Old Man Winter flexes his muscles

The air is filled with blowing snow today as I look out toward the woodlot. Right now we've got about 10" of new snow, but it's being blown around so much, it is tough to say for sure. Old Man Winter has surely settled in for a while. The kids love the new snow, but I know it just makes my work harder, oh well.

We just turned the corner on the shortest days of the year. For the next six months our days will be getting longer. I know some people can't stand the short days here in the northern climates. I guess I'm kind of like an old grizzly bear, I just like to fatten up and wait it out.

I'm checking out the generator, just in case the power goes out for a long period of time. (Looking good is always important to the Farmer, here is proof) :-)



When the first days of spring come, we'll be out, collecting sap and making Maple Syrup again this year. If the weather allows, we're prepared to make 25-30 gallons of syrup. The sugar wood is all stacked away and waiting the warm sun of March.

The goats spend most of their days in the barn now, just going out to pasture when the weather is good. They like the sun, especially in the winter. The does are doing well and appear to be progressing quite well. I hope to have 6 does with kids this Spring. We've always just kept the milk for ourselves, but I hope to become a little more commercial in the next couple of years.

Here's hoping that this holiday season finds your family healthy and safe. Best wishes for a Happy New Year. Check back soon. I hope to spend these cold nights posting some neat stories and pictures that you might find interesting.

Goodbye and Good buy?

Yesterday we said goodbye to a nice old yankee gentleman. My Great Uncle "Bud" Wagg passed away on Thanksgiving evening, at the age of 89 years old. A WWII veteran, Bud landed on the beaches of Normandy, during the second wave of the D-day attack. I knew Uncle Bud to always be smiling and as such a great guy. Along with my grandmother, June Wheeler, now 90 years old, Bud and June were cast from the same great New England pioneer stock. We will miss him greatly.

On a lighter note, we recently celebrated Gideon's first deer, a button buck, killed with one perfectly placed shot. A quick kill, and hopefully the beginning of a love for hunting and for the outdoors. As his Dad and the "Hunter", I couldn't be prouder.


Well, just when I thought I was busy, we've done it again. We bought the farm! Here are a couple of "before" shots. I think there is a lot of potential here that we'll discover through the next couple of years.


You may ask "How old is the house?", well that is a good question. I'll call it an 1840's bungalow, rebuilt several times, with a touch of Craftsman styling. Now really the Bungalow style dates only to the 1920's, so I think that what we've got here is a classic New England home. Dating to no particular time, but before anyone can remember, and with hints of several styles. There was a house near here in 1854, but the current structure looks like a later reconstruction effort. It appears that the Attorney that owned it in the mid 1970's did some big changes, but there have been none since 1978. Before we rip too much, we're trying to study the whole house including talking to owners that lived here in the 1960's. We intend to restore this great old house to make it more energy efficient and to add some modern conveniences.

What you really can't see from the pictures is the land on which the house sits. At around 25 Acres, more or less, as the deed states, I think that by cutting a field to the west of the house we'll get a view of Maine's western foothills and beyond. That will have to wait for now.