Fishing Season, Beavers, and Bees

Fishing season opened early in Pennsylvania this year and we took advantage by hauling our drift boat to Stevenson Dam in the Susquehanna State Forest.

Fitz loves to fly fish, but with both dogs in the boat it wasn't going well.  So I told him to let me off on the bank and the dogs and I would hike up the mountain.  I'd rather hike than fish.  

It was an overcast but, for North-central Pennsylvania, a warm day. 

I hiked way up to the top of the mountain (not the one above - I just thought that was a beautiful photo) and to my surprise found that beavers had been very busy!

Normally I expect to find a beaver lodge and there weren't any. I learned that these were beavers that had their dens in the side of the lake's bank.  That had to be hard work to go all the way up the mountain for food!

I'm so excited that both of my hives have made it through the winter.  I'm waiting for a day in which the weather gets above 60-degrees to see what's going on inside the hive and hope to be able to split the hives into more.

You can't see it very well here, but there are a LOT of bees going in and out and the pollen baskets on their little legs are loaded.  

I went for a walk yesterday and found this giant bird track.  I put my foot next to it for scale.

The turkeys are getting big around here!

Is anyone else concerned about the lockdown on buying gardening products and seeds?  I know I consider them essential items.  

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”

-Henry Kissinger

Stay safe, stay healthy, and get outside when you can safely do so!

Hope

Like most people I know, I've adhered to the stay at home strategy of not getting and passing around Covid-19.   

In that time  I've had plenty of time to work on my garden ideas and have already started some plants - perhaps a bit early.  But seeing these little stems climb up from a seemingly dead brown seed fills me with hope... for all of us.  

I like these little expandable peat pellets.  I've used them for many years with good results.  Once the plants get going I feed them with an organic plant food.

My little self-serve egg stand has been very popular.  I've also put some bottles of maple syrup in the container for sale.  Sorry if the labels get a little wonky from the damp!

Stay safe my friends.  Please take good care of yourselves.  Stay home.  And I look forward to meeting with you on the other side of this difficult time.  

Brown And Green Eggs For Sale - Self Serve

 My chickens are laying like crazy - usually about two dozen a day - and I have lots of wonderful eggs for sale!  I live on Snowman Road, Coudersport, Pennsylvania.  

We're pretty easy to find but do NOT take any GPS route that takes you on Black Hole Road!  Go around.  Black Hole Road is aptly named - it is a no winter maintenance road and at this time of year the mud will be up to your hubcaps. 

Come to Snowman Road.  You can't miss my little egg "stand" when you drive down.  This setup allows people to help themselves and, because it's along the road, it keeps the dogs from jumping on cars and people during this muddy season!

Be sure to tightly close the cooler!

And boy, oh boy, are these eggs pretty and delicious!  Look how deep yellow those yolks are!

You'll get spoiled. 

I bring out the eggs in the morning and if there are any left I bring them back and put them in the refrigerator at night.  

Here's an interesting note.  If you plan to hard boil your eggs, you'll find eggs that are at least seven days old peel easier.  Grocery store eggs can be a month old or even older.

The dogs love driving out to the egg stand  LadyBird thinks she's in charge!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Fitzgerald's Family Farm Will Not Be Participating In The March 21 & 22, 2020 Potter Tioga-Maple Weekend

We are very sorry to say that due to a family death and a strict work schedule we will not be participating in the March 21 & 22, 2020 Potter-Tioga Maple Weekend.  We definitely plan to be part of this great event next year and in future years.

We still have maple syrup in glass bottles available for purchase. 

There are still many wonderful sugar houses to visit in Potter and Tioga counties.  You can find a map and more information about them here on the Potter - Tioga Maple Producer's Association website.  

Rooster Gets A Name

I put out a request for a name for my new rooster boy and people came back with some fun names!  

The suggested names were: 

Rooster McRoosterFace

Flash

Fancy Feet

Reveille

and 

Doodle

And the winner is...

...Fancy Feet!

So perfectly fitting with the Fancy feathers on his Feet!

Nest Sharing

Did you know you don't have to have an individual nest area 

for each chicken?  

The hens will climb in one after another and lay their eggs in the 

same nest. 

This can be confusing if you want to let a broody hen sit on her eggs to hatch them. Because the other hens continue to climb in with her to lay more eggs.  

When I decide I'm going to let a broody hen set, I mark the incubating eggs with an 'x' so I know not to collect them.

The broody hen can be very upset with you reaching under her to pull out the non-incubating eggs and will sometimes peck at you while you're doing it.  Heavy gloves can help!

Say A Prayer For The Bees

I know during the last warm weather snap that my bees were ok because I saw them taking "cleansing flights".  This is where they go outside to poo because they won't poo in the hive.  This is a good thing.  But now we're getting into the wild temperature fluctuations from bitter cold to wet, damp days and this is when my hives die - even if I've done everything I can for them. 

So please say a prayer!