A Busy Month
Happy June everyone. We hope this finds you and your family safe and comfortable. It has been a busy spring on the farm. Since this is our very first spring here, we have been busy learning as much as we can from JP and Marian. Not a day goes by that we don’t consult with them about something. After all, we do not want to mess with perfection.
Our first couple weeks of ownership had us learning about ecommerce, virtual festivals, and fulfilling orders. The next two weeks we learned about navigating the supply chain and making sure we had the freshest and finest ingredients for our products. I learned to make maple candies (google “Lucy and Ethel Chocolate factory” as it seemed a lot like that), Kim and Kelly learned the secrets to making the best maple cream on earth, and Ashley (the constant maple chef) came in on Saturday nights to make emergency granola! We were super busy, but we were starting to get the rhythm of the farm. It was just when we were starting to feel a little confident that this happened; the farm came to life!
Maybe the farm didn’t quite come to life, but more woke up. At one point this spring, it stopped raining, got a little warmer, and the birds arrived. And, the grass grew and grew and the garden sprouted asparagus and weeds, lots of weeds. We were overwhelmed again on week four – we had no time to weed and mow and learn the business! JP made lists (cut the stumps before the grass gets too high, weed whack the hill before the grass gets too high, and mow before the grass gets too high). I asked Marian why she didn’t have a rototiller. She said, “oh I never let the garden get like that!” That was it, we got to work.
All our spare time is spent outside, mowing and weeding yes, but also taking in the beauty around us. We are not the only ones that are busy on the farm, the plants and the wildlife are busy too. We have numerous robin and phoebe nests around the farm and the parents are in a constant search for food. The tree and the barn swallows are constantly sweeping through the air, futilely trying to get every last bug. Even the bugs are buzzing around, pollinating all the flowers before they turn to fruit. The mom turkeys and deer have been busy teaching their young how to make it on the farm. It is amazing to see the balance of nature in our backyard and how this working farm supports a diversity of wildlife.
Yes, the grass has been mowed, those stumps have been cut, and the garden planted. We are busy and tired, but mostly grateful that we get to spend our days on this beautiful farm making sustainable, all-natural maple products. We are still learning and we will always be busy, who could ask for more than that?
We look forward to seeing some of you at the farmers markets this season and wish all of you a safe, happy and yes, busy, summer.