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.

Farmall Tractor for the new property

20,000 Nickels

20,000 nickels is her name! We've got our first antique tractor to help us with the new property. The Haslam's were willing to share this beauty with us. We are very excited to start using her to cultivate the land.