Farm Planning: Milk and Cheese: February 2011

      This is Rosemary the mini Jersey cow. I hope she will be joining us here on Black Bear Farm soon.What is the delay, you ask?
      To accommodate Rosemary, Smithfield Township needs a new backyard livestock ordinance . Right now, the ordinance enacted in the seventies prohibits all but 4H projects on less than FIVE acres!! So it's okay to build a barn, you just can't put anything in it!!

      Since folks have rediscovered the thrill of laying hens in the backyard, and the benefits of fresh, warm eggs, and composted manure for the garden, we are hoping this ordinance will right the wrongs of the plastic/petroleum generation. 

Maple Syrupin' : Feb/March 2011

Our "small tree" setup: this tree is about 8" diameter.

     This is our third year "syrupin": For 2011, we have 16 taps in a dozen trees, up from  the 6 taps in 5 trees we've had the past two years. We picked out and tagged all of our maple trees last fall, while the leaves were still on, and found a  few good sized maples that we've missed in previous years.  Each year, we've gotten about 3 pints of finished syrup, which means we reduced about 120 pints, or 15 gallons or so of sap.  This year we hope to have  close to two gallons of finished syrup: I don't like a real sweet, thick syrup, so we leave it a bit dilute, but it has a full maple flavor and is plenty sweet . . perfect to soak  homemade whole wheat pancakes with, or for a maple-pecan pie!!

      The picture left shows our "small tree" setup. This 8" diameter maple has just one tap. We have luck with a simple, poly 5/8" flexible tubing as a "spile". We drill holes about 2 in. deep, once we are through the bark......the "sapwood" is in the external growth rings of the tree. Marty put a small shim in to keep the hose in place. I've been saving plastic jugs, and.I made a loop in a piece of cord, wrapped it around the tree and connected the loop to the jug with a small S hook made from a piece of coat hanger. This holds the plastic jug in place, low enough to keep the plastic hose in, but not so far in that the hose draws sap back up the tree, which will happen if it is warm, and the hose is down in the sap . ..the same force that takes the sap up to nourish the little buds will pull sap right back out of the pail!! It happened to us on a warm day last year! 

Kathy Mae's Chickens

 This is Kathy Mae, raised on Pond Hole, "down the road" from where I grew

Kathy Mae

Handicapped helen, Lacks vision and has a Deformed Beak.

up on Turkey Knoll. Kathy is now in Georgia ( note the sunshine and bare arms). She posted these pics and  text exactly the day that Marty and I were shoveling out our 120 foot driveway,  after the fourth major storm in three weeks. Marty has four wheel drive, but my car had been iced in for a week.

Our driveway after we hand cleared it . . .A job well done.

       As Kathy wrote: "We went to the chicken show in Newnan, GA, and got two chickens from a local farmer. Helen was free!"  I noticed Marty out front, shoveling like a banshee. This was curious, as he had acquired a snowblower in September. All winter, he had proudly strutted behind it, humming as he filled the engine, smiling as it did all the work, no, near glowing, as it did all the work!

Black Bear Farm Family

Marty, Watson and Clancy,
Black Bear Farm, Winter 2009

        This is Marty, he is the guy that I argue with about how to get things done around Black Bear Farm. Sitting on his lap is Watson, named for Alexander Bell's assistant....("Watson, can  you hear me?") . He is three, and came to us as a kitten. We wanted to give him a smart name, so that we would have a smart cat. Marty and I agree that the cat is the smartest creature on Black Bear Farm, including us.

        Seated next to them is Clancy, who is a farm dog. People want to know his breed. It's "farm dog". Simple, right?? Clancy originated as a Cherry Valley Farm Dog, when I lived in a stone house on Bossardsville Road with Dale, Zach, Libby and Cassie. Cassie named Clancy for Kyle Clancy, the snowboarder. Clancy's birthday is in March, like Marty's, and he will be eleven this year. Holy Moses, Clance, you and I have traveled some miles together.............