Spring Clean Up and Chickens

As we all know it is that time of year when we get our yards already by cleaning them up, raking, etc, etc.  Well today being colder but nice, I decided that I had to get some done before this next stretch of rain hits...they are calling for a weeks worth...yuck!  I am letting the chickens out in the afternoon after most of them have done with laying....saves me a lot of time trying to find them when they are free to lay where they want....the best of both worlds I think.  I get my eggs in one spot and they get to freely go about their business after.  So this afternoon after doing the egg collection I let them out and I grabbed my rake and proceeded to the work area...only to have a bunch of chickens follow me like they were going to get grain?? But it wasn't feed time??  So I had to ask " Do they remember me digging around in the dirt to get the potatoes and carrots?"   I always had a chicken or three right beside me when I was digging those root crops up, they were not after the crops but all the bugs and worms in the ground.  So I got to where I was going to rake and as I moved the rake past a spot...the hens would jump right in there looking for bugs!! I'm surprised some of them didn't get a good wallop as my job had to get done.  Well then I moved on to another section where some scrap wood had collected and I swear as soon as I had my hand on the wood, there were chicken heads waiting... I had to laugh and I am probably well known in the chicken world (mine anyway) as...the bug lady...just follow her and you will get bugs!  Amazing what they remember seeing as they have been in the barn the whole winter!  I'm sure we will have some very tasty eggs in the next couple days!

Cooking the Syrup

This past weekend was another work weekend mixed with boiling the sap down and not a finer weekend to do it till the rain hit!!.  Years back we stopped using the wood furnace due to safety issues but had held on to it for I don't know what reason.  Well last year it was decided that it was never going to be used to heat anything anymore but Carl had the idea that it might make a good boiler for the sap!  Well he was right...the only issue we had was that the chimney wasn't high enough but it worked good enough.  We tended the sap while finishing breaking up the old summer kitchen that had to be torn down last fall!  We were also doing some general clean up and finishing the last of the siding that we didn't get done last fall.

Carl is tending the new syrup cooker on a beautiful Saturday

Our old wood furnace is getting a second life as syrup boiler

Sap starting to boil

 

Carl's solution to the afternoon rain that came on Sunday.  Hopefully next year there will be a shack for the boiler :)

The aftermath of the storm that hit Sunday night !

Rhubarb is Emerging

Things are starting to happen as I walked the gardens today to see how they were doing.  I came across the rhubarb patch and noticed that it had started to poke through!  It won't be long before we will be getting fresh rhubarb!  The strawberry plants are looking good and I am hoping we didn't get too much kill from the early rain we got near the end of winter.  The ground is softening up and hopefully I can get some areas dug up that we couldn't get to in the fall due to other commitments.  In most places the snow has left...thanks to the rain we have been getting, the days are getting longer and warmer and you can start to smell the spring in the air.  The first seedlings are coming along and have turned to little plants and the new seeds have sprouted.  We are building a greenhouse this year so I have a place for the plants to go once they are out of seedling stage so we are going to have to get to that real soon!!