Getting Ready for Winter

It has gotten a bit cold before we were quite ready. The sugar house is going up "inch by inch", and we were recently reminded that "Inch by inch, life is a cinch, Yard by Yard, life is hard", so Mary Ann is creeping along inch by inch with whomever she can find willing to help and we are hoping to have a roof on the structure this week.

We have added electricity to the pole barn, tightened up the big doors at the back of the barn, and put up new perimeter electric fencing around the new field in the back. We have a fancy new fence charger that has a remote that locates problems in the fence line. We also installed a Nelson waterer (that fills automatically and will not freeze. This replaces the heated buckets that used so much electricity that our bills flew through the roof last winter.

Chores for the last few weeks have included carrying water from the frost free hydrant to the animals in the fields, carrying bales of hay in the wheelbarrow, and carrying small buckets of grain to them. The animals stand at full attention facing us as we move toward them, eager for their food.

Yesterday we finally had everything ready for them to move to their winter quarters, and the move was beautiful to see. Three of us, (Mary Ann, Lee Ann and I) led the sheep with grain from the orchard around the sugar house construction, through the barn and into the pole barn. There was hardly hesitation, and the sheep actually beat us there. Some of them immeciately went to the new waterer, as if they knew what it was for.

The insulation is up around the foundation of the house and the storm windows are down. The woodshed still needs to be reorganized for easy acess to firewood. We have had some fires in the kitchen wood stove that feel really good and will be essential to minimize the use of the oil furnace.

The upstairs storage area in the Tesseract is getting full of fleeces to be picked and washed. The ram lambs have gone to meat this week. They are small again this year, and we have concluded we need to grain them all summer in the future, which will increase the costs to raise them.

We have done statements for our CSA members so they can come to shop and reap the benefits of their investment with beautiful products from our store. Several people are knitting items for us to sell on consignment providing a nice array of scarves, slippers, hats, and other unique itsms in the store. Holiday decorations are up. Whew. What a beautiful time of year!

Hope to see you at the farm this month. Stay tuned.
Warmly,
Marty

Holiday Hours

Holiday Hours: Open Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 10am to 4pm through December 19th.

Come to the farm and see the sheep and goats that grew our yarns and...
Shop at the Tesseract for the fiber lovers on your list.


You are invited to our Holiday Open House Saturday, December 11th and Sunday December 12th 10am to 4pm
Yarns ~ Needlefelting Kits ~ Rovings for Spinners and felters ~ Knitting needles ~ and unique patterns for felted mitts, angora lined hat, spiral hat and tam, scarves and more.

We will be at the Norway Winter Farmer's Market on Saturdays, 10am to 2pm...until December 18th....look for the yellow Farmers Market signs right near the Fare Share Market....on Main Street Norway.

The Sumner Farming Community

Last evening the Sumner Local Farmers met in our new building for the monthly gathering. There were There were 10 of us regulars sitting around the circle, and two guests. We chatted about our new building, our Natural Fiber Showcase and celebration, various concerns and plans for the future.

The guests talked about plans for an agricultural fair in our area. We started brainstorming, which we do very well, about a fair with animals, music, a goat chariot race, and a sheep to shawl contest. Then we started throwing out potential concerns, parking, effect on the hay field, liability, state regulations. The guests are currently looking for 40 acres of field, and they are thinking big..lots of people. They are wanting to have the local community behind the plan, and promote a true sense of community. No fairway rides, just good old fashioned fun. This is all in the early planning stages, and it was neat to be part of at the ground level.
It will be interesting to see what develops.

The phone rang, and Larry and Pauline had to leave quickly. The cows were out....again! Some lingered to chat a while, talk about the Norway Grange Farmers Market and the barn dance.

I think we all left the meeting feeling a stronger sense of connection. I am thinking now of my new mantra, which is "Live Simply, Care deeply, Speak kindly, and Love Generously." Please pass it on.

Creative Youth

One of the best parts of the weekend was the young people. Our grandchildren, Macie, Kalyn, Mattison, and James provided tours of the farm for anyone who would go along with them. They showed off the Finnsheep, the ewes in the orchard field with Lester, the Border Leicester ram, the ram lambs in the pole barn, and the angora goats in the timber frame barn. The made sure people saw Bubba, our draft horse, the laying hens and the guinea chicks. One visitor said: "the kids are doing a great job...so good to see children involved in the farm, knowing so much about all that happens here."

I really enjoyed seeing so many young folks on Saturday afternoon in the workshops space having fun with fiber. Several young teens sat on the braided rug to knit. One six year old sat with me for 20-30 minutes learning to knit, and by the end of that time was knitting on her own. James, age 7 really wanted to spin some wool he had carded, and Mark helped him and several others create yarn at the spinning wheel. Mattison showed off her own carded, handspun yarn to anyone who would take a moment to appreciate it. Kalyn could hardly stay away from the carder. One 9 year old was learning to crochet. Several will be back for more lessons in the coming weeks.

We are pleased to offer a place for many to learn how to create with fiber.
For the fall and winter class schedule stay tuned to our web site. Postings will be there soon.

In the meantime Live simply, Speak kindly, Care deeply, and Love generously.

First Annual Natural Fiber Showcase at the Farm

The Natural Fiber Showcase was absolutely beautiful.


Over 30 people submitted a total of 51 pieces for the show and every entry deserved an award. There were more 130 people who voted for their favorites in each of the categories, which included youth, handspun yarn, needle work, felted work, woven, basketry, and hand crafted. Awards were the "peoples choice".

Rebecca Zicarelli led the awards ceremony after the Saturday Community Supper. The best of show award was awarded to Brenda Ellis Souro, of The Painted Mermaid in Norway, Maine for her hooked rug titled "Moonlit Lovers".

The winner in the youth category was Kalyn McGuire for her needle felted "Puppy". In the needlework category Elaine Szott took first for her "Sheep Dog and Lamb".

The Weaving category was won by Linda Whiting for her tapestry weaving called "Sheep Clouds". First place for Basketry was a "Red Stripe Basket" by Bill Hermon, of Sumner.

First in the Hand Crafted category was Jen Applebee's "Fairies" created using a clothespin, an acorn hat, milkweed pod wings and wool locks for hair. First place for handspun yarn went to Mary Ann Haxton and for Felted Works to Marty Elkin for her "First Snow" Needlefelted framed art.

Congratulations to everyone who earned first place awards and to everyone who entered.

The First Annual Natural Fiber Showcase planning team did an outstanding job with advertising, hanging, and recording entries. The display of fiber art was hung by Liz Coburn with Terri Dunns assistance. The showcase awards were beautifully designed and needle felted by Kate Chesley. Terri also kept an eagle eye on the display all weekend, returned many of the pieces to their owners, and helped clean up. Photography credits go to Kate Chesley, also the architect for the building itself. Thanks to everyone who helped make our celebration a success!

More memories will be shared tomorrow...stay tuned.
M&M

Natural Fiber Showcase and Barn Dance

The Tesseract, our new fiber building, is nearing completion and we have planned a celebration, a Natural Fiber Showcase and Barn Dance with Pam Weeks and Ti'Acadie.

The new building was possible with the support of grants from Farms for the Future and a REAP federal grant. The building has solar hot water for washing wool and a radiant floor, a dye kitchen, and a learning center.

Friday, October 22 we will open the showcase at 10am featuring a wide variety of items including handspun yarn, needlework, hooked and woven rugs, basketry, and more. At 2pm there will be a press conference. The public is invited.

Saturday, October 23, open 10a to 4pm with a Farmers Market, donuts and coffee from Beeps Bakery, hot soup for lunch, a pot luck supper with the awards for the showcase, and a Barn dance at 7pm. Pam Weeks will lead some contradancing. Tickets available now are $10. Children 14 and under are free. Grandchildren will provide farm tours of the new pole barn, sheep grazing, and new fencing and pasture area.

Sunday, October 24th, 10a to 2p will be Fiber Community Day. Join us with some needle work, fiber to spin, or hand work. Relax, visit, enjoy, create.

Chores

Chores are twice a day, am and pm. Summer chores are really quite pleasant, and don't take too long. Here is how it goes...
1. Feed and water the cats on the porch...
2. Prepare ½ scoop grain, 4 scoop garlic, 1 scoop each of kelp & minerals for Bubba, the draft horse. Give grain and water to Bubba behind the barn. (The garlic helps deter the biting flys.)
3. Prepare grain and oyster shells for layers (blue plastic bucket). Make sure you close the lid to the grain bin. Give the layers water.
4. Prepare about a quart of sheep minerals daily….they have been eating it fast. Goes in the box in the field, free choice. Give them water too.
5. Turn off electric fence at the gate. Turn on water on the slab of new sugar house.
5.Check and fill chicken grain dish and water. Gather Eggs. Check mother hen and 2 chicks in the little tractor.
6. Count sheep’(and goats) but don’t go to sleep yet. (Really just make sure they are upright and happy). We just wormed two of them with the poopy butts. Watch out for limping, and if you see that check their feet.
7. Turn on the fence at the gates and turn off the water. Make sure gates to in barn and field are safely latched closed.
8. Take eggs to the refrigerator in the pantry.
9. Have a great day!

At dusk, repeat above list, except feed Bubba and the cats only once a day, and close in the chickens both in the field and in the barn. Make sure the fences are on! In the barn check for one rooster, 4 guinea fowl, and 2 hens. In the am let them the chickens all out. Protection from the fox is very important.

Early Blueberries

Yesterday we picked blueberries for the first time this year….beautiful, big, juicy berries and enough for dessert with plenty left over for another time. What a treat!

Ten years ago a group of us cooperatively purchased blueberry plants. We got 8 plants and heeled them in a garden space, not sure where they should live. The next year we made a bed for them and moved them. These are high bush blueberries, two varieties, one that is earlier than the other. The berries generally bloom in July and have berries the last week August.

The birds like blueberries too, and so do honey bees and sadly, Japenese beetles. We use blueberry netting over a frame made with posts. We don’t really like to share the berries with the birds and the beetles. The honey bees the neighboring farmer has placed near the bushes are a welcome addition to our farm.

When I think of blueberries I think of blueberries with sour cream and a sprinkling of brown sugar ~ b lueberry pie, blueberry cobbler, blueberry pancakes, blueberry crisp, and pop em in your mouth as you pick...yum.

More Hard Work

We moved sheep in the cool of the morning, and when we got home we were excited to see the crane in the yard, ready to put the big beams and trusses on the “Tesseract”, our fiber building under construction. The 4x8 beams and the trusses were stacked and ready to go, including the gable ends.







The first beam was challenging for Butch, the crane operator, because he could not see where it needed to sit and could not hear instructions over the background noise of the . A few hand signals and he was able to drop it into place.

Mostly Chris was up top, and Cam was on the ground guiding one end of each beam using a rope. There are 6 heavy beams along what will be the ceiling. Then Butch picked up the west gable end and gently placed it where it belonged.

Chris and Cam then leveled it up and fastened it in place.








There are two window openings that are in that end near the mud room which is facing the barn and the west field. I hope that will give a good view of the sunsets. We can now see there will be plenty of room upstairs to store raw fleeces.

It took most of the day to put up the 18 trusses that will support the roof over the entire building (except the store), and sweat was literally dripping off the workers. The next piece up was the east gable that will separate the new store from the rest of the upstairs, which also has space for 2 windows.


Then, over the store they added 4 sets of big beams forming a cathedral ceiling creating an open spacious space with lots of natural light from the 2 windows on the east end and places to hang things from beams above. The guys refused to stop for lunch and drank a ton of water.

It is very exciting to see the roof up. I hope they went home feeling very satisfied for a job well done. We expect soon to have the roof on and windows in. We have been in touch with the peoploe who will install the solar panels, plumming and electricity. Things are moving along...

Farming is hard work

Haying is definitely HARD work….

The hottest days of the summer is when hay is ready to go into the barn. This year is no exception. We often have to get hay in under the pressure of potential rain, which can ruin good hay in the field. This year we are getting second cut hay the first of July, earlier than ever before. We got the call from our neighbor that he would have 300 bales ready for us on the 4th of July. Weather reports suggested sunshine for the next 4 days.

Normally we hook up to a hay wagon in the field, pull it to the barn, count the bales as one tosses them out of the wagon to the barn floor, one loads them on the hay elevator, and two stack them in the hay loft. The wagon can hold over 120 bales per load, and there is only one wagon. Once that is empty we go back and load the bales left on the ground into the wagon for the second and third loads.

So we arranged for two boys with strong muscles to help us move the hay elevator from the pole barn to the main barn and come back around 6pm, avoiding the worst heat of the day. We cleaned and organized in the barn to facilitate the hay transport process. And we went to a friends house for a holiday gathering. As we were heading home from Buckfield it started to sprinkle. Nooooo.. This can not be. And we had to beat the rain. Maybe it won’t rain in Sumner, we said, checking out the overcast sky.

..And when we pulled in to the driveway we saw the hay wagon at the barn door it was not raiding and the neighbor had brought the wagon over, and he with our 2 boys were already unloading hay likety -split. We got that first 130 bales in and went back for the remaining 180 bales of first cut hay for Bubba (the draft horse) and for the goats.

The next morning we headed to Wilton to help bring in second cut hay for friends who have Shetland sheep. It was a beautiful morning and a pretty 45 minute drive seeing huge fields of blooming potatoes, some fields of corn, and big beautiful barns. The hay was stacked in a wagon that we pulled up beside.

Loading wagon to truck, and wagon to trailer went very quickly for the 4 of us and we loaded 120 bales and were on our way home within an hour. Much easier than loading out of the field. We are storing this batch of hay in the north side of our barn for them since we have plenty of room for it. Then back to the field for another load, this time second cut hay for our sheep. Second cut hay is said to be better nutrition for pregnant and lactating ewes. We then had to move the hay elevator from the big barn to the pole barn and by 6 pm we were unloading the last of the hay into the pole barn. It was still hot, we were dripping with sweat, and pushing to find the energy to keep going until we were done. Haying only takes us a few days, and they are always very hot days of very hard work.

Yesterday morning we got an early start separating the boy sheep from the girl sheep. Because it promised to be one of the hottest days of the summer we started at 5am transporting 2 boys from here and 3 boys from Buckfield to Otisfield and taking 4 girls back to Buckfield. Early in September the girls will be ready for Lester, the Border Leicester to come courting . If it takes 2-4 weeks for the girls to cycle we can hope for lambs in February next year. (We don’t want any unplanned babies come December.)

We actually have sheep at 3 locations right now….here, Buckfield, and Otisfield and we are fortunate to have people willing to provide our sheep good care and lush pasture. This arrangement gives the sheep plenty of high quality pasture to graze while we work to improve our pastures here. Moving sheep involves lifting lambs into the back of the truck. We realized they are getting big. Mamas are even heavier to lift. When we are moving a crowd we set up a walkway and ramp so that they can walk into the truck. The trick then is getting them to stay there once they are in. We actually had very little trouble this time and was glad we could do it in the cool of the early morning.Mid day Mary Ann went to treat a lame goat and realized her foot was in awful shape...way worse than we thought. Food scald is fairly common when pastures are wet and relatively easy to treat. We treat foot scale with a liquid application twice a day for several days, and that’s it. Foot rot is something we don’t like to see, but it happens occasionally. This year has been particularly challenging. For that we trim off the dead and damaged hoof, which is softened by the disease and treat it with a green paste applied with a gauze wrapped in place with vet wrap. This is what we were prepared for. But what we found was a very bad case that had become infested with maggots as well. Yuk! So we cleaned it up, flushed it out with antiseptic iodine, and flushed it clean with a spray water bottle. We will give her antibiotics to help her fight the infection. It will take time, but she will mend.

Thyme Flies

A whole month since I last wrote, and how the time has flown. As I look out my window I see a concete slab, which will be the floor for the new building. Plumbing and drains, electric, insulation, pex tubing for the radaint floor, insulation are all there AND I can walk around imagining the walls and windows. Behind that is a slab for the new sugar house and a new water pump. Mary Ann is putting stain on the shingles, and the builders will most likely start next week.

The chickens are rotating weekly in the "chicken tractor", that is mounted on an old camper frame with wheels. She sheep, lambs, goats and Bubba, the horse are rotating in the orchard. The asparagus in bushing out, and there is much work to do in the garden.

Fiber Frolic happened at Windsor Fairgrounds, and preparations involved dyeing, making needle felting kits. I came up with several new designs while at Kim's in New York, and they were very popular. I also created a little Kitty felted and framed. Already I have ideas about what to create next. I have started dyeing yarn in larger lots (about a pound in a lot) and have experimented more with using just 3 dye colors, canary, cherry and peacock to make an infinite range of colors bright and muted over gray.

We prepared a fleece, a skein of handspun yarn,a handspun hat and a felted landscape for competition. The fleece from Sadie, our Finn cross, did not get judged and Mary Ann took second place for her handspun yarn, and I took first for my landscape. We have new yarn back from processing...sport weight with 10% nylon and dark brown bulky 100% lambs wool that will make wonderful felted mittens or a bulky sweater.

At the Frolic it rained a lot, but we were inside and dry, and the rain let up when we had to pack and unpack. Kate was a great help in planning and creating the display, and both she and her hubby, Steve, came along to help load and unload. We slept in the pup up tent camper. About 3:30 am we were all awake when a gully washer let loose. It sounded like we were inside a drum. And some poor lamb away from its mother for the first time kept calling and calling...

Mary Ann demonstrated braided roving and sewing together a chair seat. I did needlefelting and tried to inspire people to try it. Sales were good and it was fun for me to meet and talk with people who enjoy fiber.

Onc little girl at the frolic asked about our lambs for sale. We learned that she requested that her family no longer shop at Hannaford when she found out they sell ground lamb. She really wants to buy a pet lamb. We need to get pictures of our lambs for sale and post them on the web site. The lambs are growing well, and weeks ago were over 70 pounds, which is as high as our scale will take. We now have a new scale so we can weigh up to 200 pounds. They are all out on pasture and their fleeces are gorgeous. Some have gone to new homes permanently, and some are visiting a friend who has wonderful pastures and likes them as lawn ornaments.


Every Tuesday is knitting circle, and things needed to be back together by 1 pm for that. Monday we unloaded, and took on the task of cleaning the empty room before finding just the right spot for everything. As this was happening I thought about how we will arrange things in the new space within just a few months, and how that will free up living space in the house.

I took a break yesterday and planted some woad plants given to me by a friend in the Bethel Spinning Group and indigo seedlings we bought at Fiber Frolic. Then joined in with the Hebron Spinning group for a wonderful day of spinning and inspiration from other spinners and knitters.

Now, at the top of my list is the wedding gown for Jessica, which I will have done by next Wednesday when we go to Denver for the bridal shower. I need to put in the lining and zipper, dye and sew on the lace.

My tea is about gone, and I have things to do, so bye for now.
I will post pictures when I can.

The "Tesseract"

We had a few friends over a while back to celebrate in the site for our new fiber building and express our gratitude for all that has brought us to where we are with this project. Now we have begun actual construction. Our project is no longer just a dream...it is a reality.

At the gathering the question was raised, what do you call this building? We have named many of our buildings, for example we have a small building in the back field we call the Celestry (and that is another story). The room that is now the yarn shop is call the "Shed Room" as it was one the woodshed. And the old "Carriage House", now the woodworking shop. By the end of the day we had named our fiber building "The Tesseract".

"Explanations are not easy when they are about things for which we still have no words...." ...a quote from the book by Madeline L'Engle, "A Wrinkle in Time" which inspired the name of our farm. Chapter 5 in the book is about the Tesseract, which is time travel. Here are some excerpts from that chapter.

"..traveling the speed of light is the impractical, long way around. We have learned to take short cuts whenever possible. Mrs Who took a portion of her robe in her hands and held it tight.

You see, if a very small insect were to move from the section of skirt in Mrs. Who's right hand to that in her left, it would be quite a long walk. Swiftly Mrs. Who brought her hands, still holding the skirt, together. Now you see, he would be there without that long trip. That is time travel in the fifth dimension, a tesseract.

Here at A Wrinkle in Thyme Farm we like to do things the old traditional ways, like spinning yarn and using our draft horse to collect sap from trees around the fields, and using wood heat. We find it important to make do with what we have, and use our resources wisely. Oh yes, we use electricity and have many modern conveniences, but still, we really enjoy many of the old ways.

The building will provide space for storing, picking, washing, dyeing, carding and felting our wool. One key component of this building is solar hot water and radiant heat, which will minimize the energy requirements. It will also provide educational space for dyeing, felting, and fiber art workshops including school groups, families, and fiber groups.

This building will include space for a cooperative of fiber artists and owners of spinners flocks to process small lots of raw fiber at an affordable rate with a short turn around time (1-4 weeks). Currently many shepherds wait at least 3 months for wool processing, and some can not find anyone willing to take small quantities of fiber.

It is not our intention to become a commercial mini mill where wool is processed for other people, but rather a cooperative with memberships including people willing and able to make an investment in the equipment. The vision includes investment of funds from willing participants offering them a way to work together to process their fiber as well as ours using the premise that “many hands make light work” and is more fun besides.

Breaking Ground

The site for the fiber building is changing almost every day......


On Monday they dug a hole for the Sugar house slab, filled it with gravel, and graded it to the right height. There will need to be a rock retaining wall on one side. I hope it can look like the one by the house in Danville where I grew up (only it will be much smaller). There is a stack of wood waiting to be split...poplar and ash. The poplar will be sap wood for the new sugar house for next year's maple syrup production. The ask will be fire wood for the fiber building. We have been shopping for a used Jotul wood stove in Uncle Henry's on line.

On Tuesday it rained. On Wednesday and Thursday they dug trenches for the frost walls and the concrete person came and dropped of boards for the footings. The water supply that fed the old sugar house is capped off. And last evening we spiritually prepared the space for the good things to come, thanking everyone who has taken part in the planning, dreaming and visioning this new place for family and community to make beautiful fiber creations~gathering, as the pieces of a puzzle all falling into place, reaching out to those who share our dream, and receiving the wisdom, inspiration, rosources and joy.

Norway Farmers' Market

On most Thursdays from May 13th through September 30th you will find us at the Norway Farmers' Market from 2 to 6 pm. The market has about a dozen farmers who bring their items to sell, and it is not just vegetables. You will find:

• berries, apples, jams and jellies. meats
• "rustic wood stuff" benches, bird houses, clipboards and cutting boards.
  
• perennial flowers, seedlings, and herbs.
  
• cinnamon rolls, breads, pies, and cookies.
• hand knit hats, pocket bags with needlefelted pockets,
• hand sewn knitting bags, needle felting kits and tools, and yarn....lots of yarn!
  

And the roof came tumbling down

Two weeks ago after we finished putting away the sugaring equipment we started emptying out the sugar house. The plan is to tear down the old sugar shack conserving as many materials as possible, and to build a fiber processing building on the same spot. The fiber building will be larger, and will provide space for washing, dyeing, and carding wool as well as space for workshops and a farm store. A new sugar house will be built behind the fiber building and back toward the cow lane.

Our daughter Kim was visiting with her 4 children...and friend Keith. We carried the sugaring equipment to the first bay in the barn beginning with the buckets, and ending with the evaporator.

We made piles. A pile of all kinds of metal stuff, piles of boards, piles of things to give away, and a pile for the dump. Dan came by and picked out the steel, which he can use in his blacksmith shop or to build things. Steve picked a few things they could use out of the dump pile, and Lee took some metal and copper pipe.

First the side supports and back shed came off. We wondered if the building would still stand, as these were put on to stabilize it's leaning to the side years ago. It seemed stable enough.
Then Kim, Kieth, and James tackled the roof removing the metal panels one by one and stacking them back by the fence. The chimney from the arch came down, too rusty to keep. Strapping came off and 2x4's and old boards. Kalyn and James helped Mary Ann and I to remove nails from the better boards stacking them back by the fence. We filled a 3 pound coffee can with nails over the 3 days that we worked.


Mary Ann cut down the 2 mostly dead trees to the east, and cut a hole in the west wall to protect the water hydrant from damage when the building fell. We cut holes near the top left corner through which we put a big chain, which was fastened to straps with hooks on the end, and attached to the frame of the truck. We made sure all the children and animals were safe while Marty slowly drove the truck forward in low gear and boom....the building came down with a crash. The roof was sitting on the ground still intact. It would have been easier to dismantle the roof here had we known it would hold up.


Jim came over for half a day and cut down the poplar trees where the tree house used to be. The trees would would have shaded the solar panels that will generate hot water for washing wool and a radiant floor. Jim made the trees fall right where we wanted them and efficiently cut them into manageable pieces. Mark came and spent a day with Mary Ann splitting them by hand with a maul. We have a pile of 3-4 cords of wood to use as firewood and sap wood.

Gary was driving by and stopped in to offer his time and equipment for crushing the roof and hauling it away. The offer was attractive, and later in the week in about 3 hours the whole thing was gone.



Now we are moving the iris, clematis, strawberries to new homes. We have moved "stuff" like the crooked fence, the cap for the truck, and the forecart out of the way in preparation for the "digger" to stake the footprint and dig for the foundation beginning next week.

We plan to keep you posted...stay tuned.

Maine Maple Sunday 2010

We had a crazy sap season this year. In past years we have tapped trees early March and started boiling around the 15th. We know it is time for sap to run when there are nights below freezing and days in the high 30's or up into the 40's. This year we tapped over 200 trees around the first of March and by the 15th we had several gallons of syrup made. We probably missed some good sap runs in February. By March 21st, the first day of spring, we had made 12 batches with a little over a gallon per batch. Then we had over a week of warm days and warm nights...sap did not run at all.

The Sun Journal did a super article on the front page of the Saturday edition of the paper "From Sugar to Sheep". They also sent out a videographer to put a short clip online. To see it go to sunjournal.com/sumnerfarm. Some readers got the impression that this was our last year to do maple syrup, but if you read carefully to the end you see that this is the last year for our old sugar house (once a chicken coop), which is coming down soon to build a fiber processing building. Next year we will have the same evaporator in a smaller sugar house back closer to the southwest field. The article also talked about our growing flock of sheep including a picture of Willow, a triplet and one of Venus, our littlest lamb just 12 days old.

We heard that quite a few maple farms had actually pulled taps and were planning to boil water on Maine Maple Sunday. In preparation for the day we went out to collect sap on Saturday only to find ice in the buckets. The sap had run...and the day was so cold it had frozen. We took the buckets into the kitchen to thaw overnight. When people started to arrive early Sunday (before we planned to be open) we were still thawing the lines with a hair dryer and had not yet started a fire in the evaporator. "Come back later" Mary Ann said....

We had a wonderful team of helpers. One friend greeted people at the end of the driveway. She counted over 170 adults and many children who came to see our diversified farm. One of our helpers put together a bulletin board for the barn that is titled "Our Farm Family". It includes some pictures of our animals, the names of our sheep, tracing back to the first two, "Lucy and Winnie". It also includes the names and birth date of each of our 24 spring lambs this year, the six angora goats, Bubba (the horse), Nutter Butter and Mrs. Whatsit (the cats), Meg (the dog) and the chickens. No, we do not usually name the chickens.

We had helpers in the barn to answer questions about the animals and show off the new pole barn, built last fall. The 3 youngest lambs were in the barn with their mothers, and the rest of the flock was behind the barn. The lambs were not as playful as usual. It was cold in the barn!

Mary Ann was boiling sap in the sugar and made two gallons of sap, though it took her way into the evening to do it. She was talking about the process of turning sap into maple syrup as she fed the evaporator with wood all day long. She also tried to keep tabs on a table with cookies and coffee cake, but there was not time to make coffee or maple tea. At least it was warmer there.

Marty was in the shop where, at times, people were shoulder to shoulder and standing in line to buy their maple syrup, rovings, yarn, and knitted items. Another friend showed up just in time to take over the checkout stand so Marty could demonstrate needlefelting for a customer. It was toasty warm from the wood stove...another reason it was a popular place to be. One young person with angora bunnies bought lovely white roving to blend with her bunny fiber to spin into yarn for a baby that is expected in the near future. Another CSA customer signed up for our first annual Weekend Spring Fiber Gathering in April and went home with roving to spin as part of her fiber share. One of the Tuesday knitters showed up with an angora hat and a felted bag she had made. It was added to the table of knitted items to sell. The work for many knitted items were made by members of our Tuesday knitting circle with yarn from our animals. It was a contribution to the success of the day.

We do indeed have a growing fiber community.

Washing Wool

Over the past 2 weeks I have washed 50 pounds of wool in our washing machine. A young couple called us on the phone asking us to wash the wool and mohair from their animals. They were not sure how many pounds. We agreed on a price per pound, and when they brought the wool I realized what I was taking on.

The wool was very dirty. I sorted through and weighed each fleece, one box for dark wool, one for white, another for colored mohair, and another for white mohair. As I sorted I was making a judgment about what fleeces I could manage.

To wash wool I fill the washing machine with HOT, hot water...140 degrees in fact. I add liquid soap and put the wool, encased in mesh bags. NO AGITATION! Let it soak for 30 minutes. This means set the timer I keep with me as I do other things. When the time is up, drain the tub of the very grungy water, take out the wool, refill the tub with more HOT water, enter the wool again, first rinse for 30 minutes, NO AGITATION. Repeat draining, removing wool, and refill with a second wash with soap. Wait 30 minutes. Repeat draining, removing wool, and refill two more times for two rinses. Whew! The whole process takes two and one half hours of soaking not counting filling, draining and spinning. And when you are done you know bunches of dirt and lanolin have gone down the drain and the wool looks white when it looked gray to begin with.

Then the wool is spread out on racks to dry. This is when I begin to see bits of vegetation that did not get picked out of the dirty wool, and I find myself picking a bit out every time I pass the drying rack. Some of the wool dries overnight. Some of it takes several days. I know it would dry faster if the layers were not so thick, but I have limited space. I am looking forward to having a drying rack that is stacked high with screen shelves. As it is I have to wait several days for each load of wool to dry before I can do the next one.

Now I have a much better handle on what is involved with washing larger quantities of wool.
This summer we will build a fiber building that will have the capacity to wash and dry wool using solar thermal hot water. I will be glad when we are able to wash our own fleeces and the operation no longer takes over our bathroom with wall to wall wool.

Spring Farm Rhythms

There are rhythms on the farm. Spring rhythms get us out to tap trees and collect sap when the nights are cold and the days are warm. It is quite a pleasant thing on the nice days. With this comes boiling sap on the wood fired evaporator and collecting sap around the southwest field using Bubba, the draft horse. He really likes to work, and the pung we are using now works well on the snow when it is not too deep. And the snow is melting, oh my. And it is getting warm earlier than usual. We have done 12 batches of syrup already when in previous years we would just have started boiling at this time in March. We have had several warm days when the sap did not run, and we are hoping for some cold nights next week.

The chickens are laying really well as the days get longer. The garden is now clear of snow, and though we usually have seedlings started, this year we will plant less because we are building the fiber building. Chores have their own rhythms twice a day, every day. Chores require less in the summer when the animals are on grass. And now we have the new pole barn and can drop a bale of hay down into the feeder and walk along the middle when sheep can not invade us and drop grain on both sides with ample space for every ewe to eat. Everyone gets hay and the water buckets are filled twice a day.

Spring brings new lambs, with a routine of checking in the barn frequently for newcomers, and watching the lambs explore, jump, play and grow.This year we are bottle feeding 3 lambs, Willow (one of the triplets), Wooly and Woody, twins of Celine (who is not making enough milk for them). Feeding a bottle is fun at first, and now I am looking forward to having grandchildren visit to help with this particiular part of chores.

We are getting ready for Maine Maple Sunday, which requires bottling the last of 2009 maple syrup and which takes me to the dye kitchen. We are creating a recipe book for Cushing dyes so that we can reproduce colors. Our friends Anne and Cheryl have come to help create the process and the sample book. Today we are off to spin at Anne's house. We will take the samples to show the group. Maybe I can get that pair of socks knitted from the toe up finished today.

Record Day for Sap Collection

After chores yesterday we started the day collecting sap with Bubba, our draft horse. We harnessed him up to the pung, which held a 65 gallon container. He was ready to go. The previous day we had gathered sap into 5 gallon buckets and carried them to the edge of the snow. With Bubba we traveled to each set of buckets and emptied them into the big container on the pung.
We filled it once and went back for 1/2 a tank more.

Mary Ann finished the maple syrup in the evaporator that was almost done while Cayenne and I put in 35 more taps. Every tree was dripping fast. We collected more sap into 5 gallon buckets, and pumped it into 32 gallon containers to store. We also refilled the galvanized tank that feed the evaporator. In the end we estimated about 250 gallons gathered.

Lets see, 250 gallons will make about 5 gallons of syrup, which requires over 20 hours of boiling. Our syrup is rich, extra dark syrup. We believe this is at least partly because we use red maples as well as sugar maples. It also takes us 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup rather than the generally accepted 40 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup.

Pancakes for breakfast this am? You bet.

We have been very busy since I last wrote. Now we have 21 beautiful lambs bouncing around the barnyard. I just came inside from checking for new lambs from any of our 3 potential new mothers who have not yet produced lambs this year.

We now have two babies that need supplements with goats milk 3 to 4 times a day. Willow is one of triplets born to Magic. The triplets were big...weighing at birth 13#, 12# and 11#. Willow is the only girl of the three, the smallest at birth, and plenty feisty. She also has exceptional tricolor markings, with a black and white face and ears, gray spots on her back, and black legs. I have to catch her and coax a bit, but she will slurp down 2-3 ounces of goats milk provided by our neighbor, Lana.

Woody is one of twins born to Celine, our 3/4 Finn ewe. As it turns out Celine has one side of her bag that does not work. Woody has a totally different, laid back temperament. He is beginning to come to me when I go out with the bottle, and he seems to enjoy sitting on my lap for a while after he is done eating. We just sit in the sunshine for a bit and cuddle.

Sallie

Sallie and Sadie' who are sisters were next on February 26th.... Sallie gave birth noonish with Victor (black) and Valerie (white).... They weighed 9 1/2 and 8 1/2 pounds, very vigorous.
.
Sadie was next around 2:30 with Una, a beautiful white single, tipping the scale at 13 pounds.

Lambs are here!! We had our first babies today. Will keep you posted!