Sugaring

I love sugaring season! Slogging through snow, up to your arm pits at times, lugging all the stuff you need with you & getting tapped out. Then there's tripping in the wicked slippery, slushy snow with a full pail of sap & getting soaked while trying to gather buckets. Let's not forget being wet & tired at the end of the day & having to get chores done now that the sun is going down & you are cold. I'm not sure WHY I love sugaring, but I do! I think it is because you can finally get out & enjoy the 1st few rays of spring sunshine. The snow is finally shrinking down & you know that winter is, for the most part anyway, behind you & spring flowers are in the not too distant future. My dog Jack loves sugaring too. He puts in a lot of miles getting caught up on all the smells in the woods & along the meadows while we're gathering & then stretches out & snoozes along side the evaporator in the sugarhouse when we're done. It doesn't get any better than being able to take in the sweet, maple smell in the air when the evaporator is just a crankin' & the sugarhouse is so steamy you can't see 3 feet ahead of you. We've gathered 3 times so far this year & I'm still lovin' it. I'll let you know in a few weeks if I still feel that way after hundreds of 5 gallon gathering pails have been lugged!

Vermont Farmer's Market

I encourage everyone to vote for the Vermont Farmer's Market to help them win a contest put out by Local Harvest. Go here & vote today http://tinyurl.com/ne8ngz They could win $5,000 so that would be great to help with expenses & be able to do some nice things with the Market to make it even better. I think it's tremendous that we have such a great group of vendors representing our area with their fresh meats, fruits, veggies, maple products & eggs along with everything else! You can ask the vendors anything about their products & gain valuable information 1st hand.........hard to do in the grocery stores! You also get all the farm stories & that's what makes it personalized not to mention entertaining! I find you also run into alot of your friends there & get caught up on what's new. Just a wonderful thing for our community.
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Emma's Piglets

Well, I did a few piggy checks through the night since Emma could have her piglets any time now. Today is day 112 of her pregnancy. Anytime after 110 days she could farrow. She is SOOOOOOOO big & it is obvious she finds it difficult to get into a comfortable position at this point. If you want to guess what day she's gonna farrow & how many piglets you think she'll have, go to www.hathawayfarm.com & send us an e-mail. We'll let ya know when she has 'em & how many she had! Byron thinks Tuesday........8 piglets. What do YOU think???

What's Happening Today

Well, a typical day on the farm so far........Woke up to no hot water in the shower! An element burned out in our hot water heater & tripped the breaker. One more thing to do today! We had 2 new little calves born late last night, a heifer & a bull. Moms & babies are doing fine. The watch continues in ernest on Emma the pig & when she will farrow (have her babies). She could have them anytime now. Today is day 111. Making a new cover for our water reservoir today. We discovered a little chip in the one we have now & we want to be sure to keep our water supply clean & safe so wanted to get it done right away. The sheep got sheared the other day & I'm still getting use to seeing them shorn! When I figure out how to add pics & video to this blogging thing, I will!