4.27.2020

Spring time is in full swing here on the farm. It's only a couple weeks until baby animals are due to start arriving, and while we've been working steadily on various projects, it also seems we've chosen a slightly slower pace of life. We've had lots of good family discussions after meals and in the evenings. We've been taking time to go for walks, play games after evening chores, practice music, and in many ways are enjoying being a family while working on projects or hanging out together. We daily give thanks for our family, home, farm, and many other blessings.

Project updates:

Maple syrup: The season has been concluded. We pulled taps on Monday the 20th. Then washed all the sap sack holders, taps, buckets, barrels, tank, and pans... Equipment has been collected and put away in storage until next spring. We made lots of syrup this year, so we'll have extra to sell in our farm store. :)  Good news for customers who enjoy it!

The trailer with all the sap sacks and bags we collected from the woods.

Some of the seeds we planted in soil blocks are growing. We did a replant of peppers and a couple of other things that didn't sprout the first time.

Sales Shed: It's been really exciting to see this project progressing. The inside is now finished except for the counter/cupboard that Dad is building. There are a few things to finish on the outside, and we'll have some landscaping to do... But we are getting so close to being able to open!! I'm very excited about this project, we've been talking about it for several years and now it is almost a reality.

Field work: Since the only crop we harvest is hay, our spring field work is pretty minimal. However, we do drag the field areas where cattle have been overwintered. On Saturday, Nate hooked up the drag and did the the first pass on the field where his beef cows spent the winter. And on Monday he and Matt worked on spreading fertilizer on some of our other hay fields.

Cutting wood: After fighting deep snow for wood most of the winter, Matt is determined to get next winter's wood cut before it snows this year. He has been getting a load every couple days, and has a good start on the pile already.

Other miscellaneous things:

We had hoped to take our family vacation this past week, but for the second year in a row, we've had to cancel our plans due to unforeseen circumstances. We are all disappointed, but trying to make the best of it. Since our weather has been nice this week, we pitched our tents in the yard and some of us camped out Friday and Saturday nights. I know that not many young adults would classify camping the the backyard as a grand time, but around here it's something that we thoroughly enjoy. :) There is just something about sleeping outside, that even sleeping with a window open doesn't quite match.

Nate bought another batch of feeder pigs- I'll have to take pictures of them for you this week.

Plant pictures of the week:

Rhubarb is growing... Maybe by next week we'll be able to cut enough to make a rhubarb dish of some kind.  

Daffodils are one of my favorite spring flowers. 

We had four tenths of an inch of rain Monday morning and the grass just "popped", there was a major difference in color on the field between 7:00am and 4:00pm that day. It went from being mostly brown with shades of dull green, to being mostly bright green. Let it grow!! 

A Bloodroot flower we found on one of our hikes

I found this interesting plant in the woods near a swampy area. 

I don't know what it is- but isn't it a cool looking plant?  

Here is a song that was used in the live stream church service our family watched Sunday morning. And while it's new song to us, it was stuck in my head the whole rest of the day. The chorus reminds us that "His mercy is more," and "it's new every morn'. " Great words, great reminders. Thought you might like to take a listen.