Lamb Video

Lots of people have been asking for an update on the lambs. Both Princess and Rameses are doing great! They are about 5 weeks old and are spending more and more time outside grazing alongside Suzy. The love to run ...especially in circles through one barn door, out the other, around the barn, and back again. In a few weeks, they'll be old enough to move outside with the horses and Ned (Papa ram).

How Sweet It Is ! Maple Syrup Time at Fokish Farm

Last week, our friends Hank and Katerina invited us to their farm to watch them tap and make maple syrup. Of course, we took them up on the offer! And we soon realized what a time consuming process it is. Did you know that it takes 30 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup and the boiling/evaporating process

takes 8-10 hours. The pictures are 1) maple sap in the evaporating pan, 2) Byran checking out a maple tree, 3) Bryan and Katerina at the wood burning sap evaporater, 4) Katerina with her delicious maple syrup (in a "repurposed" bottle).

Looking for Love (In all the Wrong Places!)

We had a noisy visitor this morning.....Mr. Tom Turkey was outisde gobbling his heart out by the chicken coop! He gobbled...then strutted and fanned his feathers, hoping for some attention from the girls. But our hens had absolutely no interest, and stayed very happily inside the coop.

Bryan and I stood by the breakfast room window and watched all of this play out...until poor Tom finally gave up and flew off. We are surrounded by two flocks of turkeys, one on the pasture hill, and one on the berry hill...so we're sure he'll find company soon!

Springing Forward

This weekend we "spring forward". Although we lose an hour of sleep, I relish the idea that spring is just around the corner! Already I'm seeing glimpses ... the weather forecast does not include snow for the next two weeks and today we won't even get below freezing.

We'll let the sheep out today to graze, as there is actually grass showing. The chickens are outside this morning, grateful to be out of their coop.

As for me, I plan on spending my day outside as well - enjoying the sunshine. I'll put up the greenhouse hoops over our raised vegetable gardens and will tie up the raspberry bushes by the house.

2 Much Fun - More Lamb News

What a difference two weeks makes! Our little lambs are both doing well! They like skip around the barn, and hop...yes hop...straight up in the air. Their little happy dance. Today it was warm enough (actually 40 degrees!) for them to go outside with Suzie, their mom, to play in the snow and nibble a little grass.

Good Morning__America!

Well...we felt very honored (and surprised) yesterday morning! Our little Handsome Brook Farm Bed and Breakfast was featured on Good Morning America as one of four "eco-friendly" vacation destinations. Of course, we are delighted...and humbled by this designation.

We like to think that our bed and breakfast gives our guests the opportunity to better understand and participate in a farm experience, and better understand and appreciate how their food arrives to table. And, of course, we want our guests to have FUN!

Yesterday was a whirlwind. It started with a call from someone wanting to make a reservation because they saw us on "GMA". We were totally surprised, and the kind lady played the broadcast over the phone to me (she'd TIVO'd it!) so I could hear. We were then able to TIVO it ourselves, due to our unusual situation of having our "local" news come from San Francisco...another story for another time.

By the end of the day, we'd answered 20 calls, had 788 hits to our website, and began booking for the summer in earnest!

This recognition has only made Bryan and me even more determined to make our B and B Farm Experience something really special for the people who choose to stay with us.

Here is the link to the broadcast, if you would like to watch it. They beautiful woman feeding the calf is my mother-in-law, Nita Babcock.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6989108

Buried in Paperwork Tonight!

At the end of a busy summer, Bryan and I were ready for a quiet winter. Now, we are seeing that the relative inactivity of a farm winter is short. We're in February, and we find this time of year brings a heightened level of activity. Some of it is very exciting, like dreaming about our vegetable garden, looking through seed catalogs, thinking about how we're going to sell our berries....and all of the interesting people we'll meet this summer through the B and B.

Then, there is paperwork to complete...and lots of it. We are now required to undergo a food safety (GAP) audit by the USDA ...who wants to be sure we're picking and packing our berries in a safe manner. Can't blame them...with the problems that the vegetable people had last year. But there's tons of paperwork, which must be done by me at night, after I'm done with my day job (a wonderful job with Celergo...an international payroll provider).

In addition, I have paperwork to complete for our NOFA certification audit...the audit which certifies us as an organic grower.

But, its all worth it...and we want our products to reflect quality and safety, as well as great taste! We can't sell it as such if it isn't certified...so bring on the paperwork!