Back To The Homestead

Posted on December 7, 2024December 7, 2024 by Greg Washburn

It’s really been interesting since we moved back to the farm property. AKA: The Homestead. It always takes some adjustment getting everything moved and this year there was extra cleaning to do since rodents had been busy in the cabin and in the Airstream. Having them get into the Airstream was a first and I can’t help but wonder if it was because I had boughten a different brand of mouse repellent pouches for it. I think there’s an abundance of mice this fall based on the number we have caught so far. So far damage in the Airstream appears to be limited to some blankets, paper products, and minor things like that. But it’s hard to see just where they may have been busy destroying things. Since getting it set up I have had no further problems. Same in the cabin. After catching several there have been no more. Lily the cat has also moved to the farm so that is a total asset. Just the other day we saw her with a mouse in her mouth! Yay Lily!

We have made some progress getting Zane settled into the cabin loft. I am currently staying in the winterized Airstream where I mostly just hang out,sleep, and have morning coffee. It also serves as an office setting where I can sit down with mail etc. I rarely cook in there lately since setting the makeshift kitchen back up in the cabin. Zane and I have dinner there most evenings. Although I am away on the weekends some. With the bathroom and laundry center in the cabin , life flows rather well. We removed the old wood stove recently and have been heating the cabin with the recessed 240 volt electric heater. It does a decent job although on super cold days it really runs a lot. Just this week I assembled the new wood stove and began construction on it hearth extension to raise it off the floor an additional 14”. We will be able to store some firewood underneath. It’s not as elaborate as I once envisioned but will function well I believe. I used salvaged red brick from Saranac Lake to build facade walls and a top. The main support frame was built with repurposed pressure treated salvaged from the deck project in Saranac Lake last summer. All these repurposed materials continue the theme of the rustic cabin. We are inching forward to getting the wood stove set and the new heavy duty stovepipe system through the roof. A tricky job I predict.

The biggest news is the 8’x12’ addition I decided to add on the sugarbush side of the cabin. With both Zane and I planning on wintering in the cabin we need more space! It will add more space of the kitchenette area as well. I plan to tuck a bed into the back section of it. Zane and I laid out the foundation pier locations recently and he dug out the holes. We used some repurposed 6”x6” pressure treated pieces for the piers and cemented them in. Fortunately just ahead of a recent cold snap and some snow. I hired two carpenters from the Shetler family on the outskirts of Macomb last week and they started framed up the floor supports yesterday. We now have an insulated and covered floor footprint of the addition. Walls and rafters will follow next week weather permitting. All of the lumber for the addition was recently sawn using our saw mill and the big quantities of logs on the skidway. Zane and I spent almost two days getting it all ready. This also generated a nice pile of sugar wood to dump by the sugar house. It took a little effort to get the sawmill running but after draining the fuel system and adding new gas it has run great since. Good fortune has favored us! The weather has begun to get rather chilly and we currently have about 3” of powder snow on the ground. It been hovering around 20 degrees the last couple days. Warmer weather and rain will arrive next week.

This short post gets things current again and fills in some of gaps as to exactly where we have landed recently after closing up Camp Edith. We made it out of there just ahead of a freeze up! It’s nice living back at the farm and getting things in motion again with the cabin. My free time has been spent in the Adirondacks doing some hiking etc. There’s a larger story there that can wait for now. I have even done some part time work on the Methane Project as November closed out. Life is busy and the spin has intensified. But winter is closing in fast now. The geese are leaving in big flicks now and we see them all day. Think of the ones that go through in the night! Do they fly much at night? Something to research perhaps! I will follow up on more progress as things develop. This is a rather exciting time for us! Coffee fueled each morning! It’s a rather interesting choice for living arrangements but it seems like the way forward. Tonight I write this from the comfort of a motel room awaiting a Xmas party where we will spend the evening. A break from the farm. Nice diversion! Until next time!✍️

The Last Night

Posted on November 23, 2024November 23, 2024 by Greg Washburn

It’s a drizzly night outside here at Camp Edith and the wood stove is cranking out some serious heat! It’s difficult to regulate the temperature inside at times and it generally too hot inside most evenings. Nothing throwing the porch door open for a few minutes can’t help solve! Our answer to a thermostat. Wood heat is rather free so it doesn’t really matter. We have trucked wood in several times so far this fall to keep the camp heated. We supplemented it with some dead white blocks from a tree removal project from awhile back. It’s been a nice addition to our hardwood supply once we split and dried it some. Most recently we brought in some large dry red elm chunks that hold the fire well throughout the day and night. The bark less red elm is burn ready as soon as it’s cut. The ultimate farm to wood stove commodity that we ferret out on a regular basis. At the moment we are harvesting from beside a field at the farm called “ The Long Narrow Meadow “. It certainly lives up to its name! Sheltered by a steep ridge on one side it contains nice stands of dead elm that needs to be harvested.

We hadn’t planned on living here at Camp Edith this late in the season but it’s remained mild enough to do so mostly. Last week our pipes gently froze three nights in a row as the nighttime lows dipped down into the 20’s after midnight. But they thawed each day and we survived the minor inconvenience. But with the temperatures that are coming next week it is definitely time to close up the camp and move to the farm. So this is our final night here for the season. Tomorrow we will begin the move to the farm where Zane will occupy the unfinished cabin and I will stay in the Airstream for awhile. We just pulled it out of the warehouse recently. I was shocked to discover that mice had gotten inside and had made a mess of things! They had tore up napkins and paper towels plus dragged in a bunch of hickory nuts. There are numerous droppings to clean up as well. So far I have spotted no major damage for the moment. Plus I haven’t smelled any mouse pee. They sure can wreak havoc in a place! I have kept a bucket trap in the warehouse for months and it has eliminated a fair number of mice. A recent check of the freshly baited trap yielded 8 mice in two days. I set a trap inside the Airstream but it hasn’t been tampered with or caught anything. That’s good as maybe the resident mice were all caught in the bucket trap before the Airstream left the warehouse. It time for a good cleaning at any rate before moving in .

Mice have also been busy wreaking havoc in the farm cabin. A recent addition of mouse traps only yielded one casualty. The traps were stripped clean by resourceful mice reminiscent of Mr. Jangles the mouse of my Canadian bush blog posts of 2022. I built a second bucket trap recently to use in the cabin and it just got two mice yesterday. We may be turning the tide in this war with our tiny rodent guests. Plus Lilly the cat has returned to the farm to patrol and hunt down the infiltrators. I wish the mice could be kept out but it’s nearly impossible to accomplish that. Hopefully winter will slow them down some at least. Maybe the rodent hunting weasel will return and pitch in. It doesn’t come around when the cat is there though. Nature sure can challenge us!

Moving out and closing up camp will keep us occupied all day tomorrow. The water pump and intake line pipe to the lake must be drained.The remaining pipes and the water heater must be drained down also.That takes time.

There’s food and clothes to move as well. Plenty of things that we haven’t even thought of yet. It’s going to be a big change but we will adjust quickly I hope. There’s a lot of unfinished work in the cabin and we have laid out a lean to addition to enlarge the cabin. The new space would be a bedroom for me. Zane has the post holes mostly dug and we hope to set the posts Wednesday.Then cement them in place. Phase one ahead of dropping temperatures. Zane is not working presently as his seasonal job ended recently. We will work together to bring the cabin project forward again. Today we removed the old wood stove and pipes . The new one is still boxed up and waiting to be installed shortly. There’s lots to do! Work tied up most of the past several months but I am fine with that. It has served a valuable purpose. No need to look back now .

As for other activities? I have been venturing into the Adirondacks to hike some and take time to attempt to right some wrongs of the summer. I won’t go into details but it was important for me to do this. Trying to be a better version of myself is a journey. But worth the effort. Writing new chapters where I am “Always The Same Book But Never The Same Page”. A moving song by the band “A Day To Remember”. It’s powerful lyrics never fail to remind me of the challenges of human interaction. But for the story to continue to be written I must survive and move forward. And always try to make the best decisions. I will fail at this. I may succeed at this. I will be hurt and sometimes hurt others unintentionally. I will wilt and wither at times yet live so that I may continue to grow. And some things I will never understand. About myself and about others. Life teaches us some hard lessons at times. And what have I learned? That I will never stop learning. Often the hard way. ✍️

The Push

Posted on October 13, 2024November 1, 2024 by Greg Washburn

It’s been awhile since I took the time to write here. Things have changed dramatically in the past few weeks in several ways. Work has continued to dominate my schedule as the September 15th cutoff for my employment was extended until October 31st.This has brought both pros and cons into play most certainly.Too say that the past several weeks have been a blur is true and accurate. There’s been a lot of progress made though. Both on the methane project where I have been working and at home.One of the biggest accomplishments has been helping get all the haying done! I stepped up and began mowing for my Uncles on September 10th shortly after my last post.This continued until Friday September 20th pretty much every day except Sunday. I mowed the last of their big hay fields that hadn’t gotten done this summer then moved down to my own farm. We enjoyed a nice stretch of hot,dry weather that was perfect for September haying. I would mow until dark after work which would take me to about 7:30 pm then return to Camp Edith for dinner and a shower. Those were some long days!

It was great seeing the haying finally getting done at my farm.Not so different then last year but this time it was all round bales. With my work schedule there was no time for loads of square bales. Once my fields were done I mowed second cut at my Uncles place most of the final week.We did a lot in 10 days considering it was just Uncle Art and me. My other Uncle was recovering from surgery. I found myself enjoying the mowing. I saw deer,ravens,and hawks most nights as I mowed. Some of the sunsets were spectacular and I even got to see a wonderful moonrise a couple evenings. The scent of freshly mown hay was rather intoxicating at times. There was a feeling of accomplishment that carried me through my fatigue when I needed that final burst of energy most days.

My farm is down! All mowed!Raking underway.

Meanwhile on the methane project the farmer was busy harvesting and piling corn for silage. An operation of mammoth proportions. The corn silage trucks rolled with dusty succession all day every day. I named the corn silage pile “Corn Mountain”. The hundreds of acres of standing corn began to disappear and all that remained were rows of stubble. We were busy as well there. Placing conduit into the ground for our power and control systems. It was a hot period of September weather that was much different then what October would bring.

The Monday after my final night of mowing, the project went onto 10 hour work days. I wasn’t thrilled with this and worked as much as I could but never any Saturdays.We took off to the Adirondacks recently for a weekend away to the Indian Lake area for hiking and paddling.Luckily the weather cooperated and we had a nice time. I had hoped to see some beaver to video one evening but they remained elusive and the coming darkness would force us to leave the flow we were paddling. We had spent some of that day on a hike and saved our paddling for the afternoon. We discovered a creek that dumped into the flow and followed it until a beaver dam forced us to stop. It was fragrant and tranquil! The scent of balsam permeated the creek bed and it was rather awesome up in there! Except for the biting flies! They look like house flies and they bite hard! I used my handkerchief as a fly swatter and soon the bottom of the canoe was littered with their broken bodies. It felt good to take the hunt to them at that point seeing as they had cut our beach picnic time short!The sun began to cast shadows over the mountains and although the leaves weren’t at peak color it was stunningly beautiful! The sun was warm and it was very pleasant paddling. A true battery charging moment to enjoy after a busy work week. But change was waiting for me and I didn’t realize it then. Perhaps it’s best not to know some things in advance lest the moment be tarnished and become bittersweet. It was Saturday and there was still one day to enjoy before the new work week began. Retirement is a gift and returning to work continues to remind me of that. But this year’s work was serving a higher purpose. The endless need for cash flow never ceases that’s for sure. So sometimes small sacrifices pay big dividends. It’s not that bad after all. I do enjoy my work most days.

So here it is October 13th. We are still living at Camp Edith after installing a new pump to deliver lake water to us. Our other water source had to be disconnected a few weeks back and we were not ready to move back to the Homestead just yet. After a few minor glitches which were rather maddening given the schedule the water system is performing well. We always have the option of using the shower and bathroom at the farm fortunately. We have been making cider over there after work at night. It’s a good time to get laundry caught up! Zane brought in 15 bags of apples and I can’t say for sure how much cider we pressed but it’s quite a bit! Some went into the freezer but he’s fermenting some also for hard cider. It’s nice to see him in touch with his rural heritage. Not to mention all the pumpkins he grew to give away. What a kid! 19 and still very much a boy at times. Reminds me of someone!

It’s Sunday night again and Monday morning looms some 10 hours away. We are cozy and warm here with a nice supply of firewood on hand finally. Yesterday’s power outage that lasted almost 24 hours is behind us. Nothing some generator hook up couldn’t solve although my schedule got thrown aside. Being able to adapt quickly has its advantages at times. Life is changing fast it seems. This has been a most turbulent year at times. But it has also been filled with moments of discovery and happiness. Passion and adventure. And crushing moments of painful indecision and sadness. How best to proceed becomes a most perplexing question for me as autumn grabs hold of the north country. Where am I going and what waits for me next? November 1st will be a new chapter where my work on the methane project will be behind me. Time will be short as Homestead projects move to the top of the priority list. Daylight is waning now as we move to the next solstice. And frost will grip the land once again slowing us down at times. I hope to begin to write here more frequently and with more meaningful content. I am tired quite honestly. My spirit energy has also waned somewhat. But my schedule was self imposed and my decision. And I must see my commitment to the project through as I promised. But did I break other promises in the midst of the blur? It weighs heavy at times but days of autumn remain and there is still time. And we are fortune here in the upstate region to be spared the ravages of the hurricanes and flooding that have battered the south recently. My challenges and concerns seem petty by comparison. So I remain grateful and humble I hope. MOONTABS are being made. It is enough.✍️

Acquiescence

Posted on July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 by Greg Washburn

July 9th has arrived hot and humid. Enter the days of work shorts and cutoff ratty tee shirts for me. The jackets and hoodies stashed for the time being but never too far from reach. The big news is our return to Camp Edith for some full time living again. Amy and I had done some work in the past few weeks cleaning and organizing the rather cluttered inside of the cottage ahead of a planned July 4th long weekend.Our hard work payed off!When the weather came in hot and calm we were well positioned to have a fun and relaxing time!We did continue to work on some miscellaneous interior organizing efforts however to enhance our small but cozy living space. But it would be the state of the outdoor space that would set my mind wandering and searching for answers to something that was haunting the recesses of my mind. What drives me so? Why the rollercoaster ride of emotion that has taken me so high then so low these past 6 months? And I have experienced every curve and twist in between those destinations along the way. The answer had come suddenly in a moment of perfect clarity. I had discovered the true meaning of the word acquiesce. As in reluctant acceptance of something without protest. But what had I accepted? And had I not protested? There was an answer and a place to face the future in all of it.Was I ready though? The answer would not find me at the Homestead property as you might expect but rather at Camp Edith. It’s rather complicated but simple at the same time.

July morning creeps over the main meadow.

If you recall from following my story I had left Camp Edith suddenly last September in a whirlwind to take up Airstream living at the Homestead project. The thrill of having running water there and the project itself was a draw that I couldn’t resist. Besides I had lived at camp since May anyway. The Airstream had sat idle since 2022. No surprise really my decision when focused in that light. But parts of that story are already sprinkled across these pages leading like a trail of breadcrumbs to this moment. And if I didn’t tell that story properly then that’s mine to consider. But what’s all this got to do with acquiesce? Nothing at that point. Things were about to change for me big time as those days of 2023 slowly ( quickly?) wound down. And I had felt something was wrong but didn’t heed my inner spirit warnings. Fatigue was finding me more and more then. I merely blamed my gathering years. No acquiescence there. But the universe had plans for me I realize now. I was still clinging to my old ways with the tenacity of a greying wolverine. Bad eating habits. Overindulging in beer and hard ciders on occasions that were becoming rather to common some weeks. Not all that problematic so they lay quietly close at hand robbing me of clarity and dulling my thoughts of a higher level of connection to my surroundings. But those old habits had taken time to develop and had become normalized to a degree. But I was lonely and prone to self destructive habits of work and play in a way that didn’t seem to identify as just that. One thing is most certainly true: in that mode of existence I am truly a force of purpose and drive. The work accomplished showed itself all around me. The tiny cabin leaped forward after my two week sojourn in the Adirondacks in October. And in my arteries the sleeping giant was about to awaken. Change was coming and I was blindly unaware of it.

There’s really no need for redundancy in retelling the details of my health situation last January. It’s already here on these pages in a post. I just desired to reflect on the differences between then and now. And the trials of my journey through time. The importance of all this lives in the direction I have taken. Steered as it were by universal energy to find a different way forward. Post January I was adjusting to my new situation. I was attempting to change my diet and gave up my alcohol for close to a month then. I was feeling pretty good but was struggling to a degree with things I couldn’t exactly explain. I can easily say that gratitude for my good fortune was my constant companion! I was happy to be whole and alive! I was staying busy and that always makes a difference in my day to day existence. Alone at night in the tiny cabin’s loft I continued in my manifesting of things that I wanted in my life.And the universe was listening and preparing to answer.

Amy would enter my reality in late January when I was in Saranac Lake volunteering for the Ice Palace construction. It would be late February before we would begin spending any time together. I could easily write an entire series of posts about our new journey together but our privacy is paramount. But she’s solidly within the posts of the past few months. With an improved diet, exercise,and an alcohol free lifestyle a shift began. Time in the Adirondacks has been a big part of this recent journey as well. And I have strayed far from my story! Where is the acquiescence? I might not get the words today. I will try though. So picture a very abandoned Camp Edith. Winterized in a hurry last fall. Packed up and closed up. Rather cluttered from the constant moving that has become my norm these past few years. I have enjoyed my transient lifestyle but it comes with a price at times. But it’s the outside around the camp where it really shows. Leaves everywhere from last years growth. They bury everything with a silent slow drop. Nature doesn’t do this on purpose it’s just the way of things. Left untouched they will cover up lots of our things left on the ground. And then there’s the growth of trees and brush around the camp. Much of the section in front of the camp can’t be maintained easily due to its steep terrain. Not to mention the poison ivy I need to avoid at all costs! I am super allergic to it! Subsequently we had lost most of our view of the lake from our yard and front porch gradually the past few years. Even the camp roof is being covered by nature. Moss grows on the shingles in the shaded areas trapping leaves and pine needles. There’s nothing new in any of this. However there’s extra cleanup from the salvage log event that occurred last fall. I was feeling a little overwhelmed this spring when we first stopped by Camp Edith. And I realize now that I have been avoiding being here because of the work that needed to be done. But Amy expressed an interest in spending time at camp so I agreed that we should! And I am slowly getting the outside areas brought into a useable state. That’s where acquiescence was discovered.

The mosquitoes were a problem the moment we got to Camp Edith. They were hunkered down around the open section of the front porch. Shaded by the overgrowth down front they brought a bothersome war to us so I decided to fight back. I decided to tackle the overgrown area out in front of the camp where they were hiding out of the sun.I wore my hip boots and saw chaps to avoid the poison ivy. What an uncomfortable combination!😂I chose my mid length chainsaw for its horsepower and length. It was tricky cutting and safety was crucial. Once I started I cut nonstop until the clearing was completed. I was left quite the mess to clean up! The difference is huge though! Our view is back again and the mosquitoes have left for more settled locations. And where is the acquiescence in all this? It’s coming!

This morning I was out working on a section of lawn under the two huge maples where we park our vehicles here. They are truly massive and discard thousands of leaves each season. But they are stately and their shade is priceless! I have walked and lived under their presence all my life. Cleaning up under them is tedious and time consuming but is an annual event when we chose to open up camp. I haven’t devoted all that much time to lawn work but it’s becoming a priority now that the inside is under control. It was while working out under the big maples this morning that the word acquiesce came to me. I was thinking about music actually when I remembered the old song by the band Oasis. Acquiescence was part of their 1995 album “What’s The Story Morning Glory”. I hadn’t heard the song in years and the meaning of the word suddenly tied things together for me! What was I struggling with all these months? My reluctance to accept my new situation. My health changes. Protested in mood swings and anger at times. I realized that I was being ungrateful at my good fortune . Things had changed for the good so why was I struggling? Was my anger due to my decision to quit drinking to aid in my health journey? That has been a challenge after years of engaging in that past time. But the resulting mental clarity has been refreshing.Was I frustrated by lack of energy that sometimes plagues my days? Or my ongoing knee issue? That’s being addressed properly I believe. So what is it exactly? The answer that suddenly came to me might be hard for you to fathom. I realized that I was protesting nature in some strange manner. And that it was futile! And it’s all connected to my health journey. Probably lost you now!

Acceptance that nature is far more powerful and lasting then I will ever be might be a difficult thing to even consider but it’s true. Everything that I own that is subject to the outdoors is under the control of nature. Rack up those leaves! Mow that grass! Cut the brush! And on and on it goes. Take a break and see where you land. Time passes. Seasons pass. Nature doesn’t take a break even when I need to do so. What was I feeling? Mortality? Perhaps. Fatigue? At times. Something beyond my comprehension that was showing itself suddenly in my new situation? Was the shift of new found direction to much for me to steer into? Acceptance is key to this moment in time. Acceptance that I can’t ever beat nature at this annual dance of seasonal cycle. So I simply just need to find the best way to flow with the season. It’s a balance thing. A recent post that I listened to spoke of the fifth dimension. It’s an interesting consideration once I realized that I have lived most of my life living in the third. My connections to nature are the bridge to the fifth dimension. Ascension becomes the new word as acquiescence merely becomes a word to reflect upon. As in rising to a new level of consciousness. No I am not on drugs or alcohol! Rather the contrary. I need further clarity to embrace the change. To ascend to a higher place in harmony with nature will be painful it appears. For me especially. It may be hard for my loved ones to understand. It will present grand challenges. And what exactly waits in that higher state of connection? That’s the mystery and the draw. But there are those who understand and encourage my efforts. Learning never ends I feel. This is to be the year of tremendous change. Further growth I hope. And while writing this the lawn hasn’t cleaned itself. Back to it soon. There’s no hurry really. If I don’t finish anything will it truly matter in a larger picture? No course not! Time will pass regardless as will the season. I accept with no further protest if I am truly ascending. And you are far from home in the forests of Tazmania. I am very much alive in this moment. It is enough. ✍️

Milling Around

Posted on June 27, 2024July 7, 2024 by Greg Washburn

This post was started awhile back and there were a few technical glitches that have since been resolved fortunately! It doesn’t take long for the central theme of a post to suddenly change direction some! I originally was staying in Saranac Lake when I began writing it but am currently here at Camp Edith getting it finished. I just got fully moved in this afternoon. Amy and I have been working at getting it cleaned and ready the past couple weeks.Thursday night was our first night here and we stayed here all weekend. It’s really shaped up with some TLC! Amy has done a wonderful job transforming the functionality of the space. It’s very cozy now! I had a lot of decluttering to do!Things have wrapped up mostly on the project in Saranac Lake and I will be spending more time back here now. It’s been a rewarding experience living and working in the village. There’s plenty of work to do at the farm and some catching up to do with miscellaneous things. I recently got a gel shot in my left knee to try to relieve some of my pain and discomfort. My meniscus injury may very well require surgery but I am postponing that for as long as possible. At this point it’s still unclear how the injury even happened but it may go all the way back to last November when Zane and I tipped over the side by side one night by accident while burning off the meadows across the road at the farm. It’s the only thing that I can think of really. That was a rather wild evening of burning! But we had everything under control! Mostly… but that’s another story all together. The focus now will be shifting to resetting the sawmill and getting some logs run through it. It’s been stored in the warehouse since it got back from Winthrop in late May. I got it back out and set it back up recently one Friday night after returning from Saranac Lake.

Back in February I had cut logs with my friend Gregger in his big woods up behind his home in Winthrop. I stayed in his cabin for a night and we cut logs for a couple days. We targeted hemlock for me for my Homestead cabin siding. Four trees made a rather large pile of logs. For him we cut cherry and yellow birch. With the snow covered ground we made good progress and we’re soon finished with the project. The plan was to leave the logs till spring when we could bring the sawmill up to run them through.

It was mid May before I finally got the mill up to Gregger’s. I packed some food and extra gear so I could spend a night in his cabin then work a second day without doing all the extra driving. We got the mill set up and Zane came up to help out. We got a few hardwood logs run through that first day before making a nice dinner of venison and fish. Zane spent the night at the cabin with me but had things to do the next morning. Gregger and I ran a bunch more logs through the mill and stickered all the lumber up on his trailer under a tarp. Rain was a little bit of an issue but we worked around it as best we could. By the end of day 2 we had made a decent start on the hardwood log pile.

There was a gap in our sawmill activity when Amy and I traveled for a long weekend to the Brimfield Flea Market in Massachusetts. It was quite the event! We ended up purchasing a number of things that easily fit into her car. We tried to buy sensibly but impulse purchases of collectibles can be difficult to control! While we were in Massachusetts we traveled to nearby Connecticut to tour her former hometown. Saturday would find us on the beach at Watchhill, Rhode Island. It’s a lovely sanctuary that has preserved and will remain undeveloped. There’s nothing like the ocean to stir the inner spirit. It was our first traveling experience together and we had a really great time!

May was moving right along and there was only one week left before the Saranac Lake deck project was slated to begin. It was obvious that Gregger and I could never finish sawing his hardwood logs and all of my hemlock. I decided to truck all my logs to the Homestead instead. So we sawed during the day and I hauled a load home every night. We cut up some of the hardwood slabs to weigh down the truck also. Cut into 10” chunks they were stored in the Homestead woodshed each night to dry for the tiny cabin wood stove to be used during the next heating season. We completed all of Gregger’s hardwood logs and some hemlock he needed before finally beginning to concentrate on cleaning up his landing. I hauled a couple big loads of slab wood to the Homestead for sugarwood as part of this process.It was time consuming and tedious work but one with a larger purpose. I was beginning to get a little road weary but stayed with the pace. The final morning would find me following Gregger as he trucked the sawmill back to the Homestead.

I had received an offer to pick up some hemlock logs from a friend of a friend over by Sixberry Lake awhile back. I had picked up one load the day we returned the sawmill to the Homestead and dumped them off in the meadow near the warehouse.The fellow who gave them to me wanted two 14’ 6×6’s in exchange for the logs. A very fair proposition to which I readily agreed! I hadn’t gotten them done however and his July deadline was fast approaching. I picked out three decent logs but ended up needing four as one turned out to be “shaky”. Wind shake causes the growth rings in hemlock to break out when sawn into lumber. It’s not super common but sometimes happens in hemlock. The boards and timbers fall apart when shake shows up. It’s a frustrating thing when it happens and often those pieces of lumber end up in the sugar house for firewood! I ended up making the fellow three decent 6×6 timbers and one decent 4×4 timber. It seemed fair. I loaded them onto the trailer and delivered them to him where he then loaded the second load of logs for me. Prior to that I had moved all the piles of logs in the meadow up onto the landing log loading platform above the actual sawmill.

Prior to delivery of the timbers,Zane and I spent the better part of Monday last week getting some pine logs that were on the log loading landing run through the mill. The pine sawyer beetles had begun to bore into them just under the bark so it was time! A couple months later it would be a different story as the beetles would have gotten inside the logs boring destructive holes through them. Nature at its finest! Sawyer beetles serve as a frontline decomposer type process that helps dead pine return to the soil. It was hot and dusty work but we managed to produce some very nice lumber. All the slab wood was dumped off the tractor loader into the big outdoor pile right outside the sugar house woodshed. Another job for another day or days most likely! We may be a little behind schedule!😂

I finally got tired out from sawing and hand peeled the last three pine logs. They won’t be bothered by the beetles with their bark gone. The lumber was stickered and stashed away in the old woodshed and in the warehouse. We had to stack and haul all the dry sap buckets that had been sitting in the woodshed for weeks first though. That’s done finally at least. Lots of task oriented work to get done. I finally called it quits but felt very happy with our accomplishments. We had done a lot! It felt good getting caught up a little and working with the sawmill! Nothing like accomplishment to stir the inner spirit and charge the batteries! All that slab wood will be used for making maple syrup. Talk about repurposing! It all seemed a little time consuming. Last winters log cutting in Winthrop. Sawing logs there as payment for the hemlock logs I got from Gregger. Hauling those hemlock logs to the Homestead from Winthrop. Then turning around and going after more hemlock logs at Sixberry Lake. And all those hemlock logs still needed to be sawn! Was it really worth all the time and effort? Why not just side the buildings with vinyl siding or rough cut pine? It represents something much larger to me however. It’s all connected in some way that many people might struggle to understand. Hemlock is gone from the farm property where it once thrived. Locked in the buildings themselves in the form of timbers, rafters, and siding. To use hemlock to transform the farm buildings and the tiny cabin seemed justified in that moment to me. Who would buy siding or lumber when the means to create it lay within my grasp? What price do I place on my goals and dreams? I have insisted on hemlock siding for my building projects and hemlock we shall have in large plentiful quantities. I will create each piece with a driven mindset of determination. The time I will have invested in creating the lumber will be significant. But so will be the MOONTABS that led to its creation. That is the very level of resolve and stubborn perseverance. There is prideful rural heritage in the tasks at hand and in the deeds themselves. It will be remembered and visible long beyond this moment. That is where the message lies if indeed there is a message at all. Perhaps I simply underestimated the very magnitude of the job itself. What does it truly matter in the end? When all is finished and slab wood burns in the evaporator from those same logs what will I think then? I will know that answer I hope if I am to be so fortunate. I will be residing within those hemlock shrouded walls of the tiny cabin and standing in front of my boiling evaporator yet another March day. Why ask so many questions anyway? What is time anyway? I will never get it all done anyway say the teachings of Abraham-Hicks. It’s an inner calling these things I desire to do. It is enough.✍️

The Brown Ghosts

Posted on June 6, 2024June 7, 2024 by Greg Washburn

June has crept upon us and there’s been lots going on! Writing hasn’t been one of those things though! I am so busy living life and doing things that I never write about those things in the present recently. But playing catch-up is a great way to reflect on the weeks that have sped past! May turned out to be an activity filled month that’s for sure! It’s important to note that the final day of April was spent trolling for brown trout on Lake Ontario with my friend Gary and his son. It’s pretty much a full day commitment and a long drive but super fun! We went a couple of times and came home with some nice fish on each occasion. The brown trout were tasty to a degree but will never become my favorite! I much prefer perch and walleye! But that’s another story altogether! Something much tastier would soon be filling our days!

I spent part of the first day of May working at the IRLC Ferrone Preserve with a friend and former coworker. We were joined by a fellow (Win) who had recently been hired by IRLC. One of his jobs is to develop a trail system on the 100 acre parcel that was donated to the land trust a couple years ago. It’s a very unique piece of property that’s a little unusual for the Town of Macomb. It resembles land that sits across Black Lake in the Hammond area. There are several very interesting features there that will be featured in a post at some point. For now I will leave a picture of one of the rock formations!

We had received a decent amount of rain in April. The muskrats had added to their huts several times ahead of large rain events. An interesting phenomenon that I sometimes write about here.May began with some increasingly warmer temperatures so I decided to start looking for some morels. I had been sent a photo of some small morels that a friend had found in the Waddington area on May first. I was curious to see if any were out yet in Macomb so I went out for a little scouting mission. I went to a location that had yielded some in 2023 and began finding a few! It was on! Definitely time to search in earnest!

I searched several areas but most of those I found came from the one location. But that never means much when the season is just starting. I picked a few leeks to add to my foraging adventure and cleaned my prizes for dinner! Yum! Zane would join me in the hunt a couple days later and our searching brought in a decent amount of fresh morels! We also foraged chives and more leeks. Zane made a chive and leek dip that we ate with crackers. Strong but delicious! I used the morels to top off grilled cheese burgers. They were so incredibly good!

I stayed busy that week sawing a few pine logs and putting lumber away to dry. I spent more time gathering a few morels that I usually ate with my dinner but I put a few in the fridge to save. Amy was coming down that Friday to forage with me for a couple days and I wanted to be sure to have some for her to try. It was nice to be getting some salvage logs done and taking time to enjoy the morel season while living at the farm. There were numerous other things that needed my attention as well and the days flew! I scouted out a section of ridge below a spot where I had found 14 morels one afternoon and was happy to see some nice big blondes there! I decided to use them as a training mission to get Amy accustomed to finding them. When she arrived I wasted no time getting her onto the morels! She took right to the foraging and found the big blondes easily. We hit some other locations before heading back to prepare them for dinner that evening. We found over 20 morels before stopping and we still would have all day Saturday to forage!

Saturday would find us up on my friend Gary’s property and we began finding morels shortly after we started searching. We hit the sections of woods around his meadows until about noon when it began raining rather hard. Our morning count was around 49. Back at the Homestead we washed and prepped our finds.Insects love to move inside the mushrooms! Especially ants!We got our rain soaked apparel dried out by the wood stove. We would eventually find another twenty something morels that afternoon before dinner. Morel cheeseburgers were again the main course and I soon realized how many morels I had cooked that week! Amy set some aside to take home to dehydrate for winter. We had been very successful! Life was good!

I didn’t know it at the time but that Saturday would be the end of morel season for us. It was time to take the sawmill up to my friend’s in Winthrop that Monday and the next weekend was a travel weekend. But we had been so very successful overall! Our final season count totaled around 173 morels! A couple dozen had been left in the forest to rot as we had found them too late to salvage them. And just like that the search for the brown ghosts of the forest concluded. But we had made special memories! MOONTABS as you already know. There’s nothing like the search for them really. Brush and ticks never seem to deter us! Amy actually found a tick on herself when she hit the shower that Saturday night. Luckily barely imbedded in her skin.It all seems like a blur now and it was only one month ago! But we have lived busy lives during that month. That’s how I choose to live in these days of retirement. Always moving and pushing forward. The time of the morels was not missed fortunately. It was a time that I thoroughly enjoyed! Eating morels about 6 times in one week! Cooking outside in the outdoor kitchen whenever possible. Life on the Homestead is rewarding and full. Each day full of promise and hope. It is enough!

Spring Has Sprung!

Posted on May 8, 2024May 8, 2024 by Greg Washburn

Spring continues to ramp up in the valley and things have gotten very green! The grass is really growing now and lawn work is way overdue!But priorities come in many different forms when a person interacts with nature! Lately it’s been a mix of work and play! Awhile back Amy came down for the weekend and we foraged for a variety of annual forage items. We started with burdock behind the barn. We have an abundance of it and the roots are edible if they are small. We got some decent ones! No worries ever running out of them! We have many!

We next targeted chives and leeks. Chives grow all over the open fields here in great numbers. Scissors work well to collect them into a container. For leeks we headed into the forest in parts of the sugarbush. They were still rather small but very potent so they would make a nice addition to the soup we were planning to create. There’s no shortage of leeks on the farm so we harvest the entire plant unlike what others do elsewhere. Some people only harvest one leaf from each plant! That’s ultra conservative but not something we need to ever do we hope. Our patches remain sustainable for now although two former harvest areas have all but disappeared since the forest die off of 2016/2017. We will continue to harvest responsibly and believe that we can manage to maintain a balance.

Our final forage item was the water loving species we call Cowslips. There’s a nice patch near the farm where it’s easy to quickly fill a grocery bag! Scissors also work well for harvesting these greens. We target the smaller leaves as the bigger leaves and blossoms are bitter. We were a little late to the harvest but still managed to find plenty of small leaves. Our foraging items were beginning to add up!

Now the work of cleaning our items began! Burdock is especially dirty and takes some time to prepare. Cleaned roots were chopped into small pieces that would cook down in the soup. Chives are super easy to clean and chop up. Also into the soup. The Cowslips were washed and then boiled to reduce their size. The water was discarded and our boiled Cowslips were added to the soup. We were going for an all veggie type soup so no meat was added. Potatoes were cut up as well as a few carrots. We had a nice concoction going! In the crock pot it shimmered away for several hours. The result was a hearty and healthy dinner! For Sunday breakfast I made eggs with added chives and 10 year old aged cave cheese. Interesting story there to share sometime! I also made French toast that we smothered with maple syrup! Life was good! We live in the land of plenty! Knowing how to forage enhances the connections to nature!

Cave cheese and chive eggs with French toast!Yum!

Amy had to return to the Adirondacks Sunday afternoon and I was missing her already so I decided to do some work up on the hill. There was a log that needed to be brought down for firewood that had blocked a sap haul road earlier in the season. While I was up in the Mother Tree area I targeted a bunch of invasive wild honeysuckles that were taking over the clearing. The Mother Tree was tapped this spring for the first time in years along with several others in the area. It’s a large three tree cluster that’s actually one set of roots. It easily carries 8 sap buckets! It sustained some damage during the die off but survived mostly intact fortunately. Most of the former Mother Tree Loop that we used to tap suffered grievous losses so it’s been abandoned. I got pretty wild ripping up the invasives once I got started. I may have won a small battle but we are still losing the war. See the old post “The Battle Of Evermore” for further details. Before I quit for the evening I also drew out a 16 foot butternut log that the tree trimmers had cut near the power lines by the road. It may make some nice lumber and needed to be salvaged regardless.

The week started productively and I put down the remaining 2” planks in the former woodshed so we could stack sap buckets in there to dry. My friend Gary came to help me wash buckets after I had done 100 the prior day. We finished all of them and some other sugaring gear. I hauled water from the spring like usual as I can pump it much faster that way. There’s still the main evaporator pans to pressure wash and the big storage vat. I am running behind! I have enjoyed two days of brown trout fishing down on Henderson Harbor and out on Lake Ontario with Gary and his son. He has a nice setup for trolling! I learned something new and even drove the boat a little! I caught my first two brown trout ever and ended up eating them. They are ok but not my favorite fish! It was a great experience though and we had the water mostly to ourselves!

I headed up to Amy’s on Thursday of that week to participate in a spring cleanse with her. It involves special food and drinks. Teas and no sugar to speak. We dined on a rice and mung bean dish called Kitceri although with vegetable juice we made ourselves. We were supposed to stay somewhat idle but we ended up doing a lot! I bought a bike from a local bike shop in Saranac Lake. What a great store and the owner John is awesome! Check out “Human Power Planet Earth Bike Shop”! I decided to buy local in the Adirondacks and support local small business. It was a great choice! I love my bike! We rode twice that weekend and visited the “Slow Turn” for some reflection time. Always a good idea! We also hiked into a somewhat remote pond for some water viewing nature time. Rain would slow us down at one point but we enjoyed a healthy spring cleanse that my body no doubt needed! Amy knows the ways of healthy living and she’s a tremendous help getting me to a healthier lifestyle!

Last week would find me traveling many miles! Returning from the Adirondacks Monday. Fishing Lake Ontario Tuesday. Picking up a friend at the Dexter airport Tuesday night and a trip to Cooperstown with him on Thursday. I found time to volunteer at the IRLC Ferrone Woods Preserve in the Town of Macomb on Wednesday where a new trail system is going to be developed. We had to remove some deer hunting stands and blinds as part of the transition here. It a lovely and unique parcel that I will feature at some point. Friday was spent getting caught up on some miscellaneous details. We all have plenty of those! Saturday would find me way up in Chateaugay at a memorial service. Later shopping in a favorite store in Malone. I drove up in the “Blue Bomb”. My former Ford Focus that I gave Zane that he has given back. My neighbor Mike The Mechanic has assured me that it’s road worthy again after a new timing chain and other repairs. It’s my grocery getter and farm vehicle for running errands. A new old addition to the fleet! So last week I totally romanced the road!

There’s lots of other things being planned and discussed right now. Time will reveal what happens next. Getting caught up some at the farm is a big part of that. But taking time to charge my batteries out in nature remains a priority and a place of focus. Writing and blogging often get tabled unfortunately. But my spirit energy is recharged through motion. Always staying on the move. My knee problem continues to be a serious condition. I manage with it. My life is shifting as part of my forward momentum. My beloved Adirondacks are once again a big part of the shift. Meeting Amy, a woman of the Adirondacks also part of my shift. Things have aligned in so many ways and life is busy but enjoyable in the push for adventure.

Discoveries abound in this new and exciting blend of sceneries. Life is changing fast just like the season. There’s something big happening right now! Worthy of its own blog post! They have shown themselves! The brown ghosts of May. I speak of the morel mushrooms! I found my first one of the season Friday. They now occupy my time and my refrigerator! So watch for my next post! It will showcase this special fungi and all it means to me! It’s hard to get it all written sometimes. I will try! Mornings are best for blogging! Fueled up with maple syrup infused coffee. Playing music. Enjoying the numerous birds who inundate my feeding area behind the tiny cabin. There’s always the trails amidst the trees here to explore. Sunrises and sunsets. Meals and mundane tasks to complete. There’s always time if we allow ourselves to catch our breath for a minute. That’s difficult sometimes. We are driven by a fast moving society. I am driven by other things as well. To seek and to learn. To expand my knowledge of the natural world. And to try and preserve my health and strength. I must learn to accept new ideas and new approaches. I must evolve in a sense. The old ways of my life that were harmful must go. It’s all so overwhelming if I let all those thoughts in at once.It’s all so very simple these connections to nature when I embrace that mindset and enjoy the simple things of life. Time and an older body may slow me down eventually but for now I won’t let it. I still have way too much energy to burn. 🏄🏻‍♂️🚀

Down To Earth

Posted on April 24, 2024April 24, 2024 by Greg Washburn

It’s been awhile since my last post and like usual a lot has been going on! I managed to get final sap boil done right ahead of going up to the Adirondacks to view the solar eclipse with Amy. She’s the reason I spend so much time in Saranac Lake. I will continue to respect her wish for privacy but will be including her presence in my posts as we have adventures together whenever time permits. We had wrestled with a location to view the eclipse as a large turnout was expected for the Adirondacks. I headed up on Sunday morning ahead of the eclipse and we got out to scout a possible location near “The Slow Turn”.We went to a stand of large pines Amy named “The Wisdom Keepers” first then hiked up to a nearby ridge top. It looked promising so we decided it was going to be our location to view the eclipse.

Finding a place to view the eclipse be like…😂

Monday’s weather was great for eclipse viewing! Fairly warm and sunny. We headed out early and got settled into our spot without encountering other people. We enjoyed snacks while waiting for the main event on a comfortable blanket. I rolled in some snow that was still hanging on minus some clothes for a comic relief moment! We got a nice laugh over that! As for the eclipse itself it totally exceeded our expectations! We watched it unfold with our special glasses and when totality hit it was truly a MOONTABS moment! The temperature drop was very noticeable and the birds went quiet as the sudden darkness overtook everything. I didn’t spend valuable time trying for photos as I truly wanted to fully experience the event. And then just like that it was over! Lucky for me I was in the Adirondacks as folks back home in the valley had clouds to contend with just as it occurred! Things continue to align for me and the coincidences can no longer be called that! There’s certain forces at work it appears! I embrace the alignment that arrived on tiny wings it seemed. Manifestations do work it appears! Consider it!

Eclipse viewing ridge. Now called Corona Heights!

Upon returning to the valley I continued to try and rest my knee which has been rather painful throughout the last weeks of sugaring season. I had gotten a cortisone shot recently but it hasn’t solved my issues entirely. I went perch fishing with my friend’s out near the St. Law. River two days in a row as a way to rest it somewhat which was beneficial. We hammered some really nice perch using two hook rigs tipped with tiny minnows! They sure are tasty fried up! Yum! What a great time!

After that I have managed to bring in the remainder of the sugaring mini-tubes and buckets. Washing buckets begins later this afternoon and it’s snowing wet snow! Zane and I rinsed the tubing last week and pressure washed all the white storage containers. Progress seems slow at times but there’s always other things going on. The forest is greening up slowly and the tiny flowers I call the “tiny ones” are thriving despite the continued chilly weather we’ve been having. The muskrats were building up their old houses again recently and shortly after the rain events occurred with huge deluges over a two day period. Inches of rain fell so their predictions came true! I never doubt their advance warnings as they have been clearly accurate far too many times to even question it. How they know remains a mystery however. Too bad I couldn’t talk to them! What wisdom do they possess that they might share? Or is it simple intuitive behavior that touches them somehow? I remain in awe regardless and never see them as simple rodents who should be considered a lesser species. Perhaps we are the lesser species in our arrogant approach to nature and in our destructive tendencies. My spirit energy hints at a larger connection that we as humans have lost somehow. That sixth sense I now call the “5+1”. It is a worthy study to continue. Time, trees, and trails of discovery!

Last week saw me attending a TILT event in Clayton. I helped with the tern grid installation out on Eagle Wing Shoal. The common tern is plagued by gulls and other predator birds on their nesting sites. The grid keeps the bigger birds out while the smaller terns pass safely through. After that I did some trail stewardship work for IRLC to finish out my day. If you’ve never read any of my posts describing theses two local land trusts then Goggle both TILT and IRLC to learn more about them!

Construction of the the annual tern grid.It’s rather complex when completed!

All of last week’s activities were completed to free up time for a foraging weekend with Amy. I will be featuring it soon as it’s a rather interesting series of events that’s connected to my attempts at better health. Natural food sources surround us here in the valley and several exist right here on the farm Homestead property! So until then this gets things caught up a little! ✍️

Preparing For Reentry

Posted on April 3, 2024April 3, 2024 by Greg Washburn

Syrup season has continued its rollercoaster ride into April now. The deep freeze that happened recently while I was back visiting the Adirondacks shut everything down again. But I got a chance to experience winter again as snow would blanket the village of Saranac Lake on a memorable Saturday. Time away from the valley is good for my focus and always enjoyable. My reasons for visiting the Adirondacks so much recently are rather private at the moment but I expect that to change eventually and I share a few things in time.

Returning to the valley would get me back on task. Helping Zane pick up a different car would involve a road trip to Port Leyden, New York. It was trailer time with the truck! Horsepower and loud music! Very fun day with my son. We got the car licensed for him which was an educational experience for Zane! Good stuff!

I had added a few new taps as the smaller trees began to stop producing sap. Scattered around the string I targeted big survivor maples in the out of way locations. Some along the high bank beside the Rastley Road. I also cut my way into the old Mother Tree Loop.All together some 60 plus buckets were pulled and reset on fresh wood. There was a window of opportunity coming where it appeared we would get a possible decent run. A lot of work moving taps but it left me well positioned and satisfied by my decision. Call it an experiment! And the weather would hit just right! March 27th. A day that would see one of the biggest sap runs of this unusual season hit! The big maples would seal the deal. Full and overflowing buckets on many of the fresh taps. A respectable run across the string overall. We would bring in enough sap for me to light the fire and run the evaporator into the evening.

So I was moving forward to towards filling the 30 gallon barrel of commercial grade syrup. We were well past Dark Robust grade now. Firmly entrenched in the super dark “buddy” creation of late season. Bittersweet is a good way to describe it! The tree buds give it a signature flavor. I was planning another Adirondack weekend as the sap wasn’t going to do much I predicted and I was caught up again for a moment. Thursday was a day of many details. I picked up the last of the neighbor’s sap late that day. Thursday also found me busy getting things ready for a job in Saranac Lake on Saturday. Tree removal. I boiled again on Friday morning. The barrel was creeping towards the top!

Friday would see me safely arriving in the Adirondacks and ready for a Saturday morning tree job. The boys from Gouverneur who had worked up on Black Lake with us were scheduled for a 9am start. It was a tricky piece of real estate on a side hill but the neighbor agreed to let me get the wood and debris out on her property. It went quite well overall but there were a few unexpected problems! It the end all was well! The neighbor lady asked me if I needed any red bricks. Sure I said! I have a project where I needed them! So a large number of them were added onto the already heavy trailer for the trip back to the valley. What a load! I had quite a lot of fun hauling it actually! Pushing the truck up the hills and cruising the downhill stretches.

I went back up to Saranac Lake for Easter dinner and later enjoyed a nice trek off the rail trail with my friend. She’s actually more then a friend to me at this point but her privacy is important to me and will be protected as such. Time may offer glimpses into our adventures eventually but for now all that’s necessary are a few basic facts. My time in the Adirondacks has taken on a new meaning and I am spending more of it beyond the blue line. Enough said! Our walk took us back into the red pines that the locals simply call The Pines. It was amazing the transition that one week had brought! The snow was gone and spring was in the air. We communed quietly for some time below the towering,slender red pines. The word turn kept popping into my head. I was wishing for a special name for this unique place and my thoughts would gravitate towards its creation. I settled on the name “The Slow Turn” for the forest of red pines. Unusual perhaps but relevant to me. As I gazed skyward I perceived a circle of sorts above us. One that exists in a larger circle of all nature. Time passes here as it does everywhere. But I felt that in the natural order of changing seasons it was turning slowly. Thus the name!

This week finds me hauling gear from the sugarbush. Pulling taps and buckets. Bringing in the storage totes from the mini tube runs. I gathered a small amount of sap from the most recently tapped large trees. It’s low grade stuff but will advance the level in the barrel.Final boil running water is next after today. The barrel will be topped off with carryover surplus dark syrup from last year. A held in trust moment! It’s raining hard this morning so the sugar house will be a nice place to work today! The forecast calls for snow! The tiny Mayflowers I found yesterday will be getting a surprise! No problem for them as they are very hardy little specimens of beauty! Foraging will follow the close out of sugaring. All in all I rate this season successful! Good because we lived it. Good because we participated in our annual hobby! My inner spirit is very much in tune with nature right now. A bonus of any sugaring season. There’s plenty of maple syrup to continue to lace my morning coffee! We have worked the trails and spent time amongst the trees. We were gifted greatly through the entire process! There truly is nothing like it! It’s all connected! The forest,the sugar house, and our passage of time throughout the changing season. It is enough! ✍️

The Comfortable Orbit

Posted on March 24, 2024April 3, 2024 by Greg Washburn

The sugar season continues to creep along. As of today we are still in a rather frozen set of days.Last week did not bring any significant sap runs.But it’s still been a memorable season. After our March 8th evaporator launch I would boil the remainder of the storage tank sap the next day. It ended up being a rainy, windy day so being inside was nice! I had company that day but that is a story outside of this one. Things show themselves here as the story gets written. I coaxed the evaporator along fairly briskly and we were rewarded with our first batch of the season! It was medium colored and very favorable! This photo pretty much it all.

It wasn’t a big boil that rainy day but there ended up being a couple batches to run off. We gathered the string again on Sunday with the help of Zane,Patrick Bourcy, and neighbors’s son and family.We made an arrangement to boil away the neighbor’s sap from their close to 90 taps. They had brought down about 90 gallons total that morning. The gather went quickly but there wasn’t a lot of sap really. I decided to boil what we had away as we still had plenty of time. A some pancakes entered the conversation and we got hungry thinking about them! So Zane ran to the cabin to grab everything we needed. A makeshift kitchen was set up and soon people were tying into hot pancakes with fresh hot syrup poured right on top! Yum!Some light snow was falling and the sugar house got a little with 7 people inside! My Uncle Art had showed up so that got us to 7.It was a fun and productive afternoon. The neighbor’s got about 2 gallons of syrup total out of their sap. It was all mixed with ours at that point but that didn’t matter as we knew their sap equaled 89 gallons.We finished with a small amount of syrup and were totally caught up for the moment. Floating along in the comfortable orbit of a launched syrup season. It’s a good place to be! The evaporator set up to batch out steady, lots of sugar wood , and well positioned with taps. Now we just needed the sap to run!

Monday would dawn sunny and clear but it stayed a little cool throughout the day. Zane helped me get firewood for the cabin cut and stacked. I was going to run out soon. By afternoon I had talked myself into setting more buckets up along the Long Narrow Meadow in a small section of big survivor maples known as part of the reserve. I was getting concerned about the smaller trees we’d tapped. It seemed like they were going to produce lightly. Some were running ok but others were just sitting there mostly idle. But we weren’t getting idle sugaring weather either. I ended up with an additional 31 bucket taps which I hoped would produce well and boast the sap intake. This put us to 535 taps totals across what had become a rather long string. My prediction still continued to be that it would take all those taps just to possibly get the syrup we needed to fill orders. Time would tell.

Tuesday would see us needing to do a full string gather after a nice frost overnight. The sap ran rather well overall but once again the smaller trees were underproducing. We brought in some 500 gallons of sap by dark. Zane and I decided to fire the evaporator to get a night boil on. He left after helping me get started so I had the night boil all to myself. Nothing new for me really after lots of it years ago. I made some decent syrup still within the Amber Rich grade but it was close to Dark Robust grade. I ended up finishing the sap the next day with a second boil.The sap wasn’t really doing all that much so the gather was postponed until Wednesday.

Pushing up on 418 gallons when right to the top.

Zane and I gathered the entire string on Wednesday. We got enough sap to get a boil on that ran well into the evening That pretty much tied up that entire day. Thursday was a day of catching on errands and that sort of thing. Friday morning would find me going up to grab the neighbor’s syrup and run it through the evaporator. I felt that the syrup was at the final cutoff for Dark Robust. I had a busy Friday planned!A couple days up over the blue line for an overnighter and a day outing which a friend who was quickly joining the MOONTABS journey. But that is another story for another time! There was sugaring to come but it wasn’t going to happen over the weekend. We would just need to wait and see! ✍️