The Icewalker’s Plunge

Mid January finds with a small amount of snow on the ground but nothing major. 6”-8” of powder snow isn’t much for this time of year really. Last year on this very day we had a snow storm that dropped several inches on us after a warm spell had left us with mostly bare ground. I was recovering from my artery incident then and wasn’t pushing myself too hard. Walking mostly but we managed a few other tasks around the cabin. It was a new chapter for me then.

I have been balancing my time between the valley and the Adirondacks since the end of fall to now as I mentioned recently in my last post. The biggest news recently is that with the help of the Amish carpenters we finally finished the siding on the cabin last week. Some soffit work remains but the weatherbeaten tarpaper is now all covered. Zane and I had sawn plenty of siding fortunately so there was no danger running out. We also removed some old rusty roofing from my Uncles barn up the road at the property where I had my first house in 1983. We repaired the lean to roofing boards and some structural damage before adding 4 sheets of new metal. The old metal matches some that my Dad had repurposed from the old garage that used to be here before the 2012 house fire. He used it on the sugar house here and I may need it also for the cabin. I started out just wanting some old metal to put on the wall behind the new wood stove in the cabin above the Drury brick hearth. But then I decided that I want old metal on the ceiling in the new addition of the cabin. It remains to be seen if we will have enough to do all our work. It’s stashed outside and needs a very thorough cleaning. Maybe I will flip it upside down and show the underside which has no rust. The design on the metal is what makes it special. A wave type pattern repeats itself a long the length of the 2’ wide siding. It’s very unique! We had a couple of rather cold days last week while doing our outdoor work but we soldiered through despite!

The repairs after the removal of the old roofing

By last Thursday I decided that I needed a day to just catch up on a few things around the cabin. The carpenters had finished their work here that they had time for by Wednesday afternoon. So I hauled some firewood and stocked up the cabin woodshed. Keeping firewood stocked for the cabin keeps me rather busy actually especially on cold days like we had last week. It’s noteworthy that I had just installed a ventilation fan in the loft floor of the cabin and ducted it into the new addition. With more insulation in place it has been heating well since. The loft is much cooler as a result. Before it was way too hot up there most nights while the back portion of the cabin stayed rather cool. I think things will balance out well now. As for the firewood, I have been hauling it down from the old granary up behind the barn where it was stored last spring. Super dry hardwood slab wood from the sawmill project at my friend Gregger’s last spring. It just needs a bit of splitting here and there. The mixed cherry and yellow birch make a super hot fire. Before too long we will need to cut and haul in some dry red elm that’s burn ready. Our current supply of firewood won’t last until spring.

The siding progresses.

By Thursday afternoon I was ready for an outdoor outing so I decided to snowshoe down Beaver Creek if the ice was ok. There barely enough snow to need snowshoes but I wore them anyway.Upon reaching the edge of the marsh where the grass is thick, I quickly realized that the ice wasn’t all that great. I struggled out through the bogs breaking through in several shallow spots before reaching the bare open sections. But even here the ice was very thin and weak! It wasn’t looking good but I didn’t want to backtrack across the crappy bog part so I pressed on. Slowly and cautiously, I might add! The ice was fickle and unpredictable. Some spots were ok but my tapping beaver sticks would detect hollow sounding spots below the snow covered surface. Death traps I call them. I managed to skirt several tricky spots and reached a deeper wider section of the main channel. After one rather close call I chose a shortcut on a smaller side channel that held me up rather well. I soon reached the area we call “The Deep Hole”. It seemed like decent ice but was slushy on top. A sure sign of thin ice being pushed down by the weight of the snow. I became even more cautious and my forward progress became even slower. I noticed an active beaver lodge and was happy to see them occupying the area. They come and go from this spot on occasion but continue to occupy it mostly. I knew that I could never hope to get across the main beaver dam that spans the creek here. It’s a challenge at times even with much better ice. I approached the dam and laughed when the dog almost broke through where she was walking next to it. I was trying to get close enough to what we call the “Big Cliff” to get photos of some large icicles hanging from a section of it. Without warning I suddenly plunged through the ice with both snowshoes! There was no cracking first or anything suspicious! Just a death trap breakthrough! I was held up by beaver stick walking sticks fortunately and for a second was expecting the shock of cold water filling my boots! But I lunged up onto my knees and somehow avoided getting wet! My nylon hiking pants were so tight around my boots that no water got in! My knees got a little wet but that was nothing. Snow on ice is the great insulator and the death traps are invisible from above. Even the tapping and probing of the beaver sticks fails me at times. Just one of my many plunges over the years I suppose.

The plunge hole!

At this point I lost my desire to ice walk any further! I cautiously and nervously backtracked my way to a channel that got me safely ashore in the stand of white cedars known as “ The Cedars”. This tiny grove has been here my entire life. Never really getting any larger or much smaller. Sometimes the beaver cut a few and years ago we cut out some big dead ones for salvage. The Cedars seems ageless although I didn’t see any of the tamaracks that once lived alongside the cedars. Perhaps they are all gone. The cedars contains a couple of boggy spring holes that never freeze. I used to trap here as a young boy for raccoon. In winter I trapped ermine under the shelter of the cedars in small cubby sets. I used wax paper to keep my traps from freezing. I once caught a red fox here also. My ermine traps were empty most of the time but I didn’t care. I became familiar with the area and loved its remote feeling of winter beauty out of sight of the road and the farm buildings. I was destined to desire to explore this area and all that lay beyond it was I grew a bit older. The marsh was my classroom and I was an interested student who showed up frequently. And the spirit of the Icewalker was forged here. Not of molten metal but of ice and snow. Adversity would thrill me here. Wet feet and cold hands. Frosty cheeks and nose at times. Those were cold winters. Some nights my Father would not let me run my small trap line because of the cold and approaching darkness. But I would return soon and resume my frosty activities. There are many memories here in the marsh of the big gorge. Perhaps that’s why I return each winter.

After a rest and the reminiscing, I tackled the cut up the side of steep ravine that would take me towards the Homestead cabin where the warm wood stove awaited. I stopped at one point and gazed back at the marsh. I was disappointed that the ice had not been better for traveling. And I pondered several things then. How many times had I stood in this exact spot over the years? How different the winters are now. How much older I had become. And how the draw to run the ice and call myself the Icewalker had never diminished. How long would I try? How many winters would gift me the opportunity? Such thoughts became too much then so I chose something far different to break the serious moment. I spoke with my best Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation downhill towards the marsh: “I’ll Be Back!”. But no one heard me but the dog and a few disinterested winter birds. But that was fine. I know that I will be back if good fortune and good health continue to favor me. And I will play the game of staying on top of the ice as I move forward to explore the further reaches of the gorge of the big creek called Beaver. I have no fear there. Just respect for this beautiful and enchanting place. I have traveled the ice here more times than I can remember now. What adventures I have had! I will be watching and waiting for signs of better ice. Then I will set out once again! And not forgetting the Icewalker’s motto: The distance in must be traveled out!” It is enough! ✍️

The Wind Down

I have recently been writing a daily post on Facebook to highlight the past 12 months. This 12 day writing exercise has been fun but people have gotten bored with it I believe. Good thing I am into the final 4 months of 2024! I found it beneficial for myself to reflect upon the year and wanted to share my thoughts in a hindsight type series of posts. It’s sometimes difficult to gauge peoples interest. That is an aspiring writer’s challenge I suppose. For this post I am focused on facts and recent events that make up a timeline of living.

The past few weeks have been rather busy running back and forth to the Adirondacks. Usually once a week on the weekends. We try to get outdoors for some sort of activity that gets us engaged with nature.We have visited some beautiful places recently to commune with nature! I will showcase some of them sometime. The day after my last post we traveled back to Adirondacks post Xmas party morning. We headed to the Vermontville area near Saranac Lake to cut a Christmas tree. It was a place my companion knew well and I liked it immediately! There was quite a bit of snow on the ground and the trees had a light covering but not so much that we couldn’t look for one properly. We walked uphill to the furthest reaches of the tree farm. I remarked that this a requirement and a sure sign that TCCS was about to afflict me. Remember TCCS? It was featured in a blog in December 2020. TCCS or tree cutting conundrum syndrome is very common when searching for a Christmas tree! Finding a perfect tree can be maddening! There’s a Goldilocks parallel attached to it quite often. Feeling confused? Not too worry! Sufferers of TCCS are totally confused in their search for the perfect tree! It’s always the same problem: this one is too big. That one is too small. Too bare and spindly. That one is the wrong species. That one is crooked… the list goes on and on! But we were fortunate! We were searching for a balsam and found a few possibilities fairly quickly actually. And then suddenly there it was! A balsam standing out in the open in the distance. It seemed too good to be true! How could such a tree have escaped the eyes of so many tree searchers?We closed in on the tree after wading through the snow. It didn’t take long to reach an agreement. This tree was fine! Not perfect but beautiful and totally worthy of gracing the house! So it was soon on our sled and on its way to the truck. Mission accomplished and with no noticeable TCCS! Later after the tree had thawed out and the snow had melted from it, we got it into its stand. It smelled wonderful! There’s nothing like Adirondack balsam scent! Now 3 weeks later the tree still stands proud and green. And for me who had not cut a tree in a couple years , the moments had been secured. MOONTABS! It was so special to share that experience with someone special!

Back in the valley the wood stove project nears completion. The stove pipe parts I ordered showed up and I got everything together finally. But the wood stove couldn’t be used until I installed a brace on the roof to support the outer double walled exterior stove pipe. This project was a little tricky and involved a few tricks. A rope and a ladder over the peak to give me a safe place to stand after getting up the roof on another ladder. The side by side provided a safe footing for the longer ladder and a solid tie off anchor for the rope. Inside I kindled the first fire once the bracing was complete and burned off the stinky oils that coated the wood stove. Things went well and we are very happy with it! It requires firewood in the 10” range and doesn’t hold a lot but it’s really an efficient unit. We think it will perform very well overall. It’s a Dwarf 5K unit manufactured by the Tiny Wood Stove Company located in Idaho. Go online and check out their cool lineup of tiny stoves!

A big part of the wood stove project was the repurposed brick extension that got the wood stove 14” higher above the cabin floor. It’s so much easier to tend the fire that way! Understand there’s even some room to store some wood. The old antique Drury brick is very classy I think and fits the cabin theme nicely. I didn’t mortar any of it and chose a stacked dry fit construction for the base support structure. Sand fills the cracks between the base bricks which are setting on Durarock cement board material. Fireproof and safe. The back wall behind the stove features Drury brick on edge glued with construction adhesive to Durarock backer. The overall amount of brick makes a thermal mass to some degree and should hold heat longer.

What is Drury brick you may be wondering? It’s antique brick that I was given last spring in Saranac Lake for free while helping with a tree removal. I Goggled it recently and discovered that it was made in Vermont from the 1880’s through 1972. I believe mine to be very old. Possibly 1900 era. It is beautiful at any rate and exceeds my expectations for the hearth I had envisioned. I have several different styles of Drury brick all mixed together and it’s a nice look!

I don’t believe that I ever followed up with the progression of the muskrat pelts we collected last winter. Zane and I received our muskrat hats just before Xmas Eve! The pelts had been sent to Minnesota in August and we weren’t sure that the finished hats would arrive in time. I am wearing mine since Monday and love the warm addition to my winter attire! Zane seems happy with his also. It was a good choice and a wonderful example of our rural heritage here. Trapping the muskrats then preparing the furs to ship and then wearing our hats to stay warm as winter continues to progress. There’s nothing like natural fur for warmth! Some people do not approve and that is their prerogative. We respect their position and simply ask that they respect ours. Wearing fur is a choice not a necessity. But trapping is part of our tradition here where I grew up. I no longer trap fur to sell but will continue to add fur garments to my collection as time passes. Gloves and a vest may be my next investment. The beaver population continues to grow in this area as no one traps them much anymore. Harvesting a few won’t even make a dent in the population. For now we don’t require any additional muskrats but these prolific breeders of the wetlands are there if necessary. Nature keeps them thinned out by some rather harsh diseases at times. Winter mortality of muskrat populations in any given marsh is a scientifically proven fact. Nature will keep a balance regardless of any trapping we might do. That goes for most of the species here. My position on hunting, trapping, and fishing is rather clear on these pages and within my posts. It will remain so.Much of my love of nature stems from my time afield engaged in numerous types of harvesting that spans decades. Plants,birds, fish,and animals. These days I rarely hunt or trap though. I prefer a different interface with nature. One of observation mainly. Call it a winding down of sorts. The nature of my sport pursuits has modified itself. Teaching Zane the rural heritage traditions has been important though. Even said perhaps as this topic has been mentioned here before. Given that there will be some upcoming changes to the blog site posts that have continued to accumulate for 4 years now, I feel the obligation to refresh certain topics.

It’s great to have a functional wood stove again after using just the electric heater for all the cabin heating since we moved in. Now we have both. We have plenty of dry firewood at the moment but will need to get more ahead eventually. That’s always a great winter activity!

At this point I wish to mention my recent Christmas gift from Amy! She is rarely mentioned here as her privacy remains important. But I would be remiss not to acknowledge the work she put into something to give me on Christmas day! She painstakingly edited the entirety of my blogs and printed them into a spiral notebook that is arranged like a book! Not to mention imprinting them onto a thumb drive. I had expressed concern to her about archiving my work as blog posting moves forward. Gerry my administrator,friend, and cousin keeps all this saved, running, and functional for me! And hosts a safe site for you to visit!So many continued thanks to him! Keeping dozens of blog posts and photos up online takes up a lot of space. I came to the realization that I might need to retire older posts to make way for the new. The thoughts of deleting work gave me a strange feeling however. No doubt connected to losing my journals in the house fire of 2012 somehow. Better exam that under a psychological microscope sometime. Amy did something that I know took her hours by creating a “clean” blog post book of sorts. Something real and tangible that I can hold in my hands. Hours of my own creativity in black and white. To see it moved me. Perhaps this is the feeling that a writer gets when they see their first book in print? I openly thank her here for caring enough to do it! And for her overall support of my creative endeavors. It has prompted me to reconsider my writing hobby.And my future in general. So I began a list of intentions. Those that I list in two different categories. The two categories are “main” and “cloud”. What are cloud intentions? Lofty goals and dreams that I desire but may not accomplish in the short term. To keep it real the main intentions were kept short and sweet. Not easy by any stretch of the imagination. But a different mindset begins to show itself. And I strive for change. Wait. Have I said this before? Maybe. Time has been a reoccurring theme in my writing. Change is a reoccurring reality in my life. Nature is the central theme here. Look for some new ideas and new directions here as 2025 arrives. I am busy reflecting as 2024 winds down. It’s a journey. And an adventure. MOONTABS in motion.✍️

Milling Around

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.

Burning off the pond holes.

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.

Stacking the hemlock.

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.

Off we go!

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!

Brimfield Flea Market.

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.

Headed back.

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.

Prepping for 6×6 sawing.

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!😂

Moving slab wood to the sugar house.

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.✍️

Incoming hemlock logs.

The Brown Ghosts

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!

The cliffs along Lake Ontario.

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!

Gracie scopes out the arch formation.

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!

Found them!

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!

Morel cheese burger!

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!

Foraging headquarters!

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!

Nice haul!

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!

Outdoor kitchen living!

The Comfortable Orbit

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.

Syrup sample one passes!

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!

Steam away!

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.

“Girthzilla”

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! ✍️

Full fire pine slab wood burn.

I Have Launched!

I have a lot of fun comparing sugaring to space flight! Launching and orbiting show up as descriptive words as I tell my maple syrup stories.It is rather appropriate I feel as there’s tense moments that follow planning. Numerous things that can go wrong. If you read the Pre-launch blog post then you know that our tap count was at 504 by Thursday March 7th. We were well positioned and in a good place. Thursday night’s temperatures would give us a good run Friday and we did our first full string gather.We brought in over 400 gallons of sap and counting what we had gathered on Tuesday things had placed us in a “go for launch” position.

Zane dumping sap on the Great Northern Loop.

While we were gathering my thoughts were wandering a bit. I had a woman who was a new friend coming down to hang out in the sugar house for the day Saturday. Rain was likely but that wouldn’t be a problem. The big question was starting up the evaporator for the first time of the season could be bad if things went wrong. I made a sudden decision that we would boil as soon as possible after the gather. After a quick dinner,Zane and I would flood the evaporator. Always a tense moment as sometimes there are leaks. But things went well and despite a couple small drips in the back pan it was go for launch! I had Zane kindle the fire and light it. It was a slow start but the flames caught quickly and soon the fire was crackling fiercely. “More fire” I told Zane. “Get this rig chooching! Get us to escape velocity! Escape velocity to me is when the steam first begins to lift off the surface of the pan as we reach boiling point. I have always tried to make it a fun moment for him! And it is exciting! The fire roars and the noise of sap beginning to boil is loud until things level off. The pans echo and even shake a little. It always make me think of a spacecraft taking off! It’s a stressful moment on the pans as the fire takes them to a high temperature quickly. I continued to have Zane had wood to the firebox. Things were moving smoothly and all systems were functioning fine. Good sap depth in the pans, sap float working ok, and no leaks. We had gone under the lights by this point. So battery to inverter power was status: normal. Then the pivotal moment! The first threads of steam rising up through the overhead flap doors. We had achieved escape velocity!

Escape velocity!

After that things settled into a comfortable routine. Getting the evaporator set up to produce syrup on the first boil takes time. The whole evaporator starts out with 💯 raw sap. As steam leaves the evaporator things begin to change. I doubted that we would get syrup the first night and we didn’t. We boiled for a few hours and I knew my special Saturday would be much easier for me to manage because of getting started that evening. I stood in the rising steam lost to the beauty of the moment. Here we were again. Another season pushing the tired iron. Pushing ourselves. The season had truly launched! I had truly launched!✍️

Maple Syrup 2024: Pre-Launch

It’s funny how things that might have been the focus of my recent anxiety can quickly disappear.When I last posted I was preparing to hike St.Regis Mountain with a couple friends but was a little hung up on the upcoming syrup season. The hike and the good company of my friends would shake off the ghosts that day! We had an excellent time and the rain would hold off until we had finished our trek! It was super windy at the top and scary up in the fire tower! It’s a hike worthy of its own post really!

Power trio!

As for the remainder of my time in Saranac Lake it too is worthy of its own post sometime! Certain things were happening in a strange twist of fate and my response to the moment and the energy would place me in a flow that was totally unexpected. I spent a cold Thursday at an event at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake. I truly enjoyed my company and walking around touring the facility. At the trout tank I had an interesting photo moment! There is a story coming that I will title: What The Fish Told Me.”I left for the valley on Friday March 1st with fully recharged mental batteries.Ready to tackle my problems and my hesitation about sugaring . March 1st is a tapping day typically but conditions were less then favorable. I wiped out miscellaneous details and got settled back into the cabin. Saturday was spent troubleshooting the tractor coolant issue. I found the problem quickly! A burst bypass hose on the new water pump. We had suspected it was pretty worn but the blowout confirmed it. I got online and ordered one. To date it still hasn’t arrived! Regardless I decided to set taps on Sunday and began hanging out buckets alone. I was using the Honda side by side in place of the down tractor and it worked out well. It was pretty warm which made for comfortable tapping but didn’t thrill me with the fact that there were several super warm days coming. By days end I was way up to my neighbor’s property and had hung 150 buckets by myself! A start and a commitment.

This trout had advice for me!

Monday would find me tapping more with my friend Gary helping out. Tapping trees and sugaring in general was all new to him but he was totally enjoying himself! He’s very in tune with nature and finds the landscapes of Macomb fascinating. The two of us did well setting in buckets and mini tube runs up across the neighbor’s property on a string we call the “Great Northern Loop”. It’s a productive string typically and we had invested some time into building the tubing runs last year. Less buckets means easier gathers. The mini tube runs are removed after the season ends,labeled,washed, and stored away.We did a few buckets also close to the trail. We stopped for a hearty lunch of venison stew that I made with meat Gary had given me. Yum!.Afternoon would find us setting buckets and mini tube runs on the “Southern Loop” on my neighbor’s property. We had a decent day and got out 94 taps bringing the count to 244.Zane helped me get the storage tank in place in the sugar house that evening. We also had to get the evaporator pans in place plus the various pipes for the flow systems. Progress was being made and quickly!

The crude map of the different strings.

Tuesday would Gary and I tapping on a section of my farm called the land. Buckets and mini tube runs on some big maples that survived the 2016/2017 tent worm/drought events. We also hung more buckets in miscellaneous locations along the string. The buckets that I had set Sunday had begun to fill with sap even though I considered the weather against it flowing. We used the side by side and plastic totes to do a sap gather that brought in over 100 gallons of clear sap! Not a bad start really as it was very warm! On Wednesday I went for groceries and fuel plus miscellaneous items needed for the week. I had contacted my tractor dealer Monday and had the hose I needed for the tractor expedited to their location where I picked it up. I tapped two big maples behind the barn that run mega amounts of sap most years. So with those 8 taps the count was at 358. A good number but the sap was not moving much still. I went under the lights and replaced the bad water pump bypass hose. I then proceeded to flush the coolant system with vinegar per Mike The Mechanics recommendation. It appeared that my tractor repair was successful! I went to bed rather beat but feeling like things were coming together.

Gary with a nice haul Tuesday!

Thursday would see my good friend Patrick Bourcy helping me set more taps! Remember him? He’s the creator of the Facebook group Just Go Outside and shows up in many of my blog posts. We did a variety of buckets on the growing string and mini tube taps on the ridge called Green Mountain. Our count for the day was 146 bringing our grand total to 504 taps. We were in a good place and as I stood on the top of Green Mountain a stiff cool breeze from the north would boost my spirits even further. A frost was coming that night and with all the good fresh taps we had a shot at a decent sap run! The work might just pay off!

On Green Mountain setting mini tubes.

And just like things began to change for me! Gone was the decision whether we should tap at all! We had! Gone was the anxiety about the tractor issues. It was fixed! Sure it had other issues but it was useable! I felt a rising energy within myself. Sure there was still plenty that could go wrong but we were trying to have a sugaring season and that meant everything! It didn’t matter now how things turned out. The weather was out of our control but the long range forecast was somewhat encouraging.Things were beginning to ramp up and what I was feeling was nothing new. Pre-launch is a “sit on the edge of your seat moment” like no other. A time when you question why you weren’t better prepared and ready. But such thoughts don’t help out at all. It’s best to just keep moving forward! So we will!And we do! Each and every year as our annual hobby arrives on the tail end of winter. Albeit a strange winter this year but there’s no changing that. We will make the best of everything and do our best. It’s a simple place of stubborn perseverance and resolve. The MOONTABS will tally up and we no doubt experience a most unique sugaring season. But it will not have been missed or canceled. That would be somehow wrong to me. After all someone once said: there are but a finite number of syrup seasons in a person’s lifetime. Who would write such a serious but truthful quote? Someone who values life and rural heritage perhaps. Someone who loves their hobby with a passion that borders on madness. Someone who loves to create things. Someone who knows that sugaring drives the hands and engages all 5 senses and the 6th as well. I think you know who wrote the quote. The inner voices whisper at times and fuel the inner spirit. The farm property is a place of grounding and connection. The world begs explorations and adventures but I will always be drawn back to the dripping sap drops that follow frosty nights. There is a place of blissful happiness there. But first we must launch! Things are headed in that direction. More so each day now. It is enough.✍️

The Mow Dawg Returns:Part 2

Part one of this story only encompassed a short two day period! In the end a much larger story would write itself with a journey that almost seems surreal as I sit here in the campground in Cranberry Lake on a very chilly October morning! A stiff north borne wind continues to bring even more rain. It began raining Friday night and has not stopped really since then. But I am warm and dry in the Airstream. Comfortably content as I finish my maple syrup laced Keurig coffee! Today will be a day to catch up. On laundry.Cooking. And if the energy strikes my inner spirit the words will flow like the suddenly rain swollen streams and rivers here. The shift in the weather is truly amazing! The shift in myself equally so it seems. Life on the Adirondack clock is a remarkable experience no matter the weather. There is a balance that can be found for living and purposeful activities. So this is the now moment before I take you back to a warmer time and place!

This was yesterday. Today is much worse!

So in the previous story we had gotten about 300 bales off of one of my meadows on Saturday. I continued to set up my farm camp on Sunday. Monday was a tough day trying to get a bearing off the baler but we finally got it.We had a little rain on Monday night but as there was no hay down it was no big deal. The long range forecast was perfect for haying well into the following week. We got the baler back together Tuesday and the decision to mow down hay Wednesday was made. I met my uncle in the field the next day to ride along while he mowed so I could learn the tractor and the rotary mower. I had mowed plenty of hay years ago with my smaller hay bind and tractor but this set up was larger.My uncle mowed a couple sections of field and I said that I was ready to go on my own. I got behind the controls and told him I could handle it. He started to walk away then came back to the tractor. “ You are not the first person to ever tell me that and then something happened” he said. I replied: “I’ve got this! Don’t worry I will be super careful!” So just like that I became the mower of hay after years of not doing it. I took down both big sections of the main meadow near campsite. We had hay down now!

View from the campsite.

The next day I mowed again and the last two meadows on my farm were done. My uncle raked and baled up a few loads of hay that totaled about 570 bales. I stayed busy drawing wagons and started to unload the wagons. I was also mowing the hay away. We were beginning to make progress! It was decided that no more hay needed to be mowed until the following Monday. So we spent the remainder of the week getting my farm cleared off. I raked a little hay one day to speed things up as the evening dew was coming on early in September. I also used the Tedder which scatters the hay out to help it dry faster.

Making the windrows for the baler.

I had mowed my Long Meadow so it could be turned into bedding round bales. I tedded it and another small meadow by the road. I had taken the time to fill in some holes in the meadow with dirt so the equipment wouldn’t be damaged. The days went by quick! It was very sunny and warm so the hay was drying well. So hay was baled each day then drawn up to my uncle’s barn to be unloaded and mowed away. We averaged about 500-600 bales per day. By Saturday night most of the hay on my farm was done.

The main meadow is being cleared.

I was getting better at being a mow Dawg and made sure to wear a dust mask. The evenings finished about 8:30 pm after dark and I was beat! But we had accomplished a lot in a week for two guys. Sunday we went up to the next big set of fields we would be haying across Beaver Creek to mark out rocks and holes as I didn’t know the land given my own fields had been a problem. The good weather was staying with us and it looked like we would need to mow Monday.We identified several rocks and one giant hole with orange marker tape. I felt better having toured the fields.

Marking rocks.

So Monday I fueled up the tractor and greased the mower and set off to mow “The Big One”. A roughly 25 acre chunk of hay where we had scouted Sunday. I broke the field into sections and after 7 hours of steady mowing the field was down. I was beat but felt accomplished and successful as nothing was broken or damaged. My uncle had done a little round baling so there was no hay to handle. My farm was done and I was very happy about that! A night off!

The moon rises over the Long Meadow.

Once again we had some serious hay down and it was decided to keep doing square bales. So I would be enduring a few more days of playing mow dawg. We were filling a new section of hay mow so it was easier to get loads into the barn. I was anxious to get the haying done as I still needed to prepare for my ADK trip. I was leaving Sunday! That Tuesday night after having tedded a part of the Big One I took the wheeler over to the next set of four hay fields that we would be haying.My friend lives right by one the fields so he helped me identify all the hazards like what had been done previously. I started mowing there on Wednesday and was visited by a hawk who was hunting mice in the freshly mown hay. The hawk got very close to the mower a couple of times and I saw it catch a couple mice. It got in front of the tractor one time and wouldn’t move! I was getting out of the tractor when it finally flew off.Two more meadows were down and drying.

The hunter hawk .

So the cycle kept on going. I was drawing wagons from the fields with my Uncle’s truck due to the distance we had to travel. I did some more raking on Thursday and the bales kept coming. So did the nice weather. Friday I did my final day of mowing knocking down two more meadows. We were done with square bales so I was relieved! We had one final load of hay to unload and mow away. The Mow Dawg was free!

Another late one!

So that’s the story of how I spent two weeks of my life volunteering to help with hay! It was nice to hang with my Uncle Art and get my fields cleared as well as some others. It was nice to learn some new equipment also. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself either. Out on the land each day with the familiar scents of hay ground, tractors,and the bales themselves. We accomplished a lot in two weeks I feel. And I found the time to prepare for my trip. There’s going to be a lot of loose ends waiting for me in the valley when I return. But my battery is getting recharged here. Clearing the hay fields is important to the long term plans for the farm. But next summer is a long way off! ✍️

Frogging Around

Here it is the middle of July already! There’s been a lot going on lately and there’s not much of anything that follows a routine! Zane and I have taken some time for an old time rural heritage tradition here and it was well worth it! Frogging! It’s a type of hunting for many here who enjoy summer outdoor pursuits. I wanted Zane to know it was done since I haven’t taken to the summer swamps in many years. Hunting and fishing aren’t for everyone I realize. But I truly wish for Zane to experience as many hunting and gathering activities as I can show him.

Back from the swamp after a successful hunt.

Our target species were select large bullfrogs from a section of our wetlands that can be canoed. I had scouted the area days before and decided that we should should set aside other activities and go. I won’t go into graphic details of the hunt itself but will simply say we make every attempt to dispatch our targets humanely using a .22 caliber Ruger pellet gun. We pick our targets carefully as we only want the largest frogs. The smaller fogs will ensure that the wetlands will be populated by bigger bullfrogs in the future. We spotted numerous bullfrog tadpoles below the surface so that’s always an indication of a thriving ecosystem. The swamp in summer is a steamy,lush realm with cattails, aquatic weeds, and tall swamp grasses dominating the shallower sections. Leeches are plentiful and tipping the canoe over is ill advised! Small minnows can be spotted in the deeper sections as well. The bellowing bullfrogs compete for space on the weedy surface. We hunted for a couple hours to secure enough bullfrogs to make an adequate meal. Next came cleaning,washing, and chilling of the legs. I use a simple recipe for breading and cooking the frog legs. It uses a three step process of rolling the legs in white flour then dipping them into an egg bath. Next they are rolled in panko, cornmeal, crushed white saltine crumbs, or a mix of several of those ingredients depending on my preference that particular day. Pan fried outside in cast iron with super hot canola oil they are a wonderfully tasty meal! Yes they do taste like chicken!

Frying outside with the old propane stove that we deep fry fish with typically.

We shared some of our deep fried frog legs with our neighbor’s and invited a friend up as well since he never seems able to get any for himself. Zane was totally into the whole experience now so we went frogging again a few days later in a different spot. We once again secured a adequate amount of bullfrogs for a second meal which we also shared with others. We had been given a really nice largemouth bass while fishing a small remote lake with our Camp Edith neighbors so that was cleaned and fried up as well. Eating frog legs and fish isn’t for everyone but for country people who grew up with those things on the table it’s a welcome change from the routine meals of summer evenings.

Dragonfly visitor.

Work on the farm campsite project took precedence this week and I made substantial progress on what I call “The rails”. Quite simply they are the support pier structure for the building that will be towed up onto them. Something I hope goes well as a lot is riding on the success of my engineering. Literally! The 6×6 piers are cemented in below what I consider the modern frontline

The rails. Step one.

The next phase of the rail structure involves additional pressure treated planks and support bracing. There’s also some backfill work as well. Fortunately I had gotten the underground work completed in 2020 before abandoning the project because of work etc. The septic,waterline,and electrical are all in place to align with the building. There’s still plenty of work to be done! A noteworthy series of events occurred this week while I worked at the farm! Insects all always around me at the farm in the summer. Especially deer flies,horseflies,and mosquitoes. While I was fighting off droves of biting insects last week I was suddenly visited by some interesting green dragonflies. They are known as Eastern Pondhawks I later learned. An insect eating predator species. They hovered around me and covered some of my work surfaces. The biting insects disappeared although I didn’t notice it at first. There were times when the dragonflies even followed me around! It sounds crazy but I think they were an insect repellent of sorts. An ally if you will. We were sharing some sort of mutually beneficial experience. They certainly are beautiful and aerodynamic.

The tiny warriors of the job site.

It’s funny how things happen sometimes. I was considering mowing the grass again around my work area as it was getting rather long. I had bush hogged it weeks ago once. But while working in front of the conex I noticed a honeybee! I hadn’t seen one this year so far at the farm. One turned out to be many! They were busy pollinating the clover and other blossoms where the second growth had regrown in the mowed areas. I decided to postpone mowing again for awhile. The longer grass doesn’t bother me since the black snakes and I have reached an unspoken agreement! They have been avoiding my busy work areas and I have been avoiding the barn. A shaky truce exists it seems. Shaky is the perfect word seeing as I am so afraid of them!

Right by the barn door awhile back!

I was going to mention yesterday’s adventure but I feel it deserves it’s own post so will leave it for now! Sorry for the gaps in posting! I get very involved in all sorts of things. Some are very personal and of a family nature that I choose not to share. Life happens and time changes our family members. Health and circumstance come to the forefront at times. The rollercoaster rides of emotion can take precedence over creativity but there’s always a lesson to be learned. Always a chance to make a difference when we take the time to embrace compassion and respect others situations. As to where nature connects to the aging of our bodies and of those we love it must be given time to show itself in each unique experience. Time is the great changer of all for mortal life forms. To find our place within the timelines and attempt to understand the natural order of things is a goal of sorts. A milestone on a journey where happy memories join the sad ones and realizations must be faced. It’s nothing to be negative about really. One must simply accept certain things. Acceptance can make our hearts ache but there is strengthening peace in the past. Photos and memories of other days where we were and still are part of someone’s life journey. They will ultimately leave us. As we will ultimately leave others. It is the natural order of all life. To live our best lives is a worthy goal. To make this day something more then average if possible. And what is average anyway? Time to stop as I am heading to the forests of “Tazmania”. It will make sense eventually. Consider that a promise of sorts! MOONTABS are waiting to add to the collections.✍️

Catching Up

Spring is quickly beginning to feel more like summer recently! Last weeks hot spell was a little much as temperatures hit very close to 90 degrees! The two hottest days just happened to coincide with the two I was working on a construction project at Fort Drum. Brutal and energy sapping is a pretty good description!

Old school mercury thermometer.

There’s been quite a bit of work done around the farm recently. I finished the neighbor’s logs and the rest of my own salvage logs. The timbers that will be used for moving the wood shed are done and waiting to be installed. I got my neighbor’s 3400 Ford tractor started finally and used the wood splitter up on the warehouse landing to split up some of the stack of blocks leftover from last winter. There’s still a lot of work to be done to ever clear the landing. It probably won’t happen until fall now. It’s getting late to be messing around with firewood.

The foxes on Knowlton Farm Road.

Living at Camp Edith is handy given the short drive to the farm. Returning one evening I got to see one fox kit out hunting with one of its parents! Fun to watch before they disappeared into the tall grass. I wrote a funny Facebook post about the foxes allegedly getting my sister’s chickens last summer. I imagined a criminal case where I represented the foxes as their attorney and even a courtroom scene! I should try and copy it and get it onto this page! People found it entertaining and I had a lot of fun writing it!

I spent one Sunday burning a brush pile and cleaning up a huge dead maple across the main meadow next to the Long Narrow meadow. I worked for hours trying to get everything burned up. I also cleaned up a couple of fallen trees that were sticking into the meadows. I hope to connect the two meadows together in time for ease of maintenance and actual haying. There’s quite a few rocks to remove and some rather labor intensive grading to do as well. Getting rid of the big tree was a big improvement to my view as I constantly noticed it and considered it an eyesore. The wood wasn’t worth salvaging so burning was a great alternative. The remains of my fire smoldered for several days but there was no danger of it spreading anywhere.

Cleaning up with fire.

I spent some time later that week ripping up some invasive wild honeysuckle and clearing the trails along the high ground above the gap. The trails had become impassable.Blocked by fallen trees of all sizes it took me awhile to get them open again. I salvaged a porcupine damaged pine tree into a 26 foot long log that I skidded to the landing. I needed it for a project that I planned to do with Zane that Saturday.It was time to further his farm education in a real time practical sense. It involved me teaching him to run the sawmill to create lumber we would need for our project. It doesn’t get anymore practical then that!

Zane learns the basics of sawing.

If you’ve followed my Run Of The Mill posts then you already know much of my history of being an amateur sawyer and woodman. I felt it was time for Zane to become a fourth generation Washburn sawyer. With our new gravity log loader frame and sawmill in place there would never be a better time. We cut the 26 foot pine log into 3 pieces to maximize yield. The taper of a long log can really hurt your yield overall. We settled for a stocky 8 footer,a slim 10 footer, and a very crooked 8 footer from the top of the tree. The goal was simple: fill our small lumber order that we needed for our build that day. We needed 8 foot boards and a few 2×4’s. I helped Zane develop the “cants” that would make that happen. He caught on quickly and learned the saw scale that’s attached to the mill on craft his lumber.He was very proud of his accomplishments and said he truly enjoyed sawing lumber! It was a proud and happy moment for me! After log 3 we were finally caught up with all our saw logs! There was nothing left on the landing.

Focused on log one.

The project where we would use the lumber was behind the sugar house. Years ago we had built a lean-to there to hold 275 gallon bulk storage sap containers. We used them for a few years but once I retired I was always able to keep up with the boiling so we never needed them anymore. Zane and I decided to turn the lean-to into a storage area for all our sap buckets and misc. Once completed with walls and a door we could lock it up. So after framing in the door opening with 2×4’s we had just sawn, we sided it with the boards we had also just sawn. It was a good lesson for Zane and he was thrilled that we had made the lumber we needed to get our small job done!

Framing in the storage lean-to.

The final thing we needed was a door. I had told Zane that we would repurpose the single door that was on my Father’s old woodshed when we were building our rough opening for the lean-to door. We would also salvage its roller track runner. No hinges would be needed. The upcoming woodshed improvements phase out the old single door so it would live on in a new location. Everything went well and we closed out the day at that point.All we needed was a hasp and lock to finish the job.

The rustic looking repurposed door.

While we were at the sugar house I could hear the phoebes in the trees nearby. I went inside to check on the nest and there were 4 baby birds inside.The phoebe nests in this spot every spring.Pretty neat to know that the sugar house provides a safe nesting location for the birds!

Phoebe babes.

Since then it’s been all about doing some work for our friend as a side project and getting back onto the commercial job site at Fort Drum last week. Zane and I cut up all the slab wood from the saw logs Saturday. It’s now inside drying out for next sugaring season. Along with some odds and ends I managed to get done. Little by little it will add up although we will probably end up needed to cut more next fall. This is going to be a busy summer. We started our next project late Saturday afternoon. It’s a challenging one! The moving of the old woodshed to a new location in the sugarbush. It all started with cleanup of old bark that covered a big section of its floor. Shoveled into the tractor’s loader bucket it was easy to dump onto a future burn pile. Sections of the floor were rotted so they were added to the burn pile as well. Next we began jacking up the structure and blocking it in place. That’s where we left off by Saturday night. Much more to do!

It’s not as bad as it looks!

Saving the woodshed is not a new idea for me. Three summers ago I brought power to it as well as our recovered underground water line that goes out to the old spring. I had planned to convert the building into a combination bath house,laundry, and kitchen area. But the feasibility of the build was not really sensible.But I had no desire to tear down the woodshed as it was basically sound except for the floor aand foundation.Not to mention my Father had built it so I wanted to preserve it. Having a woodshed is handy and functional at the farm property. We use the old granary for a woodshed at the moment. The bath house project will be revealed once we begin on it.For now we will focus on getting the woodshed moved. Watch for it!

Jacking it up with a “Bulldog” farm Jack. 8000 lb capacity.

So this sort of catches you up to our recent activities! There’s no exciting adventures or mountain hikes. No camping or fishing. Just hours of tedious manual labor that will eventually usher in a new chapter of farm living. It will see the completion of the camper hookup site. Winter bathroom facilities and much more. But we’ve taken time to enjoy morel hunting. Cooking meals and desserts at Camp Edith. Day to day details of the sort that most of us engage in. I have been reading more and have watched no Tv here at camp. I took the time to do a little maintenance mowing with the bush hog at the farm as well. There’s always something to and something to fix. That’s the price of owning buildings and property. But Zane’s excited at our new progress and where it’s all headed. Follow our projects and don’t worry! There’s plenty of upcoming adventures planned. Upgrading the farm property is long overdue so it’s time!