Spring Has Sprung
The peas are in the ground and we have thirteen! robust and healthy lambs added to our flock...
“I want to be a farmer when I grow up!” exclaimed the youngster gleefully.
She sat on the milk crate cradling the lamb on her lap and giggled as the baby sheep gummed the brim of her hat. Her sister sat on a crate next to her allowing the bottle-babies to suckle her fingers, while a third child stood in the midst of a throng of lambs just outside the Sheep-Shed.
“This is the best day ever!” another visitor lamented. “I’m never going to forget this!”
High praise indeed, and my heart swells to know that I’ve made such a lasting impression on the students at Kingfield Elementary.
Welcome to the latest Updates From the Farm! If you are new here, I invite you to check out my About page to learn what this is, who I am and why I am doing this. Or just dive right in! At “Runamuk Acres” you’ll find the recantings of one lady-farmer and tree-hugging activist from the western mountains of Maine. #foodieswanted
In This Post:
Growing Gardeners
The Crash
Lamb-Update
Shearing Day
Community Work-Party!
Subscriber News
Spring Has Sprung
Dedicated readers may have noticed the conspicuous absence of last week’s farm-update to their inboxes. Between the onslaught of newborns to the farm and the start of Growing Gardeners at school last week, I crashed hard once the weekend arrived. It felt good, too, and with the growing season rolling out before me, I don’t feel guilty for taking time to rest and recharge.
Growing Gardeners
Leading up to the break I had the gaggle of lambs at home to contend with, and then at school 3 afternoon sessions of Growing Gardeners to kick of the school garden season.
It’s a little stressful to finish with my work in the kitchen in time to lead the garden program, I really have to hustle—no breaks or rest for the weary. Once I’m out the door and off the the school garden, though, it’s all good.
I’ll have to get some pictures to share with you, because the school garden and outdoor learning space they’ve set up at Kingfield Elementary is just beautiful. With 8 raised beds serving as the garden, a small greenhouse, a rustic cedar-shingled tool shed, picnic tables covered by a pavilion, a class-seating space made up of tree-stumps, and an outdoor chalkboard.
All of this you have splayed out on the front lawn with Mount Abraham in the background.
And you know how I feel about these mountains…
The kids came running around the side of the building yelling, “Farmer Sam! Farmer Sam!” And I received their hugs gratefully.
Our Growing Gardeners’ program is being led by myself and another teacher this season, directed by a “Green Team” collaborative and overseen by our Kindergarten teacher, Selina Warren, who first started the program some 10 years ago.
The kids are divided into 2 groups. One group participates in a Read-Me story related to agriculture or the project at hand, while I’m leading the hands-on portion of the program with the other group.
The goal was to get seeds started ahead of April vacation, so on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons I met with each class for a flurry of planting.
We wrote out our popsicle-stick labels, filled koir pots with soil and poked so many seeds in—and all the while my head was spinning to answer questions at the command of: “Farmer Sam!”
I love it. I really do.
The Crash
So, yeah—I crashed hard on Saturday. Barely managing critter-chores and bottle-feedings, and only a token effort on housework with—not one but two—naps mixed in. Sunday was a little better and my energy was beginning to return, so I tackled a bit of low-key spring cleaning.
Thankfully the weather was terrible, so I didn’t mind too much not being outside.
By Monday I was recovered and raring to go. Between feedings of our 4 bottle-babies, BraeTek and I have managed to cross a few items off the chalkboard this past week:
On-Farm Pruning: Now that I’ve pruned everyone else’s trees, I can prune my own, lol. This week I took another third of growth off the two old apple trees, climbing high to reach some of the top-most branches and making cuts I’ve been eying from my kitchen window for 3 years. Very satisfying.
Spring Cleaning: BraeTek and I made a couple of dump runs to clean up the outbuildings following the long winter. Cleaning and organizing those spaces ahead of the busy growing season is an annual event.
Seedling Production: Right now I have onions, scallions, lettuces, basil, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli and cabbage transplants in various stages. I don’t have a greenhouse of high-tunnel, but I’ve converted the house’s formal sitting room into a Propagation Room with plenty of shelves and lights for Runamuk’s needs. I do very well, too, producing my own garden starts.
Forrester Repairs: I have to admit that the newer car with all the bells and whistles is nice (aside from the steep payment that comes with it!), but I’ve been missing my old Subaru Forrester. With the season now upon us, I desperately needed my “farm-truck” (she looks like a car but works like a truck!) back in action. So, I ponied up the dough to have the Forrester towed to a nearby garage, only to learn she merely needed a new battery (insert facepalm here!). I’m thankful for the cheap-fix and the farm-truck is ready and waiting for all my upcoming projects.
New Compost Bin: Using pallets and t-posts, I make very simple compost bins, wiring them together and to the t-posts to keep them in place. With modifications to the garden fence planned this spring, I decided it was a good time to replace the rotted 7-year old pallets, and I also wanted to move the bin directly into the garden. With BraeTek’s help, it was a quick and easy project.
Snap Peas: With a rainy weekend in the forecast, I made a push on Thursday and Friday to get in the garden and plant the first round of snap peas. This involved preparing the beds, aerating the soil and shoring up wobbly trellises before actually planting any seeds.
Game Day! To balance things out—and because I was on vacation afterall—we spent an afternoon with my sister and friends playing games at the farm. One of our favorite pastimes, we played 2 different versions of the Munchkins game, with plenty of snacks to be hand. BraeTek even made a pumpkin-spice cake with spiced cream cheese frosting to share with the gang. Good food and good times!
Lamb-Update
Still nothing from Pam, but all of the other mums have dropped their babies and we came out with 13 this lambing season, bringing the flock to a total of 22.
With 4 bottle-babies and only 1 life lost, our survival rate has been pretty good. We’ve got some fairly stunning lambs this year and I’m pleased with the “crop”. But what’s even more satisfying are the connections these lambs have forged within the community this farm serves.
How absolutely wonderful to be in such a position that I can share this experience with the students at Kingfield Elementary. We’d been watching the lamb-cam on the lunch-line at school for weeks, students and teachers alike asking “Any lambs yet?”
Parents have been sharing my Instagram-videos with their kids at home, and many came to the farm during April vacation this past week to visit the lambs in person. It’s been super special and I’m immensely grateful for the path my farm-journey has taken to bring me to this place in time.
Shearing Day
Rounding out the week with our annual Shearing Day, we welcomed Edie Nickels back to the farm Friday evening and she made short work of the woolly business.
I really can’t say enough good things about the value of a good shearer. It’s a fine art requiring infinite patience and dexterity. These individuals bring calm to a situation that is stressful for both sheep and farmer, and are able to execute their mission with efficiency and finesse.
It cost me $130 to have Edie come to the farm to shear 9 sheep, and she’s worth every penny.
Community Work-Party!
For local readers who have been asking how they can help Runamuk’s mission of conservation, we have a community work-party coming up on Saturday, May 17th from 9-1. I have 2 big projects to tackle this spring and we could use a little help from our friends, neighbors and community members!
THE PROJECTS:
➡️Modify our market gardens' fencing to better protect food crops from local deer.
➡️Trail maintenance in our 40-acre protected forest to keep access open for visitors and campers.
The party will divide into 2 groups according to participant interest. The fencing team will be led by myself, while the Trail Maintenance Team will be led by my friend, Maine Guide and trail-boss Lindsay Currier of Still Peaking.
This is an opportunity for new homesteaders to learn more about using electric fencing: how to set up high-tensile fence lines and properly ground them for efficient use in keeping livestock. It’s a chance for local community members to take an active part in protecting wildlife at the grassroots level. I hope you will.
Subscriber News
It’s ironic that I’d named my how-to garden series “Growing Gardens” before I learned the name of the garden program at school is “Growing Gardeners”, lol. That was totally unintentional but serendipitous, I think.
In case you missed it, this week I published the next post in that Growing Gardens series just in time for Earth Day:
The Newbie's How-to Guide to Cultivating Your First Garden Plot
Starting a garden can feel more than a little overwhelming—especially if you’ve never grown anything before. Maybe you’re dreaming of homegrown tomatoes and fresh herbs at your fingertips. Or maybe you’re simply after a patch of green to call your own. But before the harvest comes the groundwork, and that all begins with the beds.
RAISING CAPABLE KIDS WHO WORK
Next up in my Homesteaders’ Handbook, I’ve been working on a mini-series involving a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: how to teach work ethic and include the whole family in—not just homesteading projects—but in the real-world work of maintaining and supporting your household and family.
Once I got started on that topic it morphed into a mini-series that’s going to delve into:
The issue of gender-based work and the notion that we should be teaching “LIFE-SKILLS” rather than men’s-work vs. women’s work.
Strategies for making work part of your family’s culture and how to instill that work-ethic which is so crucial to a successful and productive life.
Raising kids who cook as a means of sharing household responsibilities.
Spring Has Sprung!
At long last, Spring has finally sprung in Western Maine.
The rains are greening the grass and the leaf-buds on the lilacs are swelling. From the pond I can hear the quacking of the wood frog—the first (and my favorite!) of our amphibians to emerge from their winter hibernation. The peas are in the ground and we have thirteen! robust and healthy lambs added to our flock—bringing us to a total of 22!
Even with the uncertainties and growing unrest we face in America, I’m looking forward to the season ahead—to moving the sheep onto the field and growing food in my garden.
I’m still feeling a sense of urgency about it all—this gut feeling that producing my own food is going to be crucial in the upcoming months (years?). And I’m grateful my journey has put me in a position—with the required skills and experience—to be able to do so.
Fingers crossed for a good season that also allows me to be able to stock the farmstand and share the bounty with my neighbors and community members. Stay tuned, my friends!
No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.
Let’s keep growing, together.🌱
Sending love and good juju to you and yours.
Your friendly neighborhood farmer,
Sam
Thank you for following along with the story of this lady-farmer! It is truly a privilege to live this life serving my family and community, and protecting wildlife through agricultural conservation. If you found this valuable, please consider Restacking so more people can see it!
Have you tried the sheep shearer ?
Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz.
I wonder where
The flowers is?