The Blur from April 2021 and forward......

Announced to the family that we needed to do a catch-up blog…they retorted that they did not understand what there is to say about ketchup. Chief concern being that they seemed rather serious. The ever droning on pandemic has not enhanced our family’s intellectual performance.

 

The 10 months that have flown by since our last entry have been strange to say the least!  We are grateful to be well. The pandemic interfered with our ability to get buckets washed.....we still have to face that monster prior to the season of 2022.

Bob spent the spring saying good bye to Penta Career Center after 31 years . He enjoyed his time with his applied math and physics students over the years and did not grasp until early September that he was not returning!!

The field crop planting in the spring was a rocky process plagued by equipment breakdowns. Our most notable issue

was sitting for days over the Memorial holiday waiting on a new tire for our planter. 

 

Brad and Cody busied themselves going for swim looking for turtles! We also cleaned up a tree from the barnyard and hauled it to a small burn pile!

Gerri and Piper went for a ride between trips with limbs.

The entire family worked hard for a weekend at tree trimming and stump removal. This included a short encounter with a flying squirrel…that IS a real thing....you can see it in the in this tree if you closely!

 

Evan and Kelsey could name 2021 the year of demolition! They successfully did weekend warrior house demolition. They managed to clear and clean out the Metzger farmhouse. They enjoyed meeting with Don and Gail Metzger and getting some of the house history.

 

The sheep continue to multiply. They occupy two barns now. Portable fencing allowed them to graze the cover crops. Bob occasionally does chores and  while he complains some, he pets them all and mysteriously knows their names. 

Brad did a little online auction shopping...site onseen purchased this AC G tractor..........pleased him to no end!!

Hands down the most laughter we had in 2021 was a 3 week adventure with an escapee emu. This big bird showed up in unexpected places and entertained the entire neighborhood. “Cher” the emu frolicked about a square mile at large for some time making new friends in strange places.

Our future labor force increased by one on July 8^th with the arrival of the cutest lad .......Henry Clark….son of current farm slaves Adam and Katie! 

There were some quiet moments on the farm this year. The landscape can be serene.

Spring garden planting was a bit late, so we decided to try bale gardening. These are bales of rye straw that has been supporting our compost pile for some time. Our friend Kim Root has mastered this skill.....we did no prep on the bales but found this to be a "do again" project!! 

 

Labor day week Bob and Gerri ventured to Kansas for a house painting party that ended in lime green victory! We enjoyed our whirlwind visit!!

 

 

We made fun of Cody ...... borrowing the neighbor's scaffolding looked a lot like an episode of "The Red Green Show"!

The guys went to the woods in mid august and surveyed our supply of trees that were candidates for running through the mill. They subsequently went to work cutting down several trees in the soft maple grove. Enough boards were cut to build Gerri a small building for outdoor projects. Ironically the roof accounted for 80% of the cost of the entire project!

The building got a coat of oil to seal it and a nonslip floor painting over the course of the fall. It made its way to its final destination in the backyard on Feb 2nd . We have not been able to slide it out there all fall due to the wet conditions. It was certainly not dry the day it was moved...in the rain....but an impending snow storm and the need to get the snow plow truck in the barn pressed the issue. Brad describes this event as a "terrible experience". Gerri appreciated them moving it while she was at work and not present for this project. 

We celebrated with the Cleveland family Megan and Collin’s wedding September …beautiful day and beautiful people!

This fall was a frustrating rainy journey at times. Minor equipment issues slowed progress. The leaves were slow to fall, this photo was taken on Nov 25th!!

 

Our family spent much time and effort was spent appeasing Gerri’s specialty crop obsessions. (More on that later!) These projects too were hampered by the rain.

 

Cody and Amy came east to harvest their first Sandhill Rd. corn crop in early November. 

Cody and Amy creatively announced that we will have another generation of sugarmakers arriving in 2022!!

 Grandma Marsha made a whirlwind visit to Ohio in October. We enjoyed seeing her! It has been almost two years since we have seen them! 

It is a very long story…but we made a few batches of maple candy ….if you are going to learn how to do something….sell 600 of them for delivery in a week (sarcasm galore!) . This really improves your motivation to learn and deliver!! The entire family pitched in to get this order ready and Evan thankfully delivered the goods to Cincinnati on time! 

 

This Christmas..the market was good for syrup, but the farm workforce has been spread a little bit thin this year. Much time was spent shopping for bottles for the syrup…supply chain issues were evident.

 

Bob enjoyed a trip to Florida in January to visit with his parents. He enjoyed the sun and sand. Bonuses included a visit with Gail and Don Metzger and hauling home some orange blossom honey. 

                               

                                                                                       

As we start to think about heading to the woods…we have a great snow pack. We have been blessed with about 12 inches on Feb 3rd, 2022. Hearing that they have tapped in parts of Indiana already..think we are a few days away…hopefully.

 

more to come soon........