If we’re really on our horses and manage to find a volunteer babysitter, we’ll also finish bottling the last of the syrup, broadcast some seed on pastures and, with luck, fix the barnyard fence and get the sheep out of the barn. In an ideal world, the girls would have been out ages ago but our world is not ideal, per se. Our world has a building code with overzealous by-law enforcement officers (another story). It is possible that more still will get done in the next four days. This is Spring, after all.

Though this Spring thing happens every year and, every year, brings an over-abundance of ‘tasks’ to get done, it never feels normal or routine. This year is no different. In fact we’re starting our new Meat CSA and still only two years at this farm property. Fences are on the menu, as are auction sales and trips to the farms of relatives to buy livestock. Nice to know that we can get some animals from people we trust.

What is it about Spring that makes it seem so out-of-the-ordinary? We do this every year. Why should it feel new this year? I mean, again this year?

There are other things that we do every year at the same time that can become routine. How about Christmas? Christmas music, turkey dinners, crazy Christmas mornings opening presents and rushing to get where you need to go. Christmas gets to be routine.

Perhaps Spring feels routine to others. Maybe it’s just that John and I are relatively young and have not been in the exact same position for long enough to feel routine about our Spring to-do list. After all, we have farmed at three different locations in the last 9 years (not including his family dairy farm), each of us has had a number of different full and part time jobs trying to fund this farming project and we’ve started a family. I’ll assume that this has something to do with the lack of routine.

And, we have a neighbouring dairy farmer who has been in the dairy business with his black and white Holsteins, on the same piece of land for over 45 years. When I see him heading down the road to cultivate and plant a field, I don’t get the sense that it feels very new to him.

On the other hand, even should a person ‘do’ Spring the same way for years, I doubt it ever really feels old and worn out. I don’t know that auto-pilot is really possible for a farm in Spring. This may just be my personal connection with Nature and the unseen energies of our world, but ‘newness’ is what Spring is about, isn’t it? Even if you’re doing the same-old, same-old, there’s a spirit of beginning that comes with this season that a long standing routine can’t break.

Isn’t there? I mean, Spring is so full of resuming, rebirth and renewal. I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to keep all the resuming, rebirthing and renewing from overwhelming me and yet, what would be the opposite of these things?

Stopping, dying and decaying?

No. Those are not what Spring is doing. Spring is new and new is not routine. That little voice in my head says: “Live with it, Colleen. And enjoy it. Revel in the fact that a life of farming has chosen you. People existing in air conditioned boxes might feel routine about this warming season but not you. You get to feel the life ‘spring up’.”

Feel the life spring up. Yes, that is what I’m doing. And, no, it isn’t routine. It’s amazing and exciting.

_____

Here’s hoping that everyone gets to feel a little life spring up in the next few weeks. Happy Spring!

In the paper, you have some time to make sure you got your ideas across. For example, if you forgot an important detail, you likely have a few hours at least to inform the reporter of your mistake. My experience with TV has been that they check with you ahead of time regarding the questions they want to ask you.

I was interviewed live recently concerning farming and the Canadian Young Farmer’s Forum I was attending and they did a ‘pre-interview’ on the phone. One of the producer’s asked me questions for about a half an hour the week before I was scheduled to be on. Talk about thorough! (I guess they we’re making sure I could speak French well enough as it was on a Quebec station).

My other recent TV interview had John and I talking about our sugar bush while standing next to the sap evaporator in our sugar shack. This on was pre-recorded and we had a little pre-game discussion about what the interviewer would ask each of us.

So, TV has been easy and print media is inherently fool-proof if you’re paying attention. Radio, not so much for me.

So, here are some tips on how to make a radio interview successful:

Tip #1: Remember that the radio announcer is also producing the show

I’m sure there is someone else actually producing the show but the announcer is in charge of making sure things happen when they’re meant to. They turn themselves on and off, so to speak and, I believe, they start and stop their own ads. (I’m sure there is a technical way to describe this. I’m just reporting what I’ve witnessed.)

What I’m trying to say is, these folks are multi-tasking BIG time. So, try to be an easy guest. Sit there and take direction.

Tip #2: Take a gift

I don’t mean a new set of barbecue tools. There is no such thing as a Radio Announcer Gift Registry at Sears. I mean, if you’re promoting a food item, for example, take them a sample.

We’re making maple syrup and using syrup to make other goodies. I took a bottle of freshly bottled syrup and some of my Great Granny’s shortbread made with syrup.

He was happy. A happy announcer will do a good job of promoting you. And, it’s a nice thing to do.

N.B. Dis regard the ‘no barbecue tools’ comment if you’re promoting your new line of barbecue tools.

Tip #3 Know what you want to say

This is where I’ve fallen down on the job. Twice.

The announcer knows that you’re there to talk about fill in the blank. I’m sure some of them are more conscious of your needs than others but, to be safe, don’t rely on them being aware of your message.

Do everyone a favour and ask yourself: “What is the point of my going on the radio?” Then write a list.

Next time, my list will look like this:

1. Maple syrup festival this weekend – both days
2. Teens get free baked goodies
3. Teens from our entrepreneurial program are giving tours to the public
4. Yes, despite the weather, we have maple syrup and other farm fresh goods
5. Our website and farm name
6. We’re number 35 on the map
7. Baby lambs to see

In actual fact, it would have been more bare bones because you don’t want to be reading your detailed list while talking on the radio. I added some details for you, the reader, as you don’t live in my head and likely wouldn’t get much from a cryptic ‘Note to Colleen’.

The things on this list may seem obvious. They should be no-brainers. In my experience though, when you get into a new situation like talking on the radio for the first (or second) time, it is possible to go into ‘no-brain mode’.

The first time I was interviewed, I didn’t mention how people could get a hold of me to register for our teen program. D’uh. Today, I didn’t mention the name of our farm or our number on the festival map. Thankfully, the host mentioned my name repeatedly and that gives a clear hint as to farm name.

Despite the learning curve, being on the local radio station is great free publicity. And it really wasn’t that hard to get into. I simply thought about what I had to offer the public that was more than the farmer next door – a teen entrepreneurial program – and sent an email to the station outlining the program and asking to get on the air.

For anyone trying to grow a customer list, I strongly encourage you to go ‘on the air’. All you need is something a little bit different that the public might be interested in. And the tips above won’t hurt either because once you go to commercial, there is no changing what listener’s heard.

If the announcer was frazzled because you distracted them from their work, if you didn’t bring even a coffee in case you’ve caught them on a bad day or if you forgot to tell them your farm name, you’re out of luck. This time.

Next time, I’ll be armed with my list.

What I mean by ‘storming’ is that we’ve been Stupid-Busy for a long time in preparation for the maple syrup season. This moment of calm that I’m making use of to write can hardly be classified as ‘before the storm’. More accurate would be ‘after the brain ceased to comprehend the chicken scratches on my to do list’.

Here’s a little run-down of what’s going on, just so anyone who’s in a leisurely way this time of year can be busy vicariously through us.

Late September 2007: John and Colleen are NOT considering making maple syrup this year much less being a part of the large tourist event that goes on in their county. It would be too much work in too short a time.

October 2007: Something happened to their brains and John and Colleen decided that it would be ‘fun’ to do maple syrup this year and that they should run an entrepreneurial program for teens at the same time.

November 25 2007: Friends and family are enjoying roast turkey at J. & C. Nyman Farms after spending the day moving the sugar shack from John’s parent’s bush to our home farm. Eight posts are in the ground and a bit of strapping is on.

February 25 2008: There is a roof on the sugar shack but no walls. Sap is expected to start flowing within the week. 14 lambs are born today and Colleen is at a four day conference in Ottawa. John wonders why his hair is going gray so quickly.
(In fact, here is John trying to put the roof on in the dark after a full day at his off-farm job. Yes, we are nuts…about farming, that is.)

March 1 2008: The first day of the teen program is here and the taps are going in the trees. Having five teenagers to teach slows some things down but it speeds others up. And teens are fun to have around. They have tonnes of energy (which we need to keep us going!).

Monday, March 24 2008: Colleen has sent Shea out for babysitting . Errands were run in the morning and computer work caused a sore backside in the afternoon. (And still she types at the computterer when she gets a break!)

Gravel arrives by the truckload and the evening will consist of creating a driveway to the sugar shack, painting a farm sign and trying to ignore the vast amounts of mud tracked through out the house. Housework is off for this week.

Tuesday, March 25 2008: All scrambling will stop and what’s done will be done. Cameras for the regional news program will role at 12:30pm with Colleen being interviewed about the teen program and the Maple in the County weekend that runs this coming Saturday and Sunday.

Later Tuesday, March 25 after the camera operator says “It’s a wrap!”:
Let the scrambling resume! More gravel to move! Maple syrup to boil! Labels to create! More baked goods to bake! Supplies to shop for!

That’s my storm and I’m relishing this little piece of calm that I’ve afforded myself. I think I’m going to go make a cup of tea and re-read my recent post about Surviving a Start Up Farm. Especially the part about witnessing your days.

Then I’m going to step back into the storm.

program will give them a quick tour and answer questions. Here we have

some teens getting familiar with the barn inhabitants.

Below we have some Tapping Sweet Success participants again. Teamwork is the order of the day. We were getting the sap evaporator ready to boil and create that

sweetest of spring treats: maple syrup.

The day turned quite warm by mid afternoon and everyone was glad to peel away some of the winter clothes.

Anyone need a quick drink between trees? As John drilled and I inserted spiles and hung buckets, Shea tested the sap to make sure it passed muster.

Here are a couple of our mixed blessings (or so I think when there are too many of them tackling me at once!) They’re ‘bottle babies’ meaning for one reason or another, we’ve had to feed them milk replacer from a bottle instead of letting nature take her course and have mom feed them. Usually, the reason is because we didn’t like the course that nature was on when we found them hypothermic and near death on a cold winter night. Feeding them in this picture are Big Farmer John and Little Farmer Shea.

(I cringe as I write that as I’m forever lecturing about not to pigeon hole our son. “You know Dear, he might have a different unique gift for the world than farming!”)

This next little guy is on his way up the side of a round bale. We’re loving our new hoop barn but, as you’ll see in the next picture, there is one major drawback.

The lambs can all cavort around in the hay! Happily, they still seem to do their business in the pack area but it’s just not good for the brain to see little manure machines running in the food!

Here you can see what I mean. It’s fun to watch them go crazy but…

All right. This has been a busy weekend. I will soon be adding more pictures as the season also entails maple syrup and a great first run for a teen entrepreneurial program that I’ve developed. (Check out the program here.)

Okay, so my house is a brick and vinyl siding, severely non-eco-friendly ten year old box. But my home - the way Canada is my home, Prince Edward County is my home and any windy, fresh aired, agricultural space is my home – my home is a maple syrup destination from on high.

I guess I have a lot of good maple resources in my immediate vicinity. I can think of at least 5 reasons that my area (our farm included) is a superior sweet spring harvest area.

#1: The Obvious

We run a sugar bush. We have made maple syrup for years. My husband built his first outdoor, uncovered arch for boiling on when he was ten. All by himself. He needed something to do while the ‘rents milked cows. And it was too early to plant his vegetable garden. Ten, I tell you. (I was being a latch-key kid rushing home to catch the last half of CHiPs on TV).

#2 The Decadent

This county I refer to above – Prince Edward County – is a wild and wonderful place located only two hours from Toronto. With agri-tourism getting big and the winery business here getting bigger, there are a lot of people with a lot of money parading around looking for good food to eat. Currah’s, Harvest, The Waring House to name a few…

I’m not sure what came first, the chicken or the… I mean, the hungry upscale consumer or the renowned and brilliant chefs and restaurateurs but, somehow, this small community boast an inordinately large number of places to eat decadently.

Though I’m always in the sugar bush on our big maple festival weekend, I’m sure you can get gourmet stacks of pancakes dripping with the golden goodness at any number of our fine local establishments. Something like the ones featured in this post over at The Food Pornographer.

#3: The Everyday

Probably not the best idea to eat maple syrup slathered pancakes, french toast or waffles everyday but you could if you wanted to. During our local maple syrup festival, you could go to more than one sugar bush and have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Or – and this might qualify as decadent to some – you can go any day of the year to one of the local down-home diners and, for a small but worthwhile extra charge, get the real thing along with your home fries and bottomless coffee.

#4 The Award Winning

There is more than one maple related award wining aspect to my ‘home’.

For one, we have a festival called Maple in the County that has won awards. I daresay it should be called the Tastiest Fun Thing to do with The Family. Check out our J. & C. Nyman Farms profile for the festival here.

Also, the marketing organization that supports the businesses in the county has won awards. And so they should. I can’t believe how much press we’ve had since signing up with them. Check out Taste the County if you’re wondering how to brand your area and get consumers to spend their money locally.

#5 The Feel-Good

This is really a personal thing. Not everyone will agree that this is a maple-related benefit. Those with teenagers at home might think it sounds more like voluntary torture.

The truth about me, though? I really like teenagers. And, this year, I’ve been able to get back to working with them through our sugar bush. I had been too long away from the all encompassing energy of the rare beast known as ‘the enthusiastic teen’ and I wanted to get back. So, I created a leadership project that involved running our event at the Maple in the County festival. Fun and learning for all.

And, better than that, MAPLE SYRUP FOR ALL!

(Just don’t ask me about it after I’ve spent a 72 hour stretch feeding wood into the evaporator. That post will be about syrup hell…)

See, I’ve been thinking that it would be cool to see what other farmers are writing about in their blogs. But I haven’t been able to find any.

Seriously. I have yet to find one good, up to date blog by a farmer about their farming life. This surprised me. Probably because my mind has very little room for rational thought these days. This is supposed to be the down time for us farm-folk, so someone must have the itch to spend their slower (ha!) days writing, right?

Apparently not.

I’ve spent stolen moments Google-ing ‘farmer blog’ between morning chores, night chores, midday barn check for hypothermic lambs in need of warming by our wood stove, outdoor picnic delivery to my horse who has to be banished from the barn during lambing, preparation for our entrepreneurial program for teens, planning for the Maple in the County festival, tapping of maple trees, keeping house and entertaining two toddlers (one of whom I’m thankful to see packed into her mother’s minivan at the end of everyday, despite being happy to have her). Phew!

Somehow, I failed to see that if every farmer’s day looked something like mine, not many of them would be blissfully tapping away at their keyboards in blog-land. Shocking really. (I’m still shaking my overloaded head at myself.)

So, now that I’ve laid my failings in the deductive reasoning department out for all to see, I would like to make an appeal.

If anyone knows of a good farmer’s blog, please let me know. I’ve read some great things from market gardeners, foodies and farm consumers (those who choose to buy their food directly from a farm like ours) but I’m curious about what other farmers are talking about.

Hopefully some of you are too. In the mean time, I will endeavor to fill the void one toddler nap at a time for anyone who is interested. Count me in as your blog-link to a farmer’s world.

Happy eating! (Who ever said farmers aren’t in on the rat race?)