Newsletter #288 2024 Dec 23 Monday

It was a very busy week. The usual chores of course, plus two milling jobs, and a visit to family.

Dec 23, 2024

I love it when I pull up for a milling job and there is no need for multiple Y-backing maneuvers to get the mill in place!

Primal Woods

Pure Maple Syrup

The Madagascar vanilla bean infused Pure Maple Syrup is getting great reviews, and departing the shelves quickly! The holidays through Pure Maple Syrup season have been our “high time” for sales, and this year is no exception. Try yours today, at this direct link.

Visit the Shop!

Sawmill Services

The first milling job this past week was with Steve; we milled 11 Tulip Poplar logs at 3/4 inch.

Heavy equipment, as always, proves useful.

Even with a kerf of less than a tenth of an inch, we generated a lot of sawdust. The board foot total was 904, but at 3/4 inch it will cover 1,205 square feet; most of that is going into roof decking.

The second job was with Matt, down in North Liberty, Indiana. It was a lot of work, as chainsaw milling usually is, and a lot of fun. First up was the 40 inch wide, 8 foot long Hard Maple behemoth you see above; it gave up eight 2-1/2 inch slabs before we were done with it.

It took us all of Day 1 and a bit of Day 2 to complete the work on the big log; it had snowed overnight, but that didn’t slow us down at all. We did hit one piece of iron, which cost us some time on Day 1.

Pictured above is Matt trying his hand at leading the chainsaw milling effort; he did great. The slabs were taking about 15-20 minutes each, which is what accounts for the work. Running the 8.6 hp chainsaw at wide open throttle for 20 minutes means gas and bar oil are nearing empty at the end of each cut; we actually ran out of gas in the last cut, having expended a full tank in that cut. The best you can expect of a chain, assuming you don’t hit anything, is three or four cuts, and putting on a new chain is a 45 minute job in itself.

Then we took on this beautiful crotch piece from the same tree; it gave up three 2-1/2 inch slabs, which marked the end of our chainsaw milling.

That’s a serious stack of slabs; I can’t wait to see what Matt does with them!

Homestead Rebel Farm

We saw some temps in the teens over the weekend, and the pig waterer froze up, meaning we had to haul water in 5 gallon buckets to the pigs. They are growing fast, as no doubt you’ve come to expect by now. Two of these pigs are available for sale, so if you want some of the best pork you’ve ever had, reach out soon in the comments section or by email.

The oxen are getting along fine, and fortunately we had some snow fall before the deep freeze, so they are able to water themselves by just licking up the snow. I’ve got one job with the oxen to get done before mid-February; training them to pull the Sap Wagon through the woods is now at the top of my to-do list.

Farmhouse

Our next guests, and last for 2024, are here from Christmas until the New Year. I’m looking forward to that visit, and it’s just around the corner. If you are interested in being introduced to the making of Pure Maple Syrup, or introducing your kids or grandkids to it, anytime between mid-February and mid-March would be the best timing. I can’t guarantee that sap will be flowing during a visit, but I can guarantee that buckets will be on the trees and I will be in the Sugar House most days.

Book My Farm Stay Now!

News

I devoted no time to the consumption of news this week, it was hard enough to keep track of what day it was!

Books & Such

I did have time to have an Audible book read to me, and finished it on a several hour errands trip just completed this afternoon.

Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror, is a great read. If your eyes aren’t at least moistened by this book, you might not be human.

To this point, Jack Carr has been a fiction writer, best known for The Terminal List; the link is to the Amazon Prime video series, which I highly recommend. Targeted Beirut is his first foray into non-fiction, if I’m not mistaken. I have a lot of thoughts on the Lebanon/Beirut “misadventure” that Carr documents , so I may write a short book review; misadventure is way too kind, complete and utter disaster would be a better description. If I write such a book review, subscribers will see it in the app and by email as soon as it is published.

Geri and I went back to her childhood home in Des Plaines this past weekend, as her Mom was getting married to her high school sweetheart. You can’t make this stuff up. It was an awesome visit, and we enjoyed every minute with the happy couple. The event was attended by about 35 family members. That night we went to a party including a lot of Geri’s high school friends, several of which I’ve come to know over the years. That was also a great time, and we got to the hotel way past my bedtime! But, I got to sleep in the next morning before we went to a lunch buffet with some family members. Again, it was very enjoyable. We were both dead tired when we got back home, and made an early night of it.

We hope that you too are able to spend time with family and friends this holiday season, and Merry Christmas!!!

All the best, and may God bless you and yours,

John & Geri

Don’t go! You can help us to keep the wheels on this effort, by visiting the website, and buying some of our Pure Maple Syrup!

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