33. Happy Birthday to Us!

The end of the month—February 28th—marks one year on this property, and in that year, a lot has happened here at the farm. For starters, we took an empty field and began to make it into something a little less conventional: a small orchard, cane fruit, herbs, cut flowers, pine, dogwood, and maple trees, a market garden, and (more) chickens and geese were added to the farm in 2020. We also tapped maples for the first time to create maple syrup, and added bees to our repertoire.

About that maple syrup: the first time I boiled, I failed, wasting 15 gallons of maple sap that could have been at least 12 oz. of syrup.

Alas! But I’ve since gotten better at the boil, producing some lovely, delicate, and sweet, light maple syrup.

The house began its face-lift, getting paint on every wall, a new ceiling in the family room, ceiling fans, a makeover on the fireplace and a new hearth, new plank flooring (and sub-flooring) to repair the water-damage we found, new joists to shore up that new flooring and hearth, and some new appliances were added to update the livability of the space. Of course, we have so much more to do in getting this house up to our standards, but of course, that will take time and a cash infusion we just don’t have. So we do a little bit here and there, slowly making our way toward the vision we have for the place.

Meanwhile, it’s practically Spring around the farm, and 2021 brings a bunch of plans I want to implement: more chickens and geese, expansion of the market garden (since it did so poorly last year), more attention to the soil through cover crops and the application of organic soil amendments, more wildflowers and cut flowers, implementation of a pasture rotation for those geese and chickens (c’mon tax return, don’t fail me now!) which means an investment in some movable fencing, a more concerted effort at hatching out eggs from my flock, selling fertile eggs (both chickens and goose), trying some new crops (quinoa, and dent corn, and plum trees, oh my!), and branching out to another weekday market because I have more eggs right now than I can shake a stick at.

So despite a pandemic, a raucous election cycle, and the general day-to-day that is human existence, I’m feeling pretty good about what we’ve accomplished and what we have to look forward to in 2021.

Meanwhile, we’re sitting through some epic snow for this area, and predictably, everyone has gone bonkers about the foot that is predicted. I plan to huddle under the covers with Goose, some strong coffee, a warm fire, and enjoy (then curse my fate in the next couple of days as I dig my car out, navigate the steep drive with my none-four-wheel-drive pick-up, and hope for the best on these narrow and slick rural roads).

Meanwhile, nature takes its time and doesn’t fight the ebb and flow.