From Urbanites to Country folk... in Just Eight Years

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In addition, we bought 24 more wooded acres (bringing our total to 44) ... and Rosey, the milk cow, joined our livestock. I added to our coffers, too, by selling some of my wooden toy creations through a local craft outlet.

1979

In the spring we tapped 50 maple trees for a yield of 6-1/2 gallons of syrup ... enough for our needs, with some left over for Christmas presents. After that, we sold a new crop of seedlings from the greenhouse and planted our biggest garden ever.

Another swap developed when I helped a buddy tear down some old buildings in exchange for enough recycled lumber to build an 18' X 10' woodshed. For the first time, we cut pulp—60 cords of fir—to help with the farm expenses. And last (but certainly not least!) Rosey produced her first calf, thrilling us with the birth experience and all that milk and butter!

1980

Our new application for Tree Farm status brought the state forester out to teach us how to manage our woodlot. He showed us how to weed the gray birch from our pine forest lot and how to prune the growing stock.

Furthermore, we continued to get some income from selling our own pulp and firewood ... the ponies earned enough money to pay for their hay by yarding 20 cords of pulp for a friend down the road ... we sold surplus garden produce to the local market ... and the children raked blueberries on neighboring farms to help buy their school clothes.

Once the fall firewood was cut, I went into toy making in earnest, buying a new belt sander and selling the playthings to a gift shop. That winter we also began braiding a rug (made from old clothes garnered from garage sales) to cover our 10' X 20' living room floor.

1981

That was our best sugaring season yet: 11 gallons of syrup! We increased the size of our poly greenhouse to 10' X 20' but also came to the conclusion that we needed a more permanent indoor growing space. Since we'd always been great admirers of Scott and Helen Nearing—who lived within driving distance—we visited them to inspect their famous greenhouse. (The Nearings wrote a book about it: Building and Using Our Sun-Heated Greenhouse.) When we returned home from that inspiring trip, we immediately began collecting rocks for our new 10' X 40' stone-and-glass plant house.

That year a fancy new sign at our farmstead entrance announced that we were bona fide Tree Farmers. And for the first time, I bought some finished hardwood wheels to speed up my toy production for the Christmas market.

1982

The seedlings started indoors during the latter part of that February were transferred to our new passive solar greenhouse in mid March. (The building is equipped with a stove for sub-zero nights.) We had banner sales of the starts but realized that we could do even better if we added flowering bedding plants to our inventory.

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