After spending a lot of time slogging through the snow setting up for sugaring, the season arrived in earnest in early march. Unfortunately, the initial good sap flows were followed by a period of weather that was just a little too warm to be ideal. Ideal sap flow conditions are night time temperatures in the mid 20's and daytime highs in the high 30's to low 40's. This year, the problem was not so much too warm daytime temperatures, but nighttime ones that just barely hit freezing. On top of this, the sugar content of the sap was low, probably due to the prolonged dry spell last summer (1999). The end result was a fair season that resulted in our making about 80% of a normal crop. The GOOD NEWS is that the quality of syrup produced is excellent.

Another bit of good news is that our Fjord Horse mare Mirabelle gave us a beautiful little colt on the last day of March. The colt, who we named Mars, is about the largest foal we've ever had born on the farm. When we went to bring him into a stall from the pasture where he had been born, I could barely pick him up, and had to stop frequently to rest before continuing on. The attached photo is Mars at about 3 weeks of age sticking his tongue out at the photographer.

Shortly thereafter, another mare (Gita) presented us with a beautiful little filly who we have named Astrid (pronounced Aahstree). Astrid has a beautiful, and very feminine face, and we are excited to have her, as she is the first filly we have out of our new stallion, Leik.

Major news is that Bill's 89 year old dad (Dante Coli) has decided to move up to Charlemont from his former home in Jupiter, Florida. Dad has sold his Florida place, and will be building a house on a wooded portion of the farm.