Hatchery

We had hatchery this morning and it was cold, again! I am hoping that spring weather will arrive, and stay, very soon. This week is 'New Faces' week at the farm. The pigs arrived, the chicks came in the mail, and a new team of oxen arrived from Maine. The oxen are 5 years old and named Jim and John. Except...with a 'Maine' accent....so John is pronounced 'Jawwwwn'. Apparently he will only respond to that particular pronunciation. Today our job was to help with the school programs and we taught the kids about carding wool. They also got to see a sheep being sheared the old fashioned way (with hand shears). And the best part of the day was seeing a lamb that had JUST been born seconds before. We made it there just as the lamb had dropped. Unfortunately our kids were back in their class, but us moms enjoyed the miracle of it all. The lamb laid still for what seemed like too long, but then started to stir. The poor mama was tired out, but she eventually got herself up and took care of her little baby girl. As it worked out, one of the school groups was getting the sheep spiel when the sheep gave birth behind the woman speaking. She said she wasn't sure what to do, because she didn't want the kids to think it was a bad thing, but she knew that some people would be upset. In the end, she just rolled with it. She said she would be sure to get a few angry letters, as they have in the past, by angry parents. But seriously!? Why would that be upsetting? I would have loved if my kids had been able to see it happen.

Hatchery

Today Tyler, Katie and I started the Hatchery program, which is similar to Farm Hands. Tyler had trouble adjusting to me leaving, which is kind of unusual because he is my most adventurous kid. He had some problems at church recently, but he said it was because another kid was always mean to him, and now that his favorite teacher is back, he has been fine. So...I am praying that he will adjust without any issues. Today, the kids got to learn about maple sugaring. They made their own spiles out of staghorn sumac and helped their teacher make pancakes which they ate with syrup made right on the farm. Us moms were put to work! It was like boot camp compared to Saturdays. First we had to push the old manure spreader across the barn yard, where we later got it stuck in the mud. Good thing the workhorses were nearby! Most of the women shoveled manure in from the sheep barn. The mama sheep are getting ready for lambing. Just yesterday, the first twin lambs of the season were born. To say they were adorable would be an understatement! They were so tiny. Another mom and I got barn duty, cleaning out stalls and getting ready for the school groups. I also had to patrol the barn for what was termed "Modern Crapola." So I trolled around for McDonalds cups, plastic buckets and florescent bailing twine. Can't have that in a 1910 barn! The end result of this is that I am very tired and probably very stinky. I ran this morning too, and that is adding to the ambiance...ha!

Farm Hands

I forgot to add this to the last post. On Saturday James and I had our Farm Hands program. My friend is also doing it with her son, and it is fun to have them along. Due to cold weather and possible snow which never materialized, there weren't many visitors to the farm. We were sent to help with collecting the maple sap. They collect it the 'old fashioned' way, by horse team and wagon. We followed the wagon all over the farm. The wagon would stop and we would collect the sap buckets and pour them into milk cans on the back of the wagon. The sap must be collected every 24 hours. It is amazing how much sap is collected in just 24 hours! The sap buckets are 2 gallon, and many buckets were nearly full, or full to the brim in just that short time. A tree gets one tap for every 8 inches in diameter, so some of the larger trees had two taps. It is basically a little spout hammered into the tree. The bucket hangs on a hook below the tap with a cover to keep out leaves. Incidentally the cover does not keep moths out, but they are strained out later. It takes 40 gallons of sap from a sugar maple to make one gallon of maple syrup! You can tap any type of maple, but their sap is less sweet and therefore takes much more to make syrup. The sap is clear and thin, very similar to water. In fact, it tastes like faintly sweet water. In three hours, we collected 350 gallons of sap! That was 3 and a half wagon loads. They said it is a good year for sap. The weather should warm up a bit during the day, and fall below freezing at night to bring the sap up in the trees. Once the sap is collected it is poured through a regular kitchen sieve into a holding tank and pumped up to the barn loft. It is fed down into the 'sugar shack' where there is an evaporator that slowly evaporates the sap until the sugars become concentrated and the syrup reaches boiling. The sugar shack was a nice short break from gathering sap, because it was warm, smelled of maple syrup and wood fire, and complete with a few old timers who happily answered all my questions. The evaporator is wood fired, so they have to keep a really hot fire. The syrup gets strained through a paper filter and a really heavy thick wool filter. Then they bring it to the exact temperature by hand, and bottle it up. The kids get to help with each step of the process, and sample the syrup. It was really good! My favorite part of the day was seeing James running across the pasture with a sap bucket swinging, ear flap hat flapping in the breeze. He looked so happy and he was having so much fun. I am really glad we can do this. I could sign him up for Karate or soccer or something, but I don't think he would really enjoy it. This program was made for him!

Farm Hands And Shoe Boxes

Saturday James and I went to Farm Hands again. We missed a week because of the hurricane. This week, we made apple cider using old-fashioned equipment. There was an 'old timer' there who had what seemed to be every apple peeling device known to man. Surprisingly, today's apple peeler is much less efficient than those of the past. I am guessing this has something to do with safety. I'll tell you what, I want one of the old ones! They work so much better! He also had an old mechanical apple peeler that peeled 80-90 apples per minute. My favorite was an old apple peeler that he rigged up with the treadle of an old Singer, so you could use the foot peddle to turn the peeler. The kids got to make shriveled apple head dolls. Then we were on to farm chores, including feeding the chickens and collecting 5 dozen eggs. The kids also got to play in the hay loft again (I think one of their very favorite things!) and get bedding down for the lambs. At the end of the program, we all make a human fence and let the sheep go from the pasture to their pens for the evening. I think I have been designated the 'helping parent' since there is a large group, which I don't mind. I like being able to watch them having fun, and seeing the perma-grin on James' face. Other parents help around the farm as needed.

In other news, we spent the morning volunteering at our church. They are a Collection Center for Operation Christmas Child. Today, about 1500 boxes came in. We helped unload them, count and band them, and pack them into cartons. The kids LOVED helping! Katie and James just jumped right in and helped where needed, even going up to complete strangers to help them. Even Tyler was fairly helpful, helping me push the filled cartons across the room. The district rep came in and spoke briefly and showed pictures. It was both happy and heart breaking. Happy to see the smiles on those children's faces, big incredibly joy-filled smiles. Heart breaking, because she said that many of the children who received shoe boxes last year in a particular orphanage will probably not live til next Christmas because they have AIDS. I am so glad that they can have an opportunity to hear of God's great love for them. She also showed a picture of a child's flip flops in one village they visited. The flip flops had been so greatly worn down that the entire heel was completely gone, and the strap was tied on with some sort of twine. These are the kinds of things we just assume everyone has, but they don't. A 50 cent pair of flip flops may just be their most appreciated gift.

Farm Hands

Last night I stayed out til midnight, believe it or not, with my Bible study ladies. I have absolutely no energy left, but I thought I would give you a quick bullet list of all the kids did at Farm Hands today. It was pretty much awesome! 

• Shelled pop corn by hand and by antique hand cranked harvester
• Harvested pop corn out in the field
• Checked out the ice house...amazing!
• Made caramel corn
• Herded sheep
• Fed chickens and collected eggs
• Pumped water
• Herded chickens into the coop (this was hilarious to watch by the way)
• Climbed up in the hay mow and jumped down into the hay, over and over
• Helped with fire wood
• Learned about an old egg grader
• Pushed the manure spreader all the way across the barnyard 'without horses!!' as James reminds me
• Learned a little about blacksmithing
• Watched the barn cat hunt and capture a mouse
• Learned about wood ducks, corn worms, caterpillars and Osage Oranges

James was in heaven, and I loved it too. Watching the look on his face for 3 solid hours was priceless. He ran everywhere he went, that sort of joyous happy run that comes from being in his element.