Get to Know Hannah!

Hey there! I’m Hannah, the face behind most of the happenings on our farm.

A bit about me…

My family has owned our farm since 1935, and I’m the 4th generation to farm here. In fact, I’m the only member of the 4th generation.

As a kid, I much preferred to stay inside and watch TV or organize my stamp collection (yeah, I was that kid) rather than explore the outdoors or spend time on the farm. Luckily, my family never forced me into having an involvement in the farm and that all worked out in their favor because now I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. My whole life now revolves around being outdoors and taking care of our land and animals.

I graduated from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst in 2017 with a BS in sustainable agriculture. When I returned home from school, I started my own business on our family farm. It began with 50 egg-laying hens and has grown from there. I currently have over 500 laying hens, 8 goats that go for goat hikes , a few beef cows, and will soon be adding a micro-herd of dairy cows to my menagerie. We also have 7 donkeys, 2 ponies, 3 geriatric sheep, and a couple guinea hens the inhabit the farm and live under my uncle’s care.

As a business owner, I have to wear many hats. Not only do I look after my animals on a daily basis, but I also manage this website, send out all of the email correspondence from the farm, clean allll the eggs, and lead every goat hike. If you send an email, give us a call, stop by the farm, or write us a letter, I’m the one to respond.

If I had free time, I’d like to spend it hiking or travelling. Luckily, I was able to do lots of that before I settled down into the massive commitment that comes with farm life. Now, just having a glass of wine in a field of goats feels like the ultimate vacation.

The backstory of our farm…

While this farm has been in existence for over 200 years, our family has owned it since 1935. At that time, my great-grandparents were living at the farm next door and raising 11 children. They bought this one as well, and when my grandparents got married they officially moved in and we’ve been here ever since. Our farm is 175 acres of hay fields, pastures, and woodlands, that are all protected under a permanent preservation restriction, meaning our farm can never be sold for house lots.

My grandfather and uncle were both full-time dairy farmers here, tending to a herd of registered Ayrshire cows. My uncle, John, sold his herd of cows in 1998, and since then our farm has been relatively inactive beyond yearly hay and pumpkin production.

My uncle (Unkie as I call him) is like a dad to me, and he retired right around the same time that I graduated from college, so I’ve had the great privilege of spending lots of quality farm time with him over the past few years. My ultimate goal is to bring a herd of Ayrshire cows back to the farm and continue the tradition of dairy farming that has been the lifeblood of our farm and family for decades.

The farm in 1912

My grandfather, Ralph Allen, with his very first Ayrshire calves.

My uncle, John, with his Ayrshire cows.

Looking towards the future…

My ultimate goal is to make a life for myself on our farm, to honor the legacy of my family’s agrarian heritage here, and to care for this land and my animals in the best way that I know how. Allowing livestock, land, and nature to work in harmony for the benefit of all is at the forefront of my endeavors.

In this day in age where the majority of society is completely removed from agriculture, I have a passion for connecting people with our small, local farm. I enjoy having visitors at the farm for goat walks and offering the opportunity to connect with livestock and land in a genuine and meaningful way. The more that people can see for themselves and understand what actually happens on farms (especially in regards to raising livestock), the stronger our food systems and communities will be.

Truth and transparency are my highest priority in all of my communications about farm life. On the blog, you’ll find stories about the magic and joys of farming, but also about the perilous realities. This is an incredible life, but it is not without it’s heartbreaks and struggles. You can always count on complete honesty from me.

Plan a visit to our farm by signing up for a goat hike, or shop at our self-serve farm stand 7 days/week year round. We always have eggs in stock, as well as a variety of other seasonal fresh products.

When you sign up for our email list, expect to hear from me once every week or two with updates and stories from the farm, as well as recipes, DIY crafts, and more.

Do you have any questions about me or our farm? Just want to say hello and introduce yourself? Leave me a note in the comments below!

Maple Syrup 101

One sure sign that spring is near is the sight of sap buckets (or plastic tubes, as is now common) hanging from maple trees across New England. When temps get warm during the day but stay below freezing at night, it’s the ideal time to tap trees and collect their sweet sap. But for sap to get from a tree to the delicious syrup on our pancakes is not a simple task…

Sap buckets, February 2021.

Sap dripping from the spile into a bucket.

History

Maple sap was collected by Native Americans as early as 1609. When spring was near, tribes would move to an area of forest that was abundant in sugar maples, establishing “sugar camps” for the few weeks that sap flowed. They would slash “V”s into tree trunks and collect the sap in vessels made of hollowed out logs or clay. Before the time of metal pots, Native Americans would then boil away the sap by dropping hot rocks into the vessels. Back then, there wasn’t an efficient way to store syrup, so they boiled the sap all the way down to dry maple sugar that could easily be stored and saved for use throughout the year.

Production evolved much over the continuing centuries, and eventually “spiles” were used instead of making slashes on the trees. Metal tanks became available for storage, and sap was heated over fires or stoves to evaporate more quickly. Buildings were erected to boil down sap undercover, giving way to the quintessential “sugarhouses” that are still a mainstay in the yearly tradition of maple sugaring.

Sugar Maple Trees

Temperature is the key component for active sap flow. A rise in temperature of the sapwood to above freezing causes a positive pressure within the wood, inducing sap flow. On warm late-winter days which follow cold nights, sap can flow down from the branches and then out a spout drilled into the tree. The sap can also flows back and forth laterally within the tree. It will flow out a “tap” or through a broken or cut branch. The internal pressure of the tree, when it is greater than the atmospheric pressure, causes the sap to flow out, just like how blood flows out of a wound.

The period of sap flow can vary from just a few hours to a few days on end. Many environmental factors and tree metabolic factors affect the length of sap flow period and the amount of sap produced. For strong sap flows to be repeated, a suitable temperature cycle above and below freezing must occur to allow strong positive sap pressure to develop. The sap flow ceases entirely when these temperature cycles cease to exist.

An abundant sap years also depends on the weather conditions of the previous summer to store as much carbohydrates as possible in the form of starch. These stored starch reserves convert to sucrose and are dissolved in the sap as spring approaches. The amount of sugar (sucrose) in the springtime sap depends on many factors including tree genetics, leaf mass, site conditions, amount of sun the previous growing season and overall tree health.

** Fun Fact: While the general rule of thumb is that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of sugar, the ratio of the trees on our farm (as well as that of the family who taps our trees), is about 36:1. The Roseberry family, who taps our trees, have always believed that that’s due to both farms being long-time dairies with plenty of cow manure to provide nutrients to the maple trees. :-) **

Maple trees in autumn at Maplebrook Farm

Maple Syrup Production

When “sap season” has arrived, one must tap the trees. This involves drilling holes about two inches deep into the sapwood of a tree, and tapping a “spile” into the hole that will funnel the sap outward. In the “old-fashioned” bucket method, a metal bucket with lid is hung from a hook on the spile to collect the sap. Nowadays, many people use plastic tubing to collect sap, which is more time and labor efficient. In this method, a plastic spout that is connected to a pipeline system is tapped into the tree and allows the sap from multiple taps and trees to all flow into one central vessel.

A maple tree must be a least 10 inches in diameter and in good health before it can be tapped. It usually takes about forty years before a tree will reach tappable size. The hole is usually placed about waist high on the tree, not below any dead limbs, and not near previous tapholes. Larger trees may take as many as three or four taps, but only if they are healthy. If proper tapping procedures are followed, tapping will not endanger the health and vitality of the tree. A healthy sugar maple can provide sap every year for a hundred years or more.

Throughout the 4–6 week sugar season, each tap hole will yield approximately ten gallons of sap. This is only a small portion of the tree’s total sap production and will not hurt the tree. This amount vary greatly from year to year, and depend upon the length of the season, the sweetness of the sap, and many complex conditions of nature, such as weather conditions, soil, tree genetics, and tree health.

Maple sap, as it comes from the tree is a clear, slightly sweet liquid (similar to maple water, which has become a popular item on the market today).

• The sugar content ranges from one to four percent.

• A device called a “hydrometer” can be floated in the sap to determine the exact sugar content.

• Sweeter sap is favored because less water will have to be evaporated to make maple syrup.

• The sap must be evaporated as soon as possible because the freshest sap makes the best quality syrup

Boiling sap is often a family or community event.

Once collected, sap is boiled down in a “sugarhouse” which can be as rustic or elaborate as once chooses. Every sugar house has an evaporator that is used to boil the sap down into syrup. A hooby sugarmaker can use a much smaller setup, and boiling down syrup on a kitchen stove is possible as well.

• Evaporators are made up of one or more flat pans which sit on an “arch,” a type of firebox.

• Wood, oil, gas, wood chips or wood pellets are burned at the front end, and the flames are drawn along the underside of the pan, heating and boiling the sap as they travel towards the rear.

• It commonly takes about one cord of wood or sixty gallons of oil to boil down 800 gallons of sap into maple syrup.

• Depending on the size of the evaporator and the number of trees tapped, this may represent anywhere from two hours to two whole days of boiling.

When the temperature of boiling sap reaches seven and a half degrees above the boiling point of water, it is at the proper density and has become maple syrup. Another way of checking for the proper density or sugar content is to place a scoop into the boiling syrup. Coming from the tree, maple sap is approximately 98% water and 2% sugar. When the syrup is finished, it is only 33% water and 67% sugar. It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of sugar.

Now is the time to visit a local sugar shack and witness for yourself the process of boiling down sap to syrup. If nothing else, at least pick up a container of REAL maple syrup and discover the pure deliciousness of one of Nature’s best sweets.

CLICK HERE for recipes that utilize maple syrup

Photo Credit: Peter Heins, Sunny Knoll Farm

All information gathered for this article was sourced from the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association and can be found at massmaple.org.

Egg 101!

Eggs are the most sought-after food from local farms. It’s no wonder… have you ever tried farm-fresh eggs? The difference in taste of a fresh egg compared to one that is store bought is hardly even comparable. They have brighter yolks and are richer in color, flavor, and texture. Once you eat farm-fresh eggs, you’ll never want to go back to the lack-luster store-bought ones.

The Incredible, Edible, NUTRITIONAL Egg:

• Egg yolks are the richest source for two important carotenoids- lutein and zeaxanthin. These fat-soluble antioxidants combat macular degeneration, cataracts, support overall healthy vision, protect the skin against sun damage, and can reduce risk of colon and breast cancer.

• One large, whole, fresh egg provides all essential protein-building amino acids, and offers 6 to 7 grams of protein. It also contains 5 grams of fat (with about 1.5 grams of it saturated), which is great for the absorption of all of the egg’s fat-soluble vitamins. One egg serves up about 200 milligrams of good cholesterol and contains vitamins A, K, E, D, B-complex and minerals iron, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium.

• Eggs contain Choline, a fatty substance found in every living cell, and is a major component of brain health. Choline also helps preventing fat and cholesterol from sticking to arteries.

• Eggs laid by chickens who have a pasture-based, free range lifestyle, contain more omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid, and vitamins E, A and B12 than eggs from chickens conventionally raised solely indoors.

Eggs from pasture-raised hens are packed with nutrients!

Double double-yolkers!

The Chickens of Maplebrook Farmstead:

• All of our chickens are the same breed, Red Sex-Link, which are a hybrid cross between a Rhode Island Red rooster and a White Leghorn hen. They are called sex-links because their gender is easily determined at birth by their coloring. Males are born with white fluff while females are red.

• We love the Red Sex-Links because they have very friendly temperaments and are phenomenal layers. They lay beautiful brown eggs year round (about 1 egg per chicken per day!), even keeping up in the wintertime without artificial lighting in the coop.

• It is typically said that farm-fresh eggs from pastured poultry will have a deep orange-y yolk, however this can also be breed dependent. Despite the fact that our chickens get rotated on green pastures weekly, the Red Sex-Links tend to lay eggs with a vibrant yellow yolk.

• We buy all of our chickens as ready-to-lay pullets, when they’re about 17 weeks old. After doing this for the past three years, I will never go back to raising chickens from day-old chicks ever again. Our pullets come from Moyer’s Hatchery in Pennsylvania, who do a phenomenal job raising them up to teenage-hood. When we get them, they’re only about two weeks away from starting to lay, which is a much more economical and time-efficient process for us.

• Contrary to popular belief, there does not need to be a rooster in a flock in order for the hens to lay eggs. If there is no rooster in a flock, it just means that the eggs will never be fertilized, and thus never turn into chicks. We don’t have any roosters here, and we like it that way!

• Chickens will usually lay their eggs in the early morning. I collect eggs twice a day- once around 8 or 9am, and once again in the early afternoon.

Handling and Storage Tips:

• Eggs have a natural film coating the shell called the “bloom” that preserves bacteria from penetrating into it. When eggs are washed, it removes this film. That is why it is best to refrigerate eggs that have been cleaned. If you don’t wash eggs, they can be stored at room temperature for weeks.

• At our farm, I wash only the dirty eggs (using just lukewarm water). Because I don’t differentiate between eggs that have been washed and those that haven’t, I refrigerate all of our eggs once they’ve been packaged. Once eggs have been refrigerated, they need to continue to be stored that way.

• Eggs should always be stored “upside-down,” with the pointy end of the egg on the bottom. The round, fat end should be at the top. This is because there is an air bubble at the round end and keeping it at the top will keep the egg fresh longer.

• How to tell if an egg is still good: the float test! Fill a glass or small container with water. Put the egg in the water. If it sinks, especially on its side, it’s fresh! If it floats, it’s rotten and should not be eaten! If it’s somewhere in between, use caution.

• Eggs will typically stay good for at least two months. On our cartons, we have a “sell-by” date that is marked for one month after the eggs have been laid. They are easily good for a month after that sell-by date, usually even longer.

Every now and again, a chicken will lay a shell-less egg. It lacks a hard outer shell, but still contains the inner soft shell, making it squishy. A very rare and cool find!

Egg Carton Returns:

• I get asked all the time if we take our egg cartons back to reuse them, and the answer is yes!! Cartons cost about 13 cents each, which adds up when we’re getting 20 dozen eggs per day from our chickens!

• We are happy to reuse CLEAN, NON-RIPPED cartons. There is a return box located in the farm stand under the money box.

• We can only reuse our own cartons, the ones that have 3x4 cells and our labels on them. We can’t use store-bought cartons or ones with other farm labels.

• THANK YOU! We appreciate the extra effort of setting your cartons aside to save for us!