THE SHOE FEEDER

January 22, 2013

Tuesday

Linda

Sonny and I are always looking for ways to repurpose old or worn out things. He had a pair of muck shoes that were still in good shape except that the sole had cracked at the bend of the shoe. Every time he stepped in water or mud his sock would get wet. So we bought him a new pair, but what to do with the old pair. It seemed a shame to just throw them in the trash. There must be some job they could fulfill.

People are always using old boots as planters or bird houses, why not use an old pair of muck shoes as a bird feeder? Sonny nailed the shoes on the side of the tree stump and then filled them with birdseed. The birds love it! Especially the little nut hatches. I’d say its a job well done.

The shoe feeder

The shoe feeder

Advertisement

2 Comments | Off-Grid | Permalink
Posted by lkjobe

SNOWFLAKES AND MANURE

January 21, 2013

Monday

Linda

Maple syrup may be the top event going on here at Pot Hole Farm, but its not the only one. We still have daily chores to attend to that include gathering firewood, taking care of the guineas, chickens,  turkeys and cats and dogs. Because we have had few days of sunshine the generator needs to be fed as well and that means going down to the Country Store to fill up gas cans. Gray cloudy days do not make enough energy for the solar panels to charge the batteries.

January is also the month we start to plan for spring projects and one of those projects is the garden. Today we took a trip over to John and Carols where a nice pile of composting donkey manure was waiting behind the barn. John used the bucket of his dependable 1970’s Ford tractor to dump four large scoops of manure into the bed of our old farm truck.

We were almost home when it began to snow. Large fluffy flakes floated on the wind and landed on the frozen ground. We used pitch forks to spread the manure over about a third of the garden while snow flakes swirled around us creating a scene fit for a snow globe.  The manure was black and rich with pink earthworms playing hide and seek in the clumps. It will lay atop the garden for the rest of winter where it will continue to decompose and feed the soil. We still need to get three or four more loads to finish covering the garden.

Spreading Manure

Spreading Manure

The snow is continuing to come down and the temperature is dropping. Time to curl up with a cup of coffee and a seed catalog.

4 Comments | Battery Bank, Cats, Chickens, Dogs, Farming, Firewood, Garden, Generator, Guineas, Maple syrup, Off-Grid, Solar | Permalink
Posted by lkjobe

THE ANCIENT ONE

January 17, 2013

Thursday

Linda

 

The Ancient One

The Ancient One

She’s not pretty and appears to be as old as Methuselah with her bent and twisted limbs. She is frightening to most when they see her lightening strike scared bark and she could be the star of any horror film with a group of black crows resting upon her craggy branches. The sapling youth of this Sugar Maple is long passed, but the sweet sap of life still courses through her veins.

She’s a hard worker this one, producing the sweetest and largest quantity of sap than any of our other trees. Hopefully the old girl will continue to work for us for many more syrup seasons. She has stood strong for these last hundred or so years, through many a violent storm, but I fear her time is coming. Each year the storms tear a little more of her away.

So think on this the next time you open your bottle of sweet Maple syrup. Remember that a scary ancient tree gave you the best syrup you ever tasted. And we all know that would be Pot Hole Farm Maple syrup. So get your taste buds ready. Its Maple Syrup time.

9 Comments | Maple syrup, Maple Trees, Off-Grid | Permalink
Posted by lkjobe

Early Maple Sap Run

January 10, 2013

Sonny

Friday morning we will have just enough Maple Sap to start our early boil. The last 3 days or so had been pretty good weather for a sap run. Typically you need temps like 20’s at night and 40′ during the days for the flow to start. Unfortunately it looks like the next several days it will be too warm for any sap. The 120 gallons collected is just barely enough to fill the evaporator but it is still new so what the heck.

So far most of our 120 gallons has come from the east side of the farm, that area receives some the first sun of the day. The Maple trees on the west side never get much and really warm up and received only a small amount of sun late in the afternoon. It may pick up later in the season as the sun starts to stay out a little longer.

Collecting sap from one of five tanks on the farm.

Collecting sap from one of five tanks on the farm.

If it turns out that the west side is a low producer I will concentrate on the east trees for next years expansion. I guess time will tell. The picture above shows how I use a D.C. powered pump to suck the sap from the collection tanks through out the farm.

Transferring sap to the indoor holding tank.

Transferring sap to the indoor holding tank.

The above picture shows how I transfer the sap from the 65 gallon transport tank in the back of the Kubota into the 100 gallon tank in the Sugar Shack. This process so far beats carrying 5 gallon buckets and pouring them.

100 gallon storage tank in the Shack.

100 gallon storage tank in the Shack.

Here is the 100 gallon holding tank that is sitting on a 6 foot platform.  It feeds the sap into the evaporator via the float control. Notice the sight gauge on the side. it seems to work good but I still climb up on the ladder to see the level in the tank. That may get old in a year or so.

6 Comments | Evaporator, Filter Press, Maple syrup, Maple Trees, Off-Grid, Sugar boiler, Sugar shack | Permalink
Posted by Sonny

%d bloggers like this: