2015 wrap up- it was a good year

November and December have been unusually warm.  In fact, we have only gone through about half the wood we normally do by this time of  year.  for snow, we received a dusting just before Thanksgiving, but then none until Tuesday, December 28th. 

Overall, though, it has been a good year.  Some highlights:

- over the summer, we had the pleasure of a young boy spend a week with us through the "Fresh Air" program.

- Loralee started her third year teaching at LI this Fall.

- Tim & Patrick started the swim club in October, then began swimming competitively in December.  Tim has already qualified for regionals in 3 events!

- We celebrated my Grandmother Emma's 90th Birthday on October 24th.

- I wrapped up my first full year at Northern Counties Health Care, and the Board has asked me to be the next CEO, replacing the outgoing leader in June of this next year.

Here are some Christmas images:

  Christmas Day, 2015- yes, no coats with temps in the 50's!

 

Our Christmas tree all decked out!

 

Tim and Pat, with their great-grandmother Emma. (Christmas day).

First Snow

So peak foliage was about two weeks late this year, hitting in mid-October rather than around the first of the month.  This weekend, we awoke to a solid inch of snow cover on the 18th, which the kids loved but honestly I can't say I'm quite ready for.  Combined with the foliage, it certainly made for a beautiful day, however!

Harvest

Loralee in the corn.  Many quarts to put up, plus 4 bushels of potatoes....

Summer Updates

Its been a busy summer.  The weather has been mostly pleasant and beautiful, although we've hardly had a string of 3 dry days.  two days of hot, then rain or thundershowers.    It's made haying hard.

For projects around the farmstead, we've added a brick patio to our flower garden, and have been adding a livestock & equipment shed on the barn:

 

Last weekend, I helped my father get hay in;  the Massey has had a real work-out this summer, tedding hay, pulling wagons and raking:

 

 

 

The garden was off to a slow start, but has developed a generous crop of beans, carrots, potatoes, corn, squash and pumpkins.  Meanwhile, our boys have had a great time swimming and biking through the summer months.. hard to believe school is just two weeks away!

 

 

 

Pictures from the past

My Father, Bill, received an email from an old neighbor in Wallingford Connecticut the other day.  Jimmie Self''s father had a farm down Leigus Road, and my grandfather, Bill Tester Sr. used to go help them harvest.  Back in the 1970's and early 1980's there were still plenty of farms in that part of Connecticut.

Jimmie found some old photo's of my grandfather helping out on the Self Family Farm.  My grandfather is probably in his early 60's in these photos, which means they were taken some time around 1980.    Alas, I cannot pin down the exact date as we lost Gramps in 2006 at the age of 86.

Finally green

So it was about 3 weeks ago that we had complete snow cover, and now the leaves are popping out.  Another year that we skipped right over Spring and went straight into summer....

End of April...

This was the view at our house on Friday, April 24.  For two days in a row, we awoke to fill ground cover.... Ah, Springtime in Vermont!

Sugaring season 2015 round up

Spring came late this year.

• We hung buckets March 29th
• first week of April, we gathered approximately 40 gallons,
• first boil made 1.5 gallons on 4/4.  Very dark.
• the week of April 6th, we gathered 90 gallons.
• second boil  4/11 made 1.5 gallons-- Dark Amber.
• Third boil 4/12 made 1.75 gallons-- Dark Amber.
• We cleaned up buckets on 4/14, and collected approximately 30 gallons.  That made another .5 gallon.

So, for the 2.5 weeks of "our" season, we made just over 5 gallons!  not too bad.

Sugar Snow

3 inches fell April 7th.  We collected 35 gallons of sap that day.

Springtime in Vermont?

Well- Not really.  Lots more snow in March made for a long, cold winter.  February 2015 tied for the coldest on record;  no thaw this year.  April 1st, and we are having a late sugaring season.  This past weekend, Grampy Tester came and helped us get our buckets up.