Phlog?

This week's post is a photo blog.... Or phlog?

Signs of spring

My mom recently asked me to be on the lookout for signs of spring to share with my nephew. Here are a few that Neal and I have seen. What have you noticed in your area besides April showers, showers, showers?

April 5: orange yolk now that the chickens are back to foraging
April 6: sap basically done flowing. Mullein growing
April 7:mullein rosettes
April 8: first dandelion leaves and yarrow fronds. Spring peepers or chorus frogs heard for the first time.
April 12: grass is green in some spots again instead of just yellow and brown
April 16: chickweed growing... Yum!
April 19: two pheasants next to the lodge... See below for a picture

We are just finishing up the last of our maple syruping project. We expect a total of around 58 cups or about 3.5 gallons of syrup. It helped us that when the sap froze, we were able to throw out the ice that was mostly water. We kept the unfrozen sap that was left with an even higher sugar content. Let us know if you want to do breakfast with sourdough pancakes and homemade syrup.

We finally got around to cleaning out the chicken coop bedding... Back breaking work that I'm hoping will help us both build up our muscles... Who needs a gym membership when you have work like this? It did motivate us to start planning out a portable chicken coop that will get the hens out to different parts of the property so we have less bedding to scoop out. We are looking into getting 8 more hens for the flock now that the birds are foraging again. Our hope is to cut back on feed once we know they have a nice diet of greens, bugs, food scraps, etc.

Below are a few pictures from dinner tonight: grass fed beef, sweet potatoes, carrots, and greens on homemade corn tortillas... Thanks to Neal for making and for using the tortilla maker I got in Costa Rica. This meal is on our list of favorites now along with shepherd's pie.

The happiest sugaring mistake

Well who would have thought that we would get tired of making maple syrup? On Sunday we were close to finishing up a batch of then gallons of sap, and we decided pack for the return trip to Milwaukee while it finished boiling down. We forgot about the project for a half hour and found the maple boiling over the pot and waaaaaay past the thickness we needed of maple syrup. What we found was a delicious Carmel/ molasses/ candy like substance. I geeked out and overdosed on the sugar. Here are some pictures of our fun times.

April farm recaps and goals

Hello all! I thought I would take some time to recap some of our farm adventures since November and fill you in on some of our goals for the spring. A few people have expressed interest in helping at the farm occasionally. Contact me with info on what specifically you would like to tackle and we will pick a time together.

So far:
Added polyurethane to the lodge floor
Jacked up the lodge floor
Created an automated chicken feeder.
Harvested over 100 gallons of sap and made over a gallon of syrup
Attended the Midwest Catholic Worker Farm Gathering
Redid the plastic on the potting shed
Started seeds, including leeks, onions, kale, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and collards
Harvested 11 chickens then 13 more later in the winter


Later this spring:
Buy some young chickens
Develop a system for pastured chicken foraging
Get bees
Boil down more of the sap into syrup
Attend the Sustain Jefferson gardening workshops
Make some no-till annual garden beds
Plan and continue planting the perennial food forest
Harvest and preserve spring herbals such as violets, dandelions, and cedar.

After our semi-hibernation this winter we are excited to get back into the growing season.