Out like a Lamb

The warmer days of Spring are upon as as we say goodbye to March. The frogs are now in full chorus and the buds are leaping from their hard shells. The animals on the farm will eat their breakfast and lay in the warm sun as they wait for the green grass that is beginning to take over the pasture. Easter is but a few days away when the long eared fellow will make his rounds.

We will clean the sugarhouse this weekend and wait for next year to take another shot at making some more sweet maple syrup. The firewood pile in the basement has shrunk to nearly nothing, but April here, hooray.

I'll be breaking out the rototiller in a few days to have our first peas in by April 15th. We'll start some spinach and early lettuce very soon as well. The pepper seedling trays have been sprouting on top of the furnace and will be moving to the sunny corner of the kitchen in a day or two.

It seems that we have to sort of change gears to take on the tasks of each season. Always looking ahead, preparing now so we don't miss the opportunity to take best advantage of the short growing season.

Rainy day

The rain is falling hard today here on the farm. Only a little of our manure has been spread for the upcoming growing season. The field is still too wet to get on with the spreader. We like to have these steady rains to help wash the nutrients into the ground. We just don't need quite this much at one time.

A few sap buckets remain on the trees. We should have got them down this weekend, but "The Farmer" got a bum hip, probably from overdoing it at our baseball clinic. I'm feeling better now, I think I have got to get some herbs or something for my aging bones.

Maine Maple Sunday passed without ever going into our sugar house yesterday. We did visit a friend's operation, maybe we'll be open next year. Look for it.

Rain is expected for tomorrow, then maybe warm and sunny through til Easter. That would be real nice. The grass will be getting green soon. April is but a few hours away. Take Care.

Frogs are singing

The frogs in the pasture pond are waking up for the season. The lonely "peep-peep" of a single pond dweller could be heard last night as I came back from the barn. This spring has been somewhat typical in a strange sort of way. We've had days in the high 60's, in mid March after a mild February. The kids launched their raft in the pond and were nearly swimming yesterday. We've raked most of the lawns and there is not any snow to be found here in Bowdoin. This morning we awoke to a dusting of snow and a biting wind out of the northwest. The Canadian air still has some frost left in it to blow us back into winter. I guess this is what the weather has always been in Maine, unpredicatble at best.

The earliest settlers, of hardy stock, were always at the mercy of Mother Nature. Sheltered by rudimentary houses and eating only what they could grow, collect or kill, they were acutely aware of their environment at all times. How we have changed, with insulated houses, central heat and warm motor cars, we seem to have it easy. I think we all should get a little closer to the land, to gather what it offers, to grow when the season is right.

Farmer becomes Midwife?

Well, after a rather uneventful kidding season here this year, I was able to lend a hand recently to some new goat enthusiasts. The first time Mom, a great looking Nubian doe, was in labor for nearly 12 hours before I got the call for advice. My experience told me, as it did them, that it might be time to help the new mom a little.

After some "pen side" talk, we decided that we should determine the position of the kid, because she was making no progress and was getting very tired. After a short manual exam I figured the little kid was transverse, or laying across the birth canal. This just doesn't work in any setting, so more help was needed. Now the books say just simply push the baby back in and turn it to the proper position. This is sometimes easier said than done. Imagine shoving your hand down a slimy rabbit hole and into a mix of legs, ears and noses. After a few tense seconds I found a rear leg, just one, and I gave an easy pull. That was the key, I had done it, and just like that, the little doe kid was born. Tired at first, then moving a little, she was alive and out. A big sigh of relief for all.

With one baby out, the way was cleared for the other two little bucks to make their entrance into the new world. Not as hard as the first, but each just as wonderful. Needless to say, the new mother was exhausted. We offered her a drink of warm water which she gladly accepted. We took care of getting the kids cleaned up some and then placed them by the mother's head so she could help clean them off, which she did. With my work done, I washed my hands and rode off into the night. Ready to lend a hand again at the next call for help.

Sap has runned out?

Mother Nature has proven again that she is in fact in charge. While many places in southern New England have been hit hard with snow this winter, in Maine we seem to have dodged the bullet and are in the middle of a real warm spell. Here in Bowdoin we have very little snow cover, except in the dark softwood forests on north facing hills. In contrast to the winter of 2007-08, on April first that year many places around here had almost three feet of snow still on the ground. As a Land Surveyor, I find that my slow season is linked very closely with the heavy snow cover. Maybe its just my dislike for shovelling snow all day long!

As you may have guessed, with every blessing there is a curse. It seems that with the limited snow and mild winter, the maple sugar season may go down as a pretty poor one in this area. It seems that the maples in the deepest woods have run well as of late, but the trees out in the open have already begun to bud out. We have produced 12 1/2 gallons of syrup this season, not bad for our small production, but only half of our goal. We are holding out for another cold spell but we are doubtful. On the bright side, we have almost half our wood left for the sugar house, which will be very dry for next season.

Let's hope for some April showers to bless our fields and gardens for the upcoming growing season.

New buck is in town

Just a few days after celebrating the life of our current herd "sire", we have brought home a new addition to our farm, a purebred registered Nubian buckling. Weighing in at only 10 pounds, the little guy will have to do some serious growing before he takes over the breeding privileges. The new Nubian buck will hopefully improve our herd through some great genetics and we will be back into pure Nubian stock. Not to worry for "Bucky", this fall he'll still be the "go to guy".

Father of 8 and counting

Our handsome Alpine Buck, aptly named "Bucky" has been pleased with his work. The does here at Juniper Hill Farm have given him eight kids so far, with more to come. The proud father of six strapping young bucks and two beautiful does is looking forward to laying around his bachelor pen this summer and gaining his energy for the fall breeding season. Bucky also had the opportunity to travel a bit last fall, with a month spent visiting some of his old flames. I think he may have also had some other girlfriends on the side. Come to think of it, maybe I should call him Tiger.