A Walk in the Woods

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Besides pretending that this is a normal winter (and snow shoveling is aMatt and Arlo heading into the woods thing of the past), we've been working hard to get our farm prep work done for the season.  This includes ordering seeds (orders finally sent in to Johnny's and High Mowing), shopping for tractors and implements, and getting our online presence together (probably the biggest challenge since we are distinctly non-techies).  This weekend's 8" of snow was a reality check that we do live in the northeast, and reminded us that usually our winter days are full of things like shoveling off our cars and digging through drifts to get around the farm!

StreamBut we finally got out to finish taking the walk last week that ended prematurely with Arlo running full bore into barbed wire (not that some-dog is on a leash in this pic).  Lots of nice young maples, with some in the back of the woods large enough to tap.  This year, however... between the move, not having any sugaring equipment, and really not knowing (given the odd weather) WHEN to tap, I think it looks like we are just going to be enjoying the woods, rather than working them...

Rule One: Everything takes way more time than anticipated!

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Well, we *are* on the ground, but...Sunset

... we forgot rule one!  We rapidly remembered it as our first weeks post-closing were filled with cleaning and painting and unpacking (and then yet more cleaning, painting, and unpacking).

Cone of ShameSome of the highlights for this past week:

...We learned that there is a sweet up and coming sugar-bush in the back of the woods on the farm.  Hooray!!!

...We met some great people at yesterday's Shades of Green event in Madison County. ...Arlo helped us find a large amount of barbed wire in the woods (using his face), which led us to find a very nice vet in town!

 

Back from NOFA and Crop Planning!

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Just got back from NOFA conference, and I am definitely a bit farmed out!  Most of the time farming I am by myself or with one or two other people, so it is pretty amazing (but also a wee bit exhausting) to be in such a great crowd of farmers and supporters of farming!

I am going to attempt to (use my admittedly limited computer tech skills and) link to my presentation power point, in case anyone wants to check out the notes from my crop planning workshop.  If the link is dead when you hit it, please CONTACT ME and I will share a Google Doc file to the link with you.

NOFA NY 2012 Workshop Powerpoint: How to Get the Vegetables You Want, When You Want Them Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Handout of Resources from the Workshop: (these include tons of places you can find sample spreadsheets or help estimating the conditions/yields/seed needs for your operation) How to Get the Vegetables You Want, When You Want Them