Please release me...

The tree experts call it 'releasing' when you try to reclaim old, overgrown apple trees. We have at least a dozen old, fruit bearing apple trees that we are starting to release. I've pruned out old wood, overlapping branches and other tree growth that is interferring with the apple tree getting adequate light. It will take several years to get them back, doing a little bit more each year. We don't want to shock them by doing it all at once!

We Got Our Tests Back

Seven different soil samples were sent in to the UVM soil lab to test for nutrients and pH, and to see what condition are soils is in. I had to take 10 samples from each 7 areas, composite them and measure out a cup to send in. Turns out almost all samples have a very low pH, so I think we'll be applying lots of lime. The test results will help us to decide what to plant where on the property, and how to amend the soil to make it fertile.

Migrant Workers

Our bees are being prepped to go over to Adams Apple Orchards to join the other migrant workers doing some seasonal pollination. Don and Scott opened the hives to check and see if they all had their green cards. They were all abuzz in the hive!

We're Expecting!

Baby chicks that is....

Flower Farm

The exact same day that Maurine picked out 2000 bulbs for her planned Flower CSA, she got a message from an old colleague asking if she's be interested in applying for a position in an advertising firm in NYC. Which she did, and which she got. So, now here I am, it's spring, some days, and those 2000 bulbs are starting to come up. And they are beautiful.

I may just have to take on a little flower business myself until Mo returns from the city to be a country girl again, and open her flower shop.

Vacuuming Sap

At one o'clock this afternoon, Don turned the switch on the new vacuum pump/tubing system for collecting sap. And it worked! and tonight he's already transferring over a hundred gallons out of the collection tank and onto the truck for delivery to the boiling house. I won't miss the back breaking work of trudging through heavy snow with buckets full of sap hanging from my arms. But we still do have 50 buckets hung on the west side of the house where the vacuum system couldn't reach, so there will still be some old fashioned work to be done.

Shed Progress

It was a late Sunday of work...but the shed got finished. Almost. It does still need a few finishing bits, like paint, roof shingles, and a hole on the street side for running the sap tube out to the collection tank on the truck or tractor.

Sap Pump Gets a Shed

No sap pump ever had it so good....a shed of it's own with it's own private power supply. Today Pat Reed and Don assembled the shed that Don had pre-fabbed in the barn. Tomorrow some trees will begin to be tapped and attached to the tubing collections system. Nick of time!

Tying up Tubing

Less buckets + more tubing = more sap = more syrup. So, Sherman Hollow Organic Farm is replacing some of its traditional taps and maple sap buckets with tubing and vacuum pumps. Research has shown a more consistent and higher output of sap if it's done that way. One things for sure, it's not as pretty in the woods. The up side...less work to empty sap buckets and more syrup. Less work and more syrup???? sounds like a good deal.

Two for one

In this picture I was able to capture both camp and home in one shot. On a morning hike up along Porcupine Mountain, to the east of our house, we caught a view of across the lake to Willsboro Point (with binoulars we could see the camp) and our new house (with the naked eye), all in one look. In this photo, see across the lake to Willsboro Point in the upper left hand portion, and see our house to the right of the tree on the lower right.

S'no(w) Picnic

Don and I are discovering, what the Sherman Hollow native's warned us about.....the weather climate particular to living on this road and at this (1050) elevation, is MORE of whatever they are getting down below. We best qualify that to winter weather. Today, snow flurries in the town of Hinesburg gradually turned into accumulating snow the closer I came to Sherman Hollow. By the time I got to the top of our driveway, the snow was an inch deep and by the time I have posted this picture, it's at least two or more and still coming down hard.

Shelved

The empty nook is now filled with shelves, which are now filled with books. Our living room echos less, and seems, finally, 'finished'. How good it feels to empty out the boxes and line up the books, fill in with nick-knacks and what-nots, and rediscover stories that had been hidden in storage.

A Place for the Christmas Tree

One of the very important design features of a house is having a good spot for the Christmas Tree. The spot in our new house was under dispute, until the tree was bought and in the house, and the spot revealed itself to us. And it wasn't one of the places being argued over. PEACE reigns.

For the Birds

The woods around us are full of a variety of birds. It's our hope this feeder will bring some of them closer into view. We've already had chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, blue jays, ravens, goldfinches, purple finches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red squirrels, grey squirrels, and chipmunks.

Dining Room Table Progress

Remember those cherry logs we took to the saw mill (see post August 15th) to be turned into boards for a dining room table? Well, they have been kiln dried and are ready to go. Don picked them up today at Lathrops.