March 31, 2022
Our Amee mare is about to have a baby. We are very excited. The youngster should be in a matter of hours now. I am sleepy tired as I check her progress often through the day and through the night. The small droplets of “wax” forming at the end of her teats is telling me that things are progressing steadily. My excitement grows along with my anxiety. Stay tuned for more updates in the days ahead.
We have been busy. The sugarhouse and all the maple equipment has been cleaned as far as we can go until warm weather allows us to pressure wash the main pans and give them a good scrubbing. It takes a while to put things all in order and be ready for next year. Filling the woodshed is now a priority too.
Grace and Bree will turn one and two respectively in April. Miss Bree will begin her light training to harness in the coming days. Most all work has stopped as we all watch and wait for the new foal to arrive.
As we head into the month of April, there will be lots of exciting news to share. We hope that you will visit often, like and share
Filed under: March 2022 | Tags: family, maple syrup, maple syrup season, memories, Small Farming, Suffolk Punch horses, thankfulness
March 21, 2022
Last Thursday, we untapped our maple trees. The warm weather, with no freezing nights has brought an end to our maple syrup season. We pulled the taps from the trees, gathered up our bags for recycle and said thank you to the trees.
Today, I boiled water and started the big job of cleaning up the sticky pans and equipment. It is a job that is sweet, bittersweet! It means putting everything to bed until next year. This year’s season was only 19 days long for us. We did make some very nice syrup, but the season was about half what is normal. That is okay, we will be thankful for what we made.
Our son’s young team of Suffolk horses, Anna and Belle have learned quite a bit this season. They are looking forward to the next jobs of field preparation for the coming crops. It is a busy time, but we take time to listen to the “peepers” and watch for spring flowers. I love this life!
Filed under: March 2022 | Tags: maple syrup, maple syrup season, Small Farming, Suffolk Horses, woodland stewardship
March 15, 2022
Our maple season is in full swing It came upon us fast. It has been a crazy year with extreme highs and lows. Usually that is just what we need, but the sun too has been a bit fleeting. Warm days with no sun, makes the trees stingy with their sap. Then several days of below freezing stops the flow as well. No matter what, we will be thankful for what we get.
The road in the picture above has been used to collect sap for over twenty years. We even dragged logs on this road during a small timber harvest two years ago. The light impact of our horses feet compared to the ruts of a tractor or other wheeled vehicle can easily be seen. Real horsepower in a woods, even at this most sensitive time of year, is a very positive thing.
The sap is running after a very cold weekend. I like this time of year. It is like waking up in the morning. First you open your eyes and stretch, perhaps roll over and just rest a bit. Then you rise up and start your day. I think mother nature is just waking up, nodding off a bit, but will soon rise up and it will be full blown spring! The warm days and plentiful rains will make the grass green, the trees bud and the soil warm.
But for now a little cold a little ice will rule the time. I agree that I am ready for spring, but a few more days of late winter and perfect sap running weather suits me just fine. I really do travel down a road less traveled.
Filed under: March 2022 | Tags: draft horses, family, maple syrup season, Small Farming, Suffolk Horses
March 6, 2022
The maple season is upon us. Last week we got our pans sweet. This next run will start to yield 2022 maple syrup. It is a crazy, wonderful time of year. I love it.
We spent time today gathering the sap, going tree to tree and collecting from the clear bags. We had all sorts of friends and family helping. We used our youngest son’s horses today to pull the sap gathering sled. They are still youngsters, still in training, but they did an outstanding job.
Our girls watched Jake’s horses as we hooked to the sap sled. Watching are Amee, Abby, Grace and Bree.
Our stallion Hank will soon be on the sap sled too. He works best with our Abby. Since Abby got the day off, so did Hank. He will soon be working and taking it all in stride.
He is growing well. He turns three in April
Sometimes he looks at me as if to say, “What do you want?” I can’t wait for him to change that look to “come on , let’s go!” Soon he will be hauling sap, pulling a few logs and getting plenty of wagon time. The plow is ready and the days of spring are coming fast.
This is our filly Grace. Some of you will remember that she fell down an old hand dug well late last year. She lost about half of her mane in that accident. That was about five months ago. The hair is growing back in quite well and remarkably, it is coming back in her natural color. I was afraid that It might come in white, but nope. It healed very well along with her other bumps and scrapes. God is good!
So, we are marching forward in this month of March Stay tuned for updates and information regarding the farm, maple syrup, horses and our family adventures.
RicelandMeadows 