Flowering is about five weeks ahead of normal. The last two years the peaches were in full bloom on May 8 and May12.  Linda’s walking into class, delivering her lecture and thinking that the class is way behind, because usually when things look like this, it is near the end of the school year.

From the “oh well, good thing I never got around to it department” this cherry tree that was flattened by last July’s storm (and I haven’t got around to cutting “down” yet) decided it feels good enough to boom profusely.  It will be easy to pick cherries this year from this tree!

This plum is first out of the gate.

Just for a reminder – here’s a shot from exactly today four years ago today!

And this is a shot of our road from earlier in March 2008. All the 80 degree days this March have made snowy Marches a memory.

Here’s the world famous mobile sugar shack.  An old barrel stove on a metal wagon that can be moved around to account for the wind – and it was windy today – near wind advisory criteria.  This photo pretty much shows it all.  Cart with wood, buckets with sap, coffee cup, willing boy, stove and evaporator pan a bubbling, and maple tree with container in the background.

Today’s enterprise is uber-sustainable.  The wood is from the storm last summer, the plastic cartons that use the sap will be converted to tomato shelters in a few months, and the leftover logs that hadn’t burned all the way were snuffed out for some biochar.  To top it off, we produced more electricity than we used.

While we wait, it’s a good time to begin pruning the fruit trees.  Martin starts on this one that needs some attention.

But eventually, the kids tuckers out and finds a makeshift resting place in the branches of an apple tree.

So far, from just one tree, we’ve put up 18 quarts of apple pie filling, and numerous bags of dehydrated apples, and eight gallons of frozen sliced apples, awaiting another later variety to make applesauce next month. There’s still a good number of apples left on the tree for more applesauce fixins. Oh yeah, I also found some blueberries at the store for 99 cents a box, so since we missed out on the berries up north, froze about half and canned the other half.

But by far, the best concoction is the apple pie filling. It’s a bit of a hassle to make, but all Linda has to do is make a crust, pour in the filling and bake. Great for potlucks and last minute desserts with little fuss.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #220″

All these peaches on a tree that’s just been in the ground 2-3 years. This is one candidate for some serious fruit culling to match the size of the tree to its fruit production.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #213″

The strawberries are here and nothing like sun-warmed ripe strawberries off the vine (except maybe sun-warmed peaches of the tree).

one year ago…”Barn Staining Update”

The peaches are blooming profusely.

Too bad, the fragrance doesn’t go along with the the photos.

one year ago…”Ecoheartland Film Features High Hopes”

I can’t recall the maple helicopters being so brilliant red in year’s past.  Maybe it’s the cold?

Usually by mid-to late April the apple blossoms are about ready to avail themselves to the bees.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #207″

Most everything seems to be in suspended animation. This asparagus is purple because of the cold and hasn’t  shown appreciable growth in a week since it poked out.

Fruit tree buds, like these plums, are likewise, just holding steady and not advancing like they usually do. Last year the plum trees were in full bloom on April 14 – looks like this year could be two weeks or more behind last year’s blooming time.

Despite being the 8th warmest March on record on a global scale, we did not contribute to that warmth. There’s blue dots over us. April will likely be even much colder from average than March.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #205″

We just got a start on the pruning, but at least a few trees are pruned.

one year ago…”Blog Meltdown”