Thursday, April 3, 2014

Garden Journal: April 2, 2014



Wednesday, April 2, 2014: Scattered morning showers, gave way to partial clouds and sun. Temps in upper 60's.

Finished the last of the Maple Syrup. Boiled down to about one more quart. Final vat was very dark and smoky flavored. Late draw of sap.
Straining out Sugar Sand.


Roiling boil. Almost syrup.

Using a shot glass for viscosity testing.

Checking the sweetness in a cup of tea while the steam rises.
Left: Last weeks sap draw as syrup. Right: This week's and final draw.
The garden work for today was more chicken chores. We removed the plastic wrap on the east end of run. It had been wrapped for the winter. We also managed to isolate the rooster in the coop, which allowed us to catch each of the four "Chicken Big" hens, which are about a year old, and give them a good examination and check up. All were looking good, if a bit winter worn in places. We haven't had hands on them in a few months. 



Then we got the Chicken Littles better set up in our garden shed with temporary quarters until they're coop addition is built. We did more planning and thinking for that. While surveying the property we found blooming Coltsfoot along our stream. Tussilago farfara. One of the earliest spring flowers.

We were sad to find a window strike killed, Song Sparrow. Melospiza melodia. We have one plate glass window that we have had a couple of kills on, despite some precautions. We will try to apply more to keep them from hitting it. However, this is still a learning opportunity, so we looked it over, and discussed the similarities in the bird anatomy we had already been learning.









We also laid out our seed potatoes on the downstairs table, because it's in the basement, where the light is subdued. This will help them make eyes better, and start the growing process. Potatoes are one of those crops that if we had unlimited time and space, we would grow a huge collection of. As it is, we pick up our seed potatoes from the local stores and just go with that. The varieties were Yukon Gold, Red Chieftain, Red Norland, Kennabec, Irish Cobbler, Katahdin, and Green Mountain.


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