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“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

― Mark Twain ―

There's a lot of progress...in progress. It's definitely a busy time, getting the Sawmill Services into gear, and doing oh so much on the Homestead.

Six new Golden Laced Wyandotte chicks

Primal Woods

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! We're expanding the flock a bit, and probably putting a couple of birds in the freezer in three or four months.

Portable Sawmill Services The first milling job is tentatively on the calendar for Apr 17, close by in St. Joe, MI. Seventeen logs are on the docket, all hardwoods, mostly Black Walnut, should be an eight hour day more or less. It will be a perfect start to the season.

Wood-Mizer, and no snow

Up next week is spring maintenance of the Wood-Mizer

Sugar House cleaned and sorted

Pure Maple Syrup Filling orders day by day, and finished immediate post-season clean-up of the Sugar House on Wednesday. The evaporating equipment will see its final cleaning before the 2022 season this fall. Filtering and bottling equipment will be used throughout the year as necessary; especially for the 2021 Whiskey Barrel Aged syrup in September/October.

Please Support Our Purpose: Buy Pure Maple Syrup Now!

Yet this month, the Post Mortem will be completed on the 2021 season, and improvement plans put together for 2022; I'll give you the full report when those tasks are completed.

This week we engaged with two employees of the Van Buren County Conservation District regarding their Michigan Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program. First in a series of separate certifications, will be the "Forest, Wetlands & Habitat System;" since Pure Maple Syrup is technically an "agricultural product," this certification will apply to our Syrup. There are similar systems for "Field Crop and Vegetables," which would apply to our tall grass savanna, "Livestock," and the "Farmstead." Ultimately we may have certifications covering all of those, but we'll start with the woods. It's another exciting development.

Homesteading & Health First up, the new chicks. We've been wanting a rooster so that we have reproductive capability. Last weekend, as part of our "date weekend" you'll remember, we made a trip to Tractor Supply, and fortunately they had "straight run" Golden Laced Wyandotte chicks on hand. Note to self: Who goes to Tractor Supply on a "date?" Straight run means that the chicks have not been sexed; in other words, we will get some random combination of males and females. We're hoping we'll get at least one male, cockerel, if we get more than one the others will end up in the freezer. The females will join our laying flock, expanding it a bit. Lord knows we need more eggs!

Speaking of the date weekend, it unfolded quite nicely, it had been too long. We started Saturday with coffee of course, and partook in some continuing education, Constitution 101: The History and Meaning of the Constitution. Hillsdale College is another gem in Michigan, located about 2 hours southeast of us. Twelve lectures, about 30 minutes each, with 10-question quizzes at the end of each. It's free! And informative. We both learned a lot, and we finished five of the lectures and quizzes before the weekend ended.

Constitution 101, Hillsdale College

Midday Saturday we went to Outpouring Cafe in Paw Paw, for more coffee and a bite to eat. We met the proprietors Mark & Heidi Keister, and enjoyed our visit. After the cafe, we popped across I-94 to Tractor Supply to pick up the chicks. Arriving at home of course, "installation" of chicks in the brooder was required.

Hunt A Killer, Curtain Call, boxes 1 and 2

Sunday we took it pretty easy, the usual animal husbandry tasks were completed. We video conferenced with our friend Justin at J.Reich Training, regarding some continuing business education we are seriously considering. We closed out Sunday with a game of sorts, Hunt A Killer, the Curtain Call mystery. "Hunt A Killer is an immersive murder mystery game told over the course of six “episodes” or boxes. Each box is filled with different clues and physical items such as autopsy reports, witness statements, and more. You’ll use these clues to solve the ongoing murder mystery. In the final episode you’ll be able to catch the killer!" It's been fun, and definitely engages the brain in a way new to us. The most fun I'd say, has been the code-breaking involved!

90 Day Journal: n=1 A Personal Experiment

On the Health front, yesterday was Day 4 of my 90 day program. I may run another 90 days in series, or perhaps as many as four altogether, adding up to a full year. There are some eating habits I need to break, and new habits I need to form; this may take awhile. I've got to get off the seasonal up-down rollercoaster.

I'm off to a good start, Geri is on a similar program, which makes life a bit easier. More than a bit actually; if your spouse or significant other is on a different track, it's downright difficult.

Tribe, in the traditional sense, not the virtual reality sense, is important

Back in '19 I made three videos having to do with health; Tribe and Community above, plus Noise and Your Environment, and The Scale. Thoreau wrote in the book Walden, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." True, I think, and another "disease of civilization," in my opinion. It doesn't have to be that way. A big part of who we become is our environment, an environment we have the possibility of creating, from scratch if necessary. Tribe also goes to this issue; we are a communal species, we require tribe, for our very survival, our psychological survival if not our physical survival. You know the old saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result?

Folks, this ain't normal, by Joel Salatin

In closing... One person I've been following since 2015, and more closely recently, is Joel Salatin, "America's Farmer." I was privileged to meet him in '15 at PV1, Permaculture Voices 1. This guy is farming, farmers. It's incredible what he's doing, and how he is helping people to get out of cubicles and onto farms, profitably. The author of 14 books, and counting. You can find him on Vimeo, YouTube, etc., in innumerable videos. If the tide is turning, Salatin is one of the motive forces.

Snowdrop at play, 90 seconds

Another weekend is upon us, not that it seems to matter, the days run one into the other, and not infrequently I'll have to ask you what day of the week it is. But, some downtime is important, especially if planning to sustain the effort for decades. So this weekend I need a weekend like the last, and hopefully we'll finish Constitution 101, and get through at least another Hunt A Killer box!

All the best and warm regards,
John & Geri