Bad News and Good News

As you may already know, we lost 75% of our bee hives over the winter. Seems like most bee keepers had significant losses. We aren't even sure why. It may have been mites, but it may have been the bees warmed up during a warming period and then subsequently froze to death when the temps dropped again. Regardless of the reason,we'll be harvesting less honey this summer. The good news is, we've got 6 new 'nucs' (starter hives) from a local honey bee supplier and we're starting again. The other silver lining, is the bees that died left behind the honey they didn't eat so we were able to harvest that honey and resupply our inventory, which had dropped to zero. It's a little darker than the honey we harvested in August, most likely because the honey from August was wildflower/clover honey, and the honey we took from the winter stash was from goldenrodOur dead bees.The new hives You can see the difference in color in the picture. The honey on the right is clover, and the one on the left is goldenrod....or so I guess. Both are delicious and it's hard to tell much, if any, difference in the flavor.

Flower Farming

Maurine planted She protected She pampered She picked and she produced beautiful flowers for her cousins wedding

Pig Pile

My little egg incubator was 100% successful in helping to nurture and hatch out 7 baby chicks. When I moved them into the brooder I made the inexperienced mistake of letting them out without drying them off a bit under a very very warm heat lamp, and so they got very chilled due to the evaporation process (they were very wet in that incubator). So those wet chicks had to pig pile in the corner of the brooder to keep warm. I did wise up when I saw them shivering and helped to get them under a heat lamp to dry off and warm up. Since that first night in the brooder, I've lost a couple of chicks. One had deformed feet and never seemed interested in eating or drinking despite my encouragement and help. So he eventually died. The other chick, I guess was just not strong enough. But now I have five little fluff balls happily running around and eating and drinking and peeping. Keep your fingers crossed that at least some of them are little girls. I really want more layers. But, a good little boy may live to replace my current rooster, who has taken to attacking me.

Next up....

will be a garden shed and a barn for the creatures. Don got his hands on an old timber-frame, lettered and numbered and, hopefully, ready to put together like a set of tinker toys. It is the frame only, so we will use our pine boards for the sides. It will be nice to have a place to keep the garden tools down by the garden, and a more permanent structure for the creatures. Although you know what they say, there is nothing more permanent than a temporary garage (which currently houses the turkeys and hay bales). It is scheduled to be re-purposed as a hoop house.

Sure signs of spring

It's been one of those winters that plays leap frog with spring. But gradually spring is taking over, and there are all sorts of signs of it...like taking the sap taps OUT of the trees, the spring beauty daintily opening on the forest floor, and daffodils piercing through the packed down leafs of last fall.

21 Days and Counting

The incubator is warmed up and running....keeping 7 chicken eggs with the proper humidity, warmth, and turning schedule. A real mama chicken couldn't do it any better. I will keep you posted over the next 21 days as to the healthy and viability of our little embryos.

Hopelessly Hacked

Sometime late Sunday afternoon, a person with little productive to do, hacked into my Sherman Hollow Organic Farm website and hijacked everything there. And, despite a contract with my web-hosting company whom I paid to keep back-ups, they were unable to produce one. Needless to say, I was madder than a hornets nest. But, anger wouldn't accomplish retrieving my web site content so instead I opted for my money back. Now I am back out in the large and frightening marketplace of web hosting sites looking for a manageable and affordable place to hang my domain name. Come back in a week or two and look for us back up and on-line with a whole new look, and lots of newly bottled syrup for sale. At least the company removed the obscene dancing stick figures and annoying music the hacker had put in the place of my site.

Sunday Breakfast of Pancakes and Syrup, plus more Boiling and Bottling

The sugaring season is winding down, so it was a full day to try and boil as much sap a possible and start the bottling process. Fueled by some pancakes and syrup right out of the bottler at 9 AM gave us a great start. By 9 PM the dregs had been emptied out of the evaporator and syrup bottles stood ready to label.

A Visit from the Wild Side

Our 'girls' were visited from some cousins who came in from the wild for an extended visit on Friday morning. I'm not sure if they were invited back. That's our girls on the right, and the visitors on the left. Even after the wild ones retreated to the woods, calling back and forth continued. Maybe they will keep in touch.

Beer and Syrup

Boys boiling while drinking beer Turn sap to syrup and steam.

Beginnings

While I was watching Easter sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, Don, Pat and crew were watching the first steam rise from the newly built sugar house. Easter weekend was the appropriate start to our long awaited goal of boiling our own sap in our own sugar house. A beginning of many years of Sherman Hollow Farms Organic Maple Syrup 100% produced on site!

Drips and Spurts

The sap is flowing again, after having stopped for a cold spell. It's easy to see why vacuum pumps for sap collecting have taken over the bucket method. One comes in drips, the other in spurts. Hopefully by this weekend the new sugar house will be operational and we will be boiling on site.

Bricking the Firebox

One of the last big jobs of installing the maple syrup evaporator is laying the bricks in the firebox. All weekend Don cut, laid and cemented in the bricks, so that hot fires can be lit beneath the evaporator pan to turn the sap into syrup.

Fired Up

Today Don put the final section on the chimney pipe for the wood stove in the sugar house. Then, he lit the stove for the first time! Once he gets the sugar house warm enough, he can lay the fire brick in the evaporator.

Like Icing on the Cake

Matt, Pat, and Co. got working on the cupola for the top of the sugar house. It's starting to look like the real deal. Now that the trees are all tapped and the sap is flowing, it's all getting done in the nick of time.