Framing has begun!

Week 6 Day 1: The framing of our home has begun! The sill plates are lined and the floor joyces of the kitchen are in. It does not appear to be much from the barn side of the house; however from the daylight basement side, the first floor framing is complete. There will be two windows overlooking the Pomeroy field. This area of the basement will be the future home of our family gym room.

Construction of the Family Homestead has begun!

Week one of the construction co-incided with Jake and my 19th Wedding Anniversary. It was a very nice present to us both as we have been feeling a bit discouraged with the late start to our project.
Week 1

• Day 1- Thursday: Excavator was dropped off and the first 50 feet of the driveway was dug. This got the driveway in past the Barstow Road right-of-way. Important only because the Town of Gorham is currently ditching the road and our driveway entrance really needed to be in before they dug the road shoulder down. Driveway fill was spread only 25' or so.
• Day 2- Friday: No real progress was made today. Driveway was dug in only another 50 feet, only a load or two of driveway fill was delivered and a portable bathroom was placed for the crew. 

Week 2

• Day 1 - Monday: Now that is what I am talking about! Whole 550' driveway has been dug and 80% of the driveway fill has been delivered and spread. Dana also dug out 3 huge tree trunks for the trees that Jake needed to bring down. We have a couple more that need to be pulled out, but the backyard looks great! The foundation footer hole for the barn is now in too! WOOT!
• Day 2 - Tuesday: Now the stumps are gone! Dana Shay is doing an excellent job with the year work. 
• Day 3 - Foundation footer for the barn has been poured. 
• Day 4 - Scheduled to rain today, but it was only a few showers in the morning.
• Day 5 - Rained so hard - No real work was done. The guys were in to take down the found forms from the barn foundation.

The Girls have arrived!

Today we picked up our 6 baby chicks. We have two Rhode Island Reds, two Buff Orpingtons, and two Rocky

Flemish Giants - oh my!

Kids got two more bunnies to add to their little brood. These little girls are gray with blue eyes, very cute. These little ladies won't be little for long, the average size of a female flemish giant rabbit is 20 pounds.

Planting the Blueberry Bushes

Our good friends, the Heplers, got us hooked on the high bush Patriot Blueberries. Bruce's father, Dr. P.R. Hepler, developed the Patriot Blueberry bush when he was a faculty member at the University of Maine at Orono. For years I have picked berries at his mom's house where the blueberry patch is as large as a tennis court. My family has always gobbled them up before I have been able to do anything with them.  This year I made low sugar blueberry jam for friends and family. I can't count the compliments I have received on this jam, so we are starting our own blueberry field ourselves in the fruit orchard.

Another Farmall Tractor for Parts

Earlier this week we discovered that the old Farmall tractor had a flat tire! Just when we thought we were going to remove the pine tree stumps from the new garden area. So it was time to scour Craigslist for a parts Farmall tractor. We found one in New Hampshire that has beautiful tires and a sickle bar.

Thanks Dad and Jake for sacrificing your day in travel for this beauty!

Starting the Orchard

The time has finally come, we've just purchased our first 6 apple trees from O'Donal's Nursery: Honey Crisp Gold,Liberty Gold,McIntosh,Royal Gala, Freedom, and Cortland. We are very excited to start our apple orchard. In order for an apple orchard to be successful, you need two different varieties of trees for cross pollination. We decided to get six different trees for variety.

We also purchased three blueberry bushes, two Patriot and one Northland. They too need at least two varieties to cross pollenate. Maybe it's time to be thinking about asking our friend Doug to bring his bees over to pollinate our new fruit trees and bushes.

Maple Syrup Season - Year 2

This is the second year we have processed our own maple syrup. We put out 60 taps and collected more than 1,000 gallons of sap. Mr. Cerny also invited us to come down to pick up over 100 gallons that he was not able to get to himself.