Spring 2021

 Hello friends,

While the blog has been quiet for the past couple of months, life has been anything but quiet, and so the blog has been a bit neglected. But the urge to look through recent pictures and write about life has struck, so bear with me as this could be a bit of a lengthy catch up post!  The cool thing about keeping a blog is that it’s like a journal/scrapbook. I never got into scrapbooking, but I do enjoy blogging and it’s fun to go back a few years in the archives and enjoy older pictures/stories. Without further ado, here are the late winter and early spring happenings from the farm and life.

I'll start back in February.

The boys enjoyed their sleds this winter. A lot of time was spent fixing sleds, but there was a point in time when they were running good, and they had a couple friends over at different times at the end of February to enjoy the snow.   We also enjoyed a visit from Aunt Jane at the end of the month.

Speaking of snow, it left early this year, and it was hard to know when to tap the maple trees. We ended up doing it around the same time as normal, and then had a short season. However, none of us were too disappointed that it was a shorter than normal --- collecting happened after work in the evenings since most of us are were gone during the day, it was a bit of a challenge to fit collecting and boiling in around everything else. We collected quite a lot of sap, and while the sap to syrup ratio wasn’t as good as some years, we still got plenty of syrup for ourselves and have some extra to sell.

Sap sacks ready to go

Tapping trees

Sap was running when we tapped.

We transported the sap home in this tank. It was a new edition to our operation this year, and worked really well. (This picture was taken towards the end of the season)

Boiling it down

One Sunday evening in March, Matt, Silas, and I attended a Jason Gray concert in a town about an hour from home. It was SO good. For one, it was great to be at a live concert again, and also, he’s really good at what he does. He sang and shared about his songs and music. It was encouraging and we all thoroughly enjoyed the evening. If you ever get the chance to hear him, we would highly recommend it!  

We pulled taps from the trees Easter weekend, (the first weekend in April), and was it very a lovely day. Roasted hotdogs on the sap fire and enjoyed a picnic lunch that day as well. While early April was nice, we then got more typical April weather: cool, damp, and gray.  

Flat bed trucks make great counters for cookouts!

Also on Easter weekend, the raft got relaunched, and was used to collect the barrels that had escaped and gone to all corners of the pond. 😊

The boat motor went for a little "swim" and had to have a some maintenance done to it before the fun continued. 

Laura took the little raft to round up a couple barrels as well. 

April is kind of a blur, there was Easter, and I held two different recitals for my music students, (one for each area that I teach).  Laura was gone for a horse show for about 5 days. (She didn’t show any horses, her role was to take care of her boss's horses, warm up horses for him to show, and help his other clients who were showing as needed.) She enjoyed the experience, but it was really. long. days.

Matt continued to work construction pretty much full time until the past couple weeks when he cut back to part time so he can help on the farm more.  Nate continues to stay busy helping his various employers. In March, Nate and Matt bought a herd of bred cows from someone who was selling out so there are about 28 more cows in their operation now.  The three brothers took a couple days off at the end of April to go fishing. They pulled Matt's trailer and camped for a night. Nate and Silas each caught a fish, but not big enough to keep. 

The engine had to come out of the 7110 tractor, and for a while it looked a little weird as it sat in the shop, waiting for a engine. We bought a rebuilt engine to replace it, and it arrived last week, and the guys are working on getting it all back together.  

Working on taking the engine out.

One of the pistons came right through the side wall. Bad news! 

Took this pictures just a couple days ago: new engine is in, front is re-attached, and it's starting to look more like a tractor again.

May also flew by!  Laura was gone for another 5 days for a horse show near Winona during the second week. Overall she likes her job, but does miss being home as she works really long days 6 days a week. She leaves the house at 6 each morning, and doesn't show back up at home until 7 or later at night.  My teaching year is winding down, and I'm transitioning to my summer lesson schedule. As of the end of the month, I will have one less part-time job, as I am stepping down from my executive director position that I’ve had with a non-profit for the past 6 years. Looking forward to having one less responsibility on my plate!

I don't remember when turkey season was... All three guys hunted, but Nate was the only one to harvest one this year. 

Grace, Laura, and I took a Sunday afternoon in May to hike a couple mile section of the North County Trail that's not terribly far from home. 

 

Despite the "early" spring, the grass is took it's jolly time in growing. By mid May most animals were out on grass and then we were blessed with some warmth and rain to encourage things along. For a couple days you could almost watch the trees finish leafing out. Apple trees have blossomed, and the strawberry plants are also in full bloom. Then this week we had frost warnings at night. So had to cover the strawberry plants.  

Putting my lawn to good use this spring. Like my "lawnmowers"? 

Grace continues to help managing the dairy herd, and milk cows. She’s got a good start on the spring round of fencing and is building some new fence lines. 

Silas is supposed to be finishing up his school year, but is easily distracted/readily volunteers to help with other projects currently happening… I am guessing there will be some “summer school” happening for him. One of his projects was getting his boat wired for a trolling motor and lights. 

Here is a cheerful daffodil that bloomed this spring.

I made Key Lime pie for the first time a few weeks ago. They were edible and I was told that I should make it again, so I'll consider it a successful first attempt. 

Also baby animal season has started! Here are a few pictures of the first arrivals- I’ll try to share more soon.

Okay- that’s enough for now! I hope that you all are doing well, and are enjoying the spring.