Snowflakes in the Forecast
The final push to wrap-up Runamuk's winter preparations before the first snows of winter...
“Why did I have to do such a good job on her house?” I groaned as I pushed against the giant pink doghouse. With the first snowflakes in the forecast for western Maine, the final push to wrap-up winter preparations is underway here at Runamuk.
My 18 year-old son pulled the utility dolly from the other end and the structure slid across the ground. Chortling, he said, “Because you didn’t want Beebe to haul off with it! You know she would have.”
Of the 3 “houses” we use to shelter the animals on the field during the summer months, Beebe’s house is the heaviest by far. A 3-foot by 5-foot salt-box doghouse on skids, rugged enough that neither sheep nor canine can damage it, and with enough substance that neither wind nor canine can budge the thing.
With some massive winds coming down off nearby Mount Abrahm, I’ve had the lighter sheep-shed upended and carried across the field once or twice during big storms.
Not to mention the 104lb dog would most certainly take it with her if the notion struck her. Head-strong girl that she is.
Welcome to the latest Updates From the Farm! If you are new here, I invite you to check out my About page to learn what this is, who I am and why I am doing this. Or just dive right in! At “Runamuk Acres” you’ll find the recantings of one lady-farmer and tree-hugging activist from the western mountains of Maine. #foodieswanted
In years past I’ve recruited extra people to the farm to bring the sheep off the field, running them the 200 yards from field to farmhouse with the promise of a cup of grain. By this point in the season they’re typically as eager to return to the sheltered protection of our winter accommodations as I am to be done hauling water and feed out to the field and they give me little trouble. Yet, it’s still stressful for the farmer, who has to first seek out the extra help, and then pray none of the sheep make a break for the road nearby.
Working off-farm this fall has made coordinating farm-life much more difficult and I’ve opted to shuffle their summer fences right up to the farmhouse instead. Bringing them up through the left half of the 2-acre market garden to do it.
This half of the garden sits un-used. The reasons why are a long story not meant for this post, but the short version is related to soil quality and time/energy. There’s nothing planted there and not much wants to grow there, so I decided running the sheep through this part of the garden could only help it.
We have just one move left to reach “The Nursery”, the shed built off the back of the garage and surrounded by permanent fencing. With it’s roof covered in greenhouse film, the Nursery is warm and cozy, and centrally located close to the farmhouse. This is where my ewes will give birth to their lambs come April.
While we’ve made some progress with our winter to-do list, it’s been painfully slow going.
In spite of the fact that I only work 6 or 7 hours at the school, one thing or another has kept us busy in those short afternoon hours, preventing farm-chores from getting done. There have been days, too, when I get home late and it’s all I can do to get through the afternoon critter-chores before the sun goes down.
It frustrates me, but only serves to affirm my resolve to build that passive income Runamuk needs for me to be able to give up the off-farm employment.
And so, I continue to get up every day at 3am to sit in my tiny office in the heart of this farmhouse to write. I am inspired and I think you’ll be pleased with what’s coming down the line from Runamuk…
Lunch-Lady Wins
Meanwhile, over on the lunch-lady side of life, I’ve had a couple of wins which have helped to assuage my angst about being away from the farm so much.
Orange-Cranberry Muffins
Once a week, we make serve warm muffins to the kids. While my predecessor tended to favor a chocolate chip muffin, I prefer to serve muffins made with fruit, shying away from the extra sugar. In typical farmer-fashion, I’ve incorporated seasonal ingredients like pumpkin and apples instead, or using Maine blueberries. With Thanksgiving in mind, I’d ordered real cranberries to use in an orange-cranberry muffin this week before the holiday.
I hesitated at the last minute, afraid the tender youngsters would balk at the tart cranberries, but my gut said the flavors would win them over. And I had 10 pounds of frozen cranberries to use somehow (everything comes in bulk in a school kitchen), so I forged ahead with my plan.
Taking care to give the cranberries a rough chop, I think, put the muffins over the top and they went over better than I’d expected with the kids.
Score!
A Feast for 70
Three other victories came with the Thanksgiving feast itself, and I’m feeling pretty damned good about my capabilities right now, lol.
Cooking a feast for 70 people was a daunting prospect, but I managed to pull it off without any significant disasters, so that was win number one.
Wins number two and three came with my pumpkin cake and homemade cranberry sauce.
Our menus are created by the district’s Food Service Planning Coordinator, and to keep things consistent from one school to the next they’ve asked their cooks to adhere to that menu. I really have very little control over what I can serve in my school kitchen.
But there is a little lee-way and you can bet I’m making the most of it.
Farmer Sam’s Favorite Pumpkin Cake
“I didn’t like the look of their pumkpin cake recipe, so I used my own,” I told BraeTek. Arriving home on Wednesday afternoon, I was sore and tired after staying late to finish baking the second sheet-cake I’d need for the holiday meal next day.
“Of course you did,” my son laughed.
Chagrined, I shrugged, “Mine’s better.”
If this was a child’s first experience with pumpkin cake, I wanted it to be a yummy and memorable experience that would have them coming back for more. When I spoke with the cook at one of the other schools in the district, she told me she used the provided recipe and wished she hadn’t, so I’m glad I listened to my own instincts.
This is the recipe I prefer for Pumpkin Spice Cake.
Homemade Whole-Berry Cranberry Sauce
With a substitute-cook on hand for the feast-day, I had the time and ingredients on hand (remember the 10-pounds of frozen cranberries?) to make my favorite homemade cranberry sauce. Impulsively I decided to add it to the menu and see if I could entice any of these young eaters to give it a try.
My supervisor turned her nose up at the 6 kids I coaxed into tasting the sauce and I think if I’d gone into overtime to add these flourishes to my meal I’d have heard about it, but as it was, I managed to do it within my allotted 35 hour work-week so she let it go.
We’ve talked before about the ripple effect these seemingly small interactions can have on the world around us. For me—reaching 6 children and having them discover that they actually like homemade, whole-berry cranberry sauce NOT from a can is worth the time, energy and stress of adding one more thing to a feast for 70. But I could see my supervisor disagreed.
“As long as it’s not taking away from other things,” was the final word.
Holiday Gifts for PAID Subscribers!
In the evenings, when school and farm-chores are done for the day, I’ve been working on gifts for paid subscribers.
As promised on my About page, one of the perks of becoming a paid member of this burgeoning community is a holiday gift from yours truly and shipped directly to your home. That’s why I’ve been spending my free time creating hand-drawn holiday cards, and I’ll also put together some sort of trinket to gift a small piece of Runamuk to our most dedicated supporters.
Looking for mailing addresses of those interested in participating, I sent an email last week to those 28 dear souls who have committed their monetary support to this farm. If you are one of them and haven’t read that yet, please go check it out and get your name on the list to receive your gift from the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm in Maine!
Gifts for FREE Subscribers!
For our free subscribers, there’s still time to upgrade and get your own holiday gift from the farm. With that in mind, I’ve created a special holiday offer just for you!!!
Now through December 25th, anyone who subscribes using the link below will receive 50% off Runamuk’s regular subscription pricing, and I’ll even throw in full access to my second publication: Wild Hearts & Harvests.
The deadline to sign-up to get a gift from the farm, however, will be December 9th, so that we have time for the cards and gifts to get through the mail ahead of the holidays.
What’s Coming Up at Runamuk
World Soil Day: December 5th - I’ll be publishing a piece about soil to honor and celebrate Earth’s most precious asset!
End-of-Year Review - Taking a look back at 2024; what worked and what did NOT.
Chapter 9 - Of “On Blackstone Mountain” at Wild Hearts & Harvests.
New Year Intentions - Goals and aspirations for 2025
Growing Your Own Shoots & Sprouts - How-to piece on winter growing indoors.
Planning Your First Garden - EBook for beginners.
A Runamuk Cook Book - An exclusive resource for paid subscribers where they’ll be able to find the recipes I mention in blog-posts all in one place!
Meet the Cast- Introducing the cast of characters that make up our motley collection of critters here at Runamuk.
Snowflakes in the Forecast
It’s late this year, but the first snowflakes are finally in the forecast for the week ahead. In fact, my weather-app was even predicting a wintery mix early this morning, but I didn’t see it. The temperatures are still too warm for snow, even as they have been all autumn.
While I have to wonder about the likelihood of the weatherman’s forecast, tomorrow we’ll make the final move to bring the flock back to the shelter of the Nursery ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
With the two groups of sheep (males & females) now combined for breeding-season, we have 4 lengths of electric-net fencing not currently in use. These we set up to create a long corridor to run the sheep up through the left-side of the market-garden.
All of our summer shelters (referred to as “tractors”) I’ve built onto skids for the express purpose of being able to drag them across the ground with a heavy duty utility dolly and some man (or lady) power.
Compared to Beebe’s doghouse, the sheep-tractor is light and, if we wanted to, either of us could move it on our own. To save my aging back, though, and to prevent any strained muscles, we tend to work together to move the larger group with the 2 heaviest of the 3 tractors and the long lengths of electric-net fencing.
Using the corridor-method, we were able to cover a hundred yards in one go, so that the flock has been at the front of the garden this week-just a stone’s throw from the farmhouse. It’s nice to be able to see them when I’m coming or going to work, reminding me exactly what I’m working for.
With one more move, we’ll have them back to Zone Zero where hauling water and hay through the coming snows is much easier for the farmer.
I think the sheep are as ready as I am to hunker down for a few months.
Stay tuned, my friends!
Sending love and good juju to you and yours.
Your friendly neighborhood farmer,
Sam
PS - In case you were wondering, our expected due date for lambing season 2025 is April 1st though the 10th!
Thank you for following along with the story of this lady-farmer! It is truly a privilege to live this life serving my family and community, and protecting wildlife through agricultural conservation. Check back soon for more updates from the farm, and be sure to follow @RunamukAcres on Instagram or Facebook!
Oh and congrats on your lunch lady wins! I had a neighbor who ran a large school kitchen and constantly looked for ways to make healthier, tastier lunches with her budget and mandated ingredients. She created new recipes and eventually they not only switched to some of hers, they asked her to train new kitchen supervisors. It’s just a different world when people care. Thanks for being one of those people. 🧡
We don't get much snow here in Georgia but when we do people panic and go the store and buy up all the bread.