April's Here and Most Is Well

Since we've been engaged in any farming endeavors, I don't think I've ever been less stressed on April 1st. The ewes are shorn and bagging up nicely. Seed starting is on schedule and we have a straw bale cold frame with transplants and seeds about ready to go into it. Our rotational grazing plan is already underway. I don't do much in the way of recordkeeping but I think the pasture is greening up earlier this year. Miller Nurseries will soon be sending us about 10 apple trees, a few pawpaws and about 30 assorted berry plants including blueberries, cranberries, beach plums, bush cherries and a couple lesser known varieties. There are 8 and one-half quarts of homemade maple syrup in the cupboard. That's not as much as we've made in the past but it's not a bad start after not making any for a couple years. I saw a picture of a nice little homemade evaporator that I may try to copy for next year. Finally our replacement layers and first batch of broilers are brooding.

The broiler chicks have been our biggest disappointment. Eight of them have either died or had to be put down because their legs simply gave out. It's not all that uncommon to see older birds hobbling around because their legs no longer support their fast growing bodies but these chicks are barely a week old. My friend recently told me that all her turkeys and geese from the same hatchery died within twelve hours of being brought home. I wonder if the hatchery is having some quality problems with their breeding stock genetics. We've never needed to use vitamin supplements in the water before but maybe we should have this time. I wish we knew of a purebred meat bird whose flavor we liked as well as the Cornish cross. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

I attribute our preparedness and lack of stress to a few different things. Our kids are getting older and that frees up Jennifer to do more. She made almost all our maple syrup this year. I'm working a different schedule so I'm at home in the mornings when I'm fresh and able to get more done. Finally I think that we're getting to know our farm after two springs here and our management is starting to bear fruit