Newsletter #296 2025 Feb 17 Monday
Still waiting on the weather to cooperate; tapping is towards the end of the 10-day forecast. Meanwhile, firewood, animal care and so on, continue.
The Amish were playing a little hockey today; they had a net set up at one end of the pond. Not only is it pretty cold, but the wind and some snow came along for the ride.
Primal Woods
Pure Maple Syrup
I like the cycles above and below freezing to be more pronounced, but it’s getting late; I’m thinking of starting to tap on Sunday, maybe as early as Saturday. The “somewhat sunny” part of the forecast helps sap to flow at lower temperatures. We’ll see as the forecast develops this week.
Sawmill Services
The job I spoke of last week was actually scheduled for today or tomorrow; I’m thankful we moved it out a few days. The cold I can handle, but the wind would have made for a decidedly uncomfortable day for all involved.
Homestead Rebel Farm
Oxen
The Oxen are doing well. Eating quite a bit, and going through 30-40 gallons of water per day, together. I have a USNA friend arriving for a visit tomorrow; maybe I can convince him with helping me take them for a walk, Sap Wagon in tow. A walk to clear the 2-track through the woods is also a possibility.
The Oxen are on Round Bale #17; it’s looking like 20 bales is not going to get us to spring.
News
The big News stories of this week, in my opinion, are VP Vance’s speech in Munich, and what has been found after only a brief look into the Social Security Administration.
This is a list of active SSNs by age range. Yes, it’s disturbing.
A guy has to wonder, how many of those long since dead are on the voter roles? And how is it that time couldn’t be found amongst one or more of the 60,000 plus SSA employees to fix the problem? One would hope that this might rise to someone’s to-do list, but alas, it did not.
Books & Such
I still have The Mystery of John Colter: The Man Who Discovered Yellowstone on the nightstand; and, still making progress, albeit very slowly. Priorities change.
I’m finishing up Battle for the American Mind, by Pete Hegseth (Sec Def). Good book, and offers up a potential solution, which a lot of people won’t like.
And I started the last of the books I’ll read before making a post on the subject of schooling; Raised to Obey, by Agustina Paglayan.
Agustina’s book focuses on Primary Education, K-6. But the K, as in Kindergarten, should give you a clue as to where we got the ideas that formed the education system in the U.S.; Horace Mann, “the Father of American Education,” took the script from autocratic Prussia, what we now know as Germany. It’s only been since the 19th century that governments decided to get involved in education, before that it was family and/or church led. The question the author attempts to answer is “why” governments decided to get involved.
Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Mann I think would have endorsed the view entirely, though he would certainly have not quoted the Bible; no, he advocated for secular schooling, and he wanted “morality” to be taught, absent any Biblical foundation. Let’s just say he got what he wanted, and probably more of it than he could have imagined.
As for a solution, or solutions…I think any solution has to include the complete absence of the federal government from the education sphere, including secondary and tertiary schools. And in K-12, the money must follow the student. In other words, education needs to be a truly free market. But more on that in the upcoming post.
All the best, and may God bless you and yours,
John & Geri
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All the best, and may God bless you and yours,
John & Geri
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Guessing you use buckets for tapping? We usually tap in January here in Maine if you’re on lines. I had my bush taped 2nd week of Jan, but just finished up another bush I manage for a guy this week. We still use buckets for birch season though which isn’t till April. We had two days of good sap weather earlier this week and then she made an about face and its back to winter again. Guess I’ll wait.
Will be interested in your thoughts on education after finishing the book.