Springtime Farm Projects

Dear Sean,

I can't lie... I am SO happy to see springtime and warm weather. It's no secret that the Maple Festival is a huge time for sugar camps like ours, but having the spring lambs arrive and being able to feel the sunshine on your skin is simply amazing. Not to mention being surrounded by the scenic beauty like we are. Highland County is absolutely heaven on earth.

The result of our 2016 pumpkin patch

Items on my spring “to do” list are slowly getting checked off. Springtime seems to be the time when we're getting ready for the rest of the year. We're preparing to plant our pumpkin patch, so it will be full of a variety of pumpkins for this year's Hands & Harvest Festival. We just plowed and tilled, and we will be planting pumpkins the second week of June. As always, we will be over-planting, so we are sure to have a lot of pumpkins for guests and friends to pick through! We'll be planting a variety of cooking, carving, and ornamental pumpkins. Our goal is somewhere around 400-600 pumpkins. The sunflowers are something new this year - six different types, ranging from the little 18-inch tall ones for decorative arrangements up to the eight-footers for whatever you do with eight-foot sunflowers! It's going to be a colorful fall with a little something for everyone!

We've also added something to our operation! Well, sort of.... We've always sold eggs from the farm; however we recently added a new sign out front to encourage travelers and local residents to stop in and purchase our farm eggs! We're charging $3 per dozen, and visitors can stop in anytime or call ahead to make sure we're here. Mix a little eggs and our smoked cheese.... Add some tomato or some ramps... That makes for a yummy (and healthy!) breakfast!

In total, we had 19 baby lambs this year. They are so cute! They're all extremely healthy, and they're some of the largest animals we've ever produced. They're very muscular! We're planning to keep seven of the girls to add to the flock for next year and swap out the buck. (For a little guy, this buck really produced some great kids!) Our goal is to build the herd up to 20 or 25.

Things are coming along on the Gunsmithing Cabin, too. In the next few days, I will be disassembling the first cabin and plan to have it set up by mid-summer and fully-functional by fall - just in time for Hands & Harvest. I guess you could say Hands & Harvest will be the Grand Opening of the Gunsmithing Cabin. The cabin's primary focus will be on building and giving classes in flint lock rifles, which are, as you know, an 18^th century firearm. The classes will be focused on how to build the rifles, how to fire them, and the history of the gun. In addition, the cabin is also going to double as a wood working cabin for period pieces. We've already got a lot of great interest!!

Things are so exciting on the farm. You're working with your hands.... in the dirt.... taking care of animals.... creating your own food.... It's a great way of life. We are very blessed to have the opportunity to live like this.

Come home soon!

                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                            Dad