Here's why my hens give eggs with such yellow yokes.......

They LOVE eating all my old pumpkins

One Man's Trash.....

is treasured by the hens.

Working on the Wood Pile

Bryce, Mollie Reed's fiance, can do by hand what the older guys need a machine for!

A real piece of work

The wood splitting crew L to R  Charlie, Don, Bryce and Pat

It's going to take all this wood and more to make our syrup

It's a Start!

The new girls are laying eggs! There aren't many, and they aren't big.....but it's a start.

Honey for the Hive

All the honey from summer has been harvested and we were gifted with loads of beautiful goldenrod honey.

All the honey made now is from the white asters....the last of the wildflowers to bloom, and it will be left for the bees to winter over.

Happy In Their New Home

The girls love their new place, and are especially fond of going up and down the ladder

They've hung out their address by the front door.

Movin on Up

Pretty soon the girls will be moving to their new home in the barn.  We're just waiting for the rest of the interior work to be finished, so the saws and hammers don't scare the bejesus out of them when the guys are working.

The inside will have lots more room and lots more roosts than their current digs

And there's a door that opens automatically in the morning to let them out, and closes them in at night when they are all roosted up.

out of them when the guys are working. 

The Girls are Getting Bigger

....and more curious

.......and a little  bossy about what time they want dinner

Chick Days......Eating, Drinking, Cleaning, Napping then doing it all over again......

Delivery immenent

I am expecting the arrival of 10 baby chicks of various breeds tomorrow, so I've been busy getting the nursery ready. 

Chicks eye view

People eye view

Migrant Labor

A few of the stronger hives had gone to help lend a hand (leg?) in pollinating the apple blossoms at Adams Apple Orchard.

One of Our More Generous Donors

Some trees barely fill half a bucket, others just don't hold back.

Most Photogenic

More sap comes in through tubes and pumps than through drops and buckets.  But the drops and buckets make for prettier pictures.

pictures.

A Recipe

....if you like homemade bread, here's a simple recipe using maple syrup.  It makes an ever so slightly sweet bread that's perfect for toast or sandwiches.
Mix 1 cup warm water with 1/3 cup maple syrup.  Sprinkle with 1 TBSP of yeast and let it 'proof'. Add 1 cup whole oats, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt, 6 TBSP oil.  Stir together and gradually add as much bread flour as you need to make a stiff bread dough that you can turn out onto a board and knead until smooth and elastic.  Put it into a oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and put it into a warm place to rise until doubled.  When done rising to this point, punch down and shape into a loaf  and put into a greased loaf pan.  Cover and let rise again until doubled. Meanwhile heat your oven to 375 F.  Once doubled in size, bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until it sounds hollow went tapped on the bottom of the pan and the top is brown and crusty.  Remove from oven, allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out of the pan. 

It's especially good if you toast it, spread it with lots of chunky peanut butter and then drizzle it with honey!

The Temps are Up and the Taps are In

Let the sap flow!

It Fits!

Don did his usual,super strong construction, and installed the tanks.  And, thanks to all those careful calculations, they fit!  Next in.....the reverse osmosis machine. 

Of course, it would help if the weather warmed up a tad  so we could actually get some sap.

This picture was taken March 1st!.....just  to let you know in case you were mistaking it for January. That's the chicken coop and chicken yard buried under all that snow.

Making it Fit

There's a new Reverse Osmosis (RO) machine,  a tank for the sap, a new tank for the concentrate and a tank for the permeate, all which needs to be fit into the sugar house.  That's not to mention the fact that the RO needs to be insulated and heated! 

 Don has been scratching his head and sharpening his pencil a lot to figure out how it's all going to fit.

Time Lapse of a Barn Raising

The night shift prepares for the slab pouring

Concrete floor

Installing the sill

The building begins

Roof rafters

Siding is put on

Putting on the roof

The Boys building the BArn

Calculating angles for the barn door

The barn door is hung