It feels like I just wrote the February Farm Update but here we are in the first week of March! Kelby and I are so excited for the birth of our fourth child and first daughter this month, she can come almost anytime now!
We had an incredible February on the farm. We have been so blessed by the overwhelming support from our CSA coordinators and members. National CSA Week was last week and upon calculation and reflection Kelby and I were in awe to discover that our once tiny 3 member CSA has now grown into over 70 members and we are so thankful to each and every one of you that support our farm and our dream of a better food system!
Kelby has been busy logging all of our Ash trees. It is a bittersweet use of resources as the destructive ash borer has invaded our lovely forests. Kelby has been able to act fast however and make use of most of the trees for lumber and firewood. It is incredible to think that such a tiny pest can in fact wipe out entire stands of hardwood in just a few years, forever changing our landscape. We mourn the loss of this incredible species in our area but we also must move on in reverence and learn from the environmental mistakes of those who went before us to prevent this disaster from reoccurring in the next generation.
Our first batch of quail for the year had an incredible hatch rate in the store and were adopted by one of our CSA members. We have loaded the next round of chicken eggs in the incubator at the Farm Store and we encourage all to stop in and observe the miracle of life that hatching eggs so wonderfully demonstrates!
This month is peak Maple Season for us. 1000 taps and buckets will be hung in our 100 year old sugar bush to collect sap. We will then gather each bucket by hand, load the sap into a holding tank on sap trailer pulled by the trusty kabota and brought down from the woods to the sugar house to be boiled over a wood fired evaporator. We invite you all to come learn about this ancient art of regional sugar making at our annual Maple Days Friday and Saturday March 17&18 from 12-6.
Lastly, Our School of Traditional Skills is in full swing and we have had so much fun with all of our classes. Coming up this month we will be teaching breadmaking, butter making, cheesemaking and a more in depth look at maple sugaring! To register or for more information please visit our website. www.sunnycovefarm.com/classes
Wishing you all a lovely March as it hopefully comes in like a lion and out like a lamb!