Tree Time

There’s always another task on the farm. Sometimes onerous, sometimes random. But the next task has been eagerly anticipated for months, even though it’s a big one.

The temperatures are increasing, the days are getting longer: it’s planting time!

I (Jeff) drove up to western Michigan on Friday to pick up this year’s order of saplings. More than 500 fir trees in quart-sized containers carefully stacked will almost completely fill the minivan. On Saturday, despite the cold rain, we transferred the trees to a wagon to move them, and 50+ cubic yards of mulch, into the field.

The trees are dormant right now, having been in cold storage at the nursery. Our priority task now is to get the saplings into the ground before they wake up. Every spare moment will be spent hand digging a hole, placing a tree, applying mulch, repeat.

So the random, tedious or otherwise unpleasant tasks will just have to wait. Oh darn.

They don’t baa, but the trees will receive just as much care and attention as the lambs while they’re growing over the better part of a decade.

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• What job do you really look forward to?

Share your answer and this newsletter with a friend who likes Christmas trees.

If Sylvan Sundays was forwarded to you, welcome! To learn more about our farmers, check out “A New Year’s Introduction,” and to learn more about our name, visit “Being Sylvan.” Also, make sure to check out “This Week on the Farm” and “Farm Shop” below!

Subscribe to receive this newsletter each week by clicking the button below.

This Week on the Farm

This week’s lamb count: 21!

We had five lambs born on Friday and Saturday, so we are waiting on only one more Shetland ewe.

Show/ Sale/ Fair season is imminent. There are so many events, we couldn’t possibly participate in all of them. So we are strategically scheduling our time and carefully planning our logistics of which to attend.

Farm Shop

As we get closer to show season, we’ll have lambs ready for 4-H members. Let us know if you’d like to take a look at our selection by replying to this email!

Our Etsy shop has only one fleece left, so make sure to put your order in before it’s gone!