Mental Meaderings of an Eastern Ontario Farmer Made with Xara Dunvegan, Ontario Thursday, March 31, 2011 It is maple syrup season and for the first time we are making syrup on the farm.  We have several mature maples around the house so we are starting with 6 taps on 3 trees.  We have made 3 litres of syrup to date.  The batch we just bottled is a beautiful clear amber.  Pancakes this winter...and maybe maple glazed ham, maple souffle ......Mmmmm. The ewes are about one month from lambing so it is shearing time.  The shearer is coming in on Monday.  I hope the weather holds up above the freezing point.  They will head out again and come back in about 2 weeks before lambing.  We are making some lambing jugs in the barn and getting everything ready.  The apple trees need to be pruned and the orchard cleaned. Lambing marks the beginning of our busy time.  First lambing, then getting the gardens planted, planting some crops, then haying, fencing, more haying and repairing barns etc.  Every year we get a bit more organized.  Some day I won’t panic when this season starts. TTFN Laurie Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Where does time go.  OK a quick update.  Our ewes lambed between May 6 th and May 23rd. They had 24 healthy BIG (actually bigger than we would like) lambs.  They will go for their 50 weigh in next week and will be weaned the following week.  We are expecting good growth stats as some early weights are coming in with ADG of .75lb+.  Three quarters of our lambs were rams this year, a complete flip from last year.  What ever happened to half and half. Our steers head out to be processed on July 11th which means they will be available for sale on August 1st.  At about the same time I will be bringing in our chickens.  We are trying a new breed this year, Bonnie’s heavy red. Hopefully they will behave and grow more like normal chickens.  We are going to try raising them in pasture pens. Finally, we have harvested the front two fields of hay early in June.  The weather was perfect and we have some really nice hay in the barn for a change.  Fortunately we got it all under cover because the next two weeks looks like rain.  It will bring in our second cut hay.  We still have hay to take in at the back but it can go to the horses where overmature hay is preferred. Time to get out to the garden. TTFN - Laurie