011! Is NOAA allowed to play April Fools jokes? Because if they are, that's what I think this is. Unfortunately, I think enough people's lives and livelihoods rely on them that they probably are NOT joking. And, I have to say, the sky is a bit overcast. I'm ready for warm weather, real spring, and more flowers. If they all get snowed over, I'll just sit in front of my computer watching this picture until things thaw out again:


The fruit of many weeks' labor, a few cords of wood, and the futile moving of sap from roots to twigs of a stand of noble sugar maples:


The beginning of our spring garden and winter CSA: thousands of onions and hundreds of leeks are starting to sprout. The celeriac, a slightly surly vegetable, has yet to show its cotyledons. Lucretia and Lân are on watering duty.


Lao and Gib picked up a roadkill deer and Seth and Graham butchered it for the tasty eating pleasure of the Yentes-Fulford-Etc clan.


Ada enjoying a new view from her own personal chair--and now I can eat lunch without covering her in food. Ada's doing splendidly well. On the same day as the first high-chair-sitting was the first pushing-up-onto-hands-and-knees.


And...Ada once again. Being a star.

This past week, Lucretia and I, with assistance from Elsie, Minh, Lân and Ada, started our first round of seedlings: onions, leeks and celeriac. We're a little late, but within the range of normal. Nothing has sprouted yet, but I expect to see some baby onions in the next week. Seth has been working at Fedco trees and pruning other people's fruit trees lately in addition to many other exploits. Here is one of the old apples he pruned and its very prominent graft line.


Here are Ada and I asleep, Ada in an unusual but of course darling position. She just passed her six month birthday.


And here is Ada, laughing at Seth as he plays peekaboo with her over the edge bed.


Short but sweet--more photos of the farm to come!

In like a lion?

March seems to be coming in like a big wet, snarly lion. And while it may go out like a lamb, we won't be going out with lambs, because our lambs aren't due until April! Our sugaring season has been a bit funny so far; it's been either warmish and gray or frigid and sunny--either way, the sap hasn't been pouring out of the trees and, in fact, we've only collected sap once. My camera's battery freezes up so easily that I had to drive by the farm and take photos through the window of the car. Here we have the product of many hours of work by Graham, Tyler, Gib, Elsie, and maybe others:

Trees--mostly hemlock--that were felled got hauled out of the woods by April and May and were then milled into 2" thick boards on our Woodmizer sawmill. What you see in stacks here is the future floor of the barn's upstairs. Soon we will have no more holes, no more skinned shins or tiptoeing around or covering holes with big sheets of plywood!

Here's the barn, silo peeking out from behind, and Seth and Anna's house with a newly finished roof in charcoal gray.

Anna and Ada hanging out at the apartment, modeling a killer sweater knitted by Rachel, a killer knitter. It has owls with buttons for eyes across the chest.

The ash post and the upstairs of our house, which I can't wait to live in.

Ada, her slowly shrinking hemangioma (ear bump), and her new trick: chewing on cups.

Drip...drip...drip

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!

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

New Photos!