Boiling

It has been a strange year for maple syrup so far. It has been unusually warm here and hasn't been freezing at night, so with that said we really haven't done yet. On Friday we enjoyed spending the day in the sugar shack boiling! I thought you might enjoy to see a few pictures of our day!! Hope you enjoy them!

 Filling the fire is an all day job! Talk about a hot.....

 Our little helper!

 She fills the cart and daddy and mommy empty it...

 While we wait for the sap to boil down we get our school work done. Who says you need to sit at a desk! The sugar shack works just as well!!

 BBQ Pork is cooking on our cook stove for dinner!! 

 Taking a break watching the temperature!

 We still have a little ways to go! Syrup is finished at 7 degrees over the boiling point of water! (see more homeschooling!)

 I have a feeling that this wood won't last the whole season.... 

 We make a lot of memories as a family!

 Ready for a drawl!!

 This is what our front pan looks like!

 Taking off the finished product! It will be run through 2 filters into the canner. I didn't think to get any pictures of that step though... SORRY...

 We always check each batch of syrup on the hydrometer! We want to make sure it has the right density every time!

just another picture of what we spend most of our day doing! Hope you enjoyed these!! 

THESE PICTURES OF THE PROPERTY OF AROUND THE FARM. PLEASE ENJOY, BUT DO NOT TAKE.

Family

I can't get over at how big the kids have all gotten since the family picture on here.  Our oldest two are both married and our baby is not much of a baby anymore. Where has time gone....... At Thanksgiving all of our children and their spouses were home, so I took advantage of it and made got a new family picture!!! With our daughter now living on the other side of the state and not seeing them often I really cherish the time we get to spend with them!

As you can tell it isn't very easy to get a good picture... I have a few that like to goof off......

We did finally get a good picture!!  Hope you enjoy!!

Tapping

It's that time of the year again, we are tapping!!!! I thought you might like to see a few of the pictures from today!

  we got most of our buckets out today! Hopefully we will be able to finish them up tomorrow and then on to all of the main lines on Monday!

All pictures are property of Around the Farm.

Long time no see....

Wow, where has time gone?? I guess here life has just gotten busy. This past year has had a lot of changes.... one of the biggest ones is that our oldest daughter got married! They had gotten engaged at our county 4-H fair during the over the hill dairy show, back in August! They then had a quick engagement and their wedding was out in our woods the beginning of November. With the reception following in at the pig barn at the fair grounds! It was absolutely beautiful, we couldn't have asked for a better day!! She has been greatly missed around here. They now live on the other side of the state. 😡
Hope all has been well with you..... Hopefully I'll be a little better at keeping up with our blog!!

Spring

This spring has sure been a different one... we were beginning to wonder if it would ever come. We had never had a spring that we maple syrup came sooooo late..... We finally got started the middle of April, which is when we are usually done by.  So, needless to stay we did a third of what we normally do.
The guys are getting things ready to start doing the spring planting.  Checking out all the tractors, cultivators, disk, and the planter.  In another week we will try and get the manure pits emptied onto the fields! We use as much manure as we can for fertilizer! Each field is being tested to see exactly what is needed. We don't want to use to much of anything!
Today the Amish came to start logging the Ash Trees out of our woods.  The girls sure had fun watching the big horses!  They act as if they had never seen a horse before! They are sure big a beautiful animals! So, they don't have to haul them home every night we are housing them in our shed where we keep our horses!  That is an added plus for the girls!
Our oldest, which is also our only boy, is getting married the end of May.  He spends as much time as he can getting Grandpa's old farm house ready to move in.  Life as we know it is changing rather quickly.
We are still milking 3X a day!  It is working out really well!  The only down fall is that we NEVER get to bed early anymore.  It is nothing to be up till 1:30 am...... it works though!!  LOL well maybe.... you may be able to tell by the way this blog post is written : )

There... I think I caught you up to date on life here around the farm! Hope you have had a great spring!!

baby it's cold outside

We have had a really cold spell here.... not to mention the snow.... and the ice....
I think you are getting the picture~  But, even with all the cold weather, and snow farming still has to go on....  it has kept us extra busy keeping the waters all thawed out, snow plowed to get the milk truck in at 2 in the morning, back up at 4:45am .. on top of the weather calves are still born everyday.  Here is a cute one that was born today!

I loved the way the goat had to watch what was going on!

This is what it is like outside after a few warmer days!!

Blessings~

POLL

Hey please take a few minutes and check out our poll.  We would like to see what kind of things you want to follow around the farm!!  We would love to hear from you!!!

Blown away...

Wow~ we have sure had the wind.... Thankfully it was just wind and rain and not a tornado.  Just a few limbs down, tin blown off the milking parlor roof, and a little damage to the chicken coop.  Hope you have all gotten through this storm without any damage. 
We have been trying to get all the ground plowed.  I seems like a slow process some days, but we will get it done!  Between my father in law and our son they are getting it done!!  Hubby works on keeping the tractor and plow ready, along with all the milking cows feed, and the lists goes on and on~  with winter just around the corner he is trying to get the barns ready!  Till next time~ BLESSINGS

Family update!

We have been keeping busy with schooling lately.... our oldest daughter that graduated in June has been busy taking photography classes!  She is loving it!  Now if I can just get her to upload some pictures for you to see we will be doing good!!!
The next 4 girls are keeping busy with their bookwork... I can't believe that they are in 11th, 9th, 6th, and kindergarten this year.  If school work is finish and they don't have chores that need done and we aren't busy canning they have been busy crocheting.  They are each working on a granny square blanket!!  They are turning out really nice!
Little Edi is 18 months old now and LOVES to climb...... she is sure keeping me busy!!  She  is such a cutie!!
The guys are busy taking off high moisture corn!  I will try and get some picture of the process for you to see, but we have snow in the air today.... and I hate to admit it but, I think I would rather wait to go out till it is nicer!  I know.... I am wimp!  In my defense I do have to keep the home running smoothly, and school going and meals done on time!!
Hope you are all enjoying this fall!  Blessings~

Pictures from Around the farm

 Straw bales

 

 

Hope you are all having a great fall!!  We are busy chopping corn.  Maybe tomorrow we can try and get some pictures of the gang out working!!

Graduation

sorry I haven't been keeping this updated very well.... life with 7 children and a farm keeps me very busy.  This past weekend we had an open house for our oldest daughter, she graduated this year!   It was really nice getting to see a lot of our family and friends!  Come, Monday morning we were back in the full swing of farming though.....  as I write the guys are out baling hay!  That left the girls to get the 2 new heifers out of the pasture......  there isn't any job to big or dirty for our girls......

Now the problem is that we somehow have to make her cover-up white again.....  

Visiting

This past week I went and visited my Grandfather.  I really enjoyed spending time with him.  He is 95 years young!  It was really special seeing his face light up when he saw the little girls!  I thought I would share a few pictures of our time together! 

We love you Grandpa!!

Facebook

You can now follow us on facebook too.  Look for us at Around the Farm!!  We are going to try and keep both going with something different on both!

Robots....

Today my hubby and son went for a little ride.  They went to check out some robotic milking machines.....  They both came home ready to sit down with a spread sheet to see if it is something for us.  As farmers, there is always something new to see or do around the farm.  I think that is part of the reason we love what we do!  You never get bored of what you do that way!!!  Hope you all are staying warm!!

Grrrr

Sorry for not posting lately... I have been having trouble getting my photos to upload again.....  I did get them to work on our Face Book page.  You are welcome to find us on there!  You will find us at Around The Farm!  Looking forward to seeing you over there!  I will keep trying to get some my pictures to work, but in the mean time enjoy!!!

Happy New Year

We brought in the new year here with some friends!  We had a lot of fun eating food, playing games, and the kids all went out after midnight for a snowball fight!  Everyone had a ball!!  We didn't even have any complaints at 4:30 this morning when it was time to go out to the barn! 
May you all have a great year!  Happy 2013 from all of here around the farm!

Born in a barn......

Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours!!  As I sat taking a break tonight I noticed another friends post on facebook..... it read "remember the babe "born in a barn"   talk about humbling..... my savior came and was born in a barn.... they laid him the cattle's feeder, no fancy bed for him.  Wow and at times we complain about this or that.  It is really humbling........

So, in the morning as we head back out to the barn to milk the cows and goats, feed the calves, cows, ducks ect.... it will have a little different outlook.  What a better place to spend a little time to remember where that first Christmas took place......  Merry Christmas!

Deer Season

We (the guys) worked hard getting the corn off so they could enjoy deer season.  And that they did!  Here are a few pictures of the big ones! 

Opening day Liza got this 6 point!!  This was her first year hunting!  She got to share the joy of it with her Bumpa!  She was out in the blind with him!  The best part for her was that Bumpa got to dress it out for her!!

Then Daddy and M went out hunting together.  M shot her 5 point and they waited a few minutes to leave the blind and Daddy saw this big 8 point so he decided to get his while he was at it!!

Abby went out hunting also, she got a doe.  Ben didn't get anything during firearm, just during early doe when he got 2 of them!. Needless to say we (hubby again!) spent the next few days out cutting them up with one of our hired men!  I am sooooo thankful for all his help!   Liza and I  had to grind the hamburger, make the sausage, bag it, and can some when it was brought in.  As fast as it is going I think we are going to have to get a few more.  Glad most of the family likes it~

FINISHED

We have finished the corn!!!!  Just in time for deer season!  That was kind of our the guys goal!  We have 3 dumped trucks full of corn to have roasted.  We get the corn roasted to feed to the calves. 

Around here those that aren't in the barn still milking are getting there gear together to go out in the morning hunting!  The girls are just as excited as the guys!  Let's just say we have lots of camo, orange gear, and snacks all ready!  I am going to TRY and get up with them to get a few pictures and see them off!   :)   Happy Hunting

Vacation!

The engine on our combine was leaking really bad, so before we went on vacation my hubby took it out and took it to a guy to get fixed.  We went on vacation and had a great time!  It was a lot of time driving, but it wasn't to bad with so many drivers now!  We put around 2,000 miles on the van in a week!  Some of the highlights were

making cookies with Grandma!

Seeing the ocean!

Going to the lobster pound and seeing lobster.  lol okay, maybe not a highlight... more of a memory!

and then having lobster that night for dinner.  (well, at least a few of them had lobster~ I don't care for the smell, let only the taste)

Doing some country line dancing, swing dancing, and some 1800's ones as well!

Getting together with some friends for a time of singing!

Talking the boat out for a ride!

Visiting Fort Knox!

Taking a few family pictures!

 

We really enjoyed seeing the fort! 

The girls!

 

Now, that we are home.... and much waiting the engine is done and put back in the combine!!!!!!  Now on to finishing up the last 91 acres of corn that we still have standing! We have been very blessed with a great crop of corn this year!  Blessings~