Ellie, our Icelandic chicken, laid her first egg this morning! It’s smaller than I thought it was going to be. Very exciting for us though! It’s really starting to feel like a real farm :)
Our 3 other chickens are about 4 weeks younger than Ellie so I don’t expect any eggs from them for a few more weeks.
Captured a moose on the trail cam! Looks like we have at least one of everything around here :)
Loaded the canoe on our new “bush bus” to take to the pond. We saw ducks, fish and a lot of turtles!
Martin spotted a black bear early this morning – it was crossing the road from our property (about 40 yards from the driveway) to the property across the street! He said it was a small one, maybe 2-3 years old. I guess they are starting to wake up. No photo, but I’m sure it won’t be the last chance we get…
We boiled down 10 gallons of maple sap. It took most of the day on Easter Monday and a couple of hours Tuesday. We still have five gallons to go! Took longer than I thought it would… Thankfully it was a fairly “hands-off” process and didn’t require too much attention. The 10 gallons yielded about 1 litre of finished syrup.
Now after two great days of sap flow we have 12 more gallons to boil and will likely be more after collection today. Based on the weather we are down to the last days of collecting. Looks like I’ll reach (or surpass) my modest goal of 2L of syrup for this year! :)
Looks like the animals are finally announcing the arrival of spring (I hope!)
Saw my first robin today, that’s always a good sign. Started seeing (and hearing) red-winged blacks birds about 3 days ago.
Another promising sign seems to the return of coyotes and turkey to our property. After seeing no signs of either all winter – I saw both together for the first time today!
I don’t remember turkey tracks being so big! It was like coming across dinosaur tracks :)
The coyote tracks came along the main path from the other side of the pond and came quite close before they appear turn around and double back towards the pond.
After capturing many deer on the trail cameras we decided to set a new goal. The new goal was to get a marten (or fisher, though they are apparently more rare). So we got some foul smelling attractant (aptly named “Skunk Junk”), set the scent on a tree, placed the camera and waited 3 days.
We honestly didn’t expect results so soon! And we certainly didn’t expect a fisher!!! We were stunned when we reviewed the photos!! There was a round of cheers and high fives! :)
Too bad the photo quality isn’t very good, but we’re happy. We’re going to try and get one on the video trail camera next!
So I decided to try my hand at basket making. I liked the idea of collecting materials from our land and, through sheer determination, turning it into something I could use – for free!
I originally thought I would try using cedar bark (like the Native Americans) since we have cut down quite a few for the pasture. After some research and planning I was excited to get started. But the cedar are still too cold/frozen so getting the bark off was an exercise in frustration (I’ll wait till it warms up to try that). It turns out that it’s the perfect time to collect Red-Osier Dogwood. We have lots near the pond and its a beautiful colour so it made sense to try using it. After a quick trip to the library and 2 basketry books later I got started.
It was a little hard to work with. The pieces I collected were a bit too thick. I have now learned that the thinner they are the better!
Despite its “loose” appearance it is actually quite strong and sturdy.
The finished basket (about 11″ diameter). A little “rustic” but not too bad for a first try :)
Got the snow machine working again so we got to the back to start tapping the trees. The whole gang came to help/watch.
Saturday (March 7) we got 6 up at the back – then the drill battery died.
Sunday (March 8) we got the final 4 up in the front.
The cold weather kept the buckets dry for the first week. But the sap is starting to flow now – slowly to start. We checked them again yesterday and we had a steady drip, drip, drip in 5 of the 6 buckets at the back!
Only 1 of the 4 in the front has any sap in the bucket. Looks like the front trees are taking longer to warm up.
We checked them today and gathered all the sap into one of our 5 gallon buckets. Looks like so far we have about 1 gallon of sap. Not much yet, but a good start!
We decided that it would be a good time to remove the crappy old duck blind – before the pond melts. We inherited this eyesore from the previous owners and since duck hunting is certainly not on our list of hobbies, it was time for it to go!
Now we just need to break it apart and burn it! (Or reuse the wood like responsible “homesteaders” :)
Fairy Grass Farm 