Pickings from Sanborn Mills Farm

Farm Pickings

News and Updates from Sanborn Mills Farm

— February 21, 2024 —

If January is the month of change, February is the month of lasting change. January is for dreamers… February is for doers.

~ Marc Parent

1st Annual Sap Gathering Contest!

March is traditionally the sugaring month in New Hampshire, when the days are warm enough and the nights are still cold enough for the maple sap to run. A few gallons of this wonderful sap — actually, about 40 gallons — will boil down into one gallon of New England’s favorite condiment: pure maple syrup.

Join us at the Farm on Saturday, March 23, for our first annual Sap Gathering Contest, being held in partnership with Granite State Draft and Pony Club. We will demonstrate how to collect maple sap in the woods with draft animals — sap-gathering the real New Hampshire way!

For more information, click here or visit our Event page on Facebook.

Sign-Ups for Our 2024 CSAs Now Open

This year, Sanborn Mills Farm offers two different subscriptions for our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. We have a share for Farm-grown vegetables and also a share for Farm-grown cut flowers. Our CSA provides a weekly bounty, with pick-ups on Wednesday afternoons from 1 – 6 p.m. The 18-week vegetable CSA runs from June through October, and the nine-week cut-flower CSA runs from July 24th through September 18th.

You’ll find more information and sign-up information here. Our CSAs tend to become fully subscribed quickly, so don’t hesitate to register.

Upcoming Workshops of Interest

Sanborn Mills Farm’s 2024 Workshop Program is set to open in early April, but it’s never too early to register for a favorite. Many of our workshops fill quickly, so if there’s a workshop or two that catches your interest, make a point to register soon. The full schedule of 2024 workshops is posted on our website here.

Here are three upcoming workshops that may be of particular interest to you. Click on the workshop title for more information and to register.

Bowl Turning Basics #1

April 12-14

Instructor: Claude Dupuis

Participants in this workshop will learn how to harvest and process wood blanks for turning. The mechanics of a wood-turning lathe as well as the inherent dangers and safety features of a lathe will be covered as part of an exploration of how and why to rough-turn a bowl and process it to minimize checking and cracking. Sanding, finishing, and caring for a wood bowl will also be covered. Workshop participants will go home with a beautiful bowl they turned themselves.

Blacksmithing Basics #2

April 19-21

Instructor: Garry Kalajian

This workshop is for people who are new to blacksmithing as well as those with some experience who want to improve their skill set. Basic operations will be explained and demonstrated in detail, then used to make a hook and eye and form scrolls to join with rivets for a trivet or other project. Basic metallurgy and heat-treating a punch or chisel will also be explained and demonstrated.

Draft Animal: Oxen Basics #1

April 26-28

Instructors: Ray Ramsey and Tyler Allen

Are you considering an oxen team for your farm but wondering where to start? Join us for a three-day workshop to learn the things you need know about bringing a pair home, finding the right equipment for them, and learning how to work them. Our experienced instructors will train you in a safe and productive environment. Participants will learn the basics of selecting a team or single ox, halter training, basic commands, and proper yoking and fitting. The instructors will demonstrate the navigation of a team with equipment while explaining proper body language, position, and voice commands, and participants will have the opportunity to practice navigating their team on multiple pieces of equipment. When comfortable, they will drive teams throughout Sanborn Mills Farm under the supervision of our experienced teamsters. Much of the training will be based upon the day-to-day work at Sanborn Mills Farm.

Participants are encouraged to bring a team to the farm and should contact Ray Ramsey at least three weeks prior to the workshop start date to discuss this possibility. Out-of-state cattle must have a state health certificate from a veterinarian. No “intact” bulls over the age of 8 months are permitted on the farm.

What We’re Reading

Book of the Month

Birds of all kinds flock to backyard feeders in New England at this time of year — blue jays, cardinals, nuthatches, chickadees, juncos, woodpeckers, purple finches (New Hampshire’s state bird), bluebirds, goldfinches, mourning doves, and, if you’re lucky, evening grosbeaks, among many other species. We find ourselves cracking open a birding guide a few times every week.

The Peterson guide was the standard for decades until David Sibley’s first guide was published in 2000. Birders tend to favor one or the other, and both have their strengths and both have been published in regional editions. We happen to like and use the Sibley guide, but this is no knock on Peterson — it’s a to-may-toe/to-mah-toe kind of preference. Whichever you use, have it handy in these weeks before the bears emerge and the winter bird-feeders must come down. Watching birds eat and play at a winter feeder is one of the joys of our cold weather.

These guides are widely available at bookstores and online.

www.sanbornmills.org

Photo Credits

Top photo by Steve Bjerklie.

CSA graphic by Helen Westergren.

Bowl turning photo courtesy Claude Dupius.

Blacksmithing and Draft Oxen photos by Steve Bjerklie.

Sibley Guide cover courtesy Knopf.

Peterson Guide cover courtesy Mariner Books.