Here’s the recent news from Kristin Kimball at Essex Farm in Essex, New York:

Based on the highs and the lows alone it would be very hard to say what season it is. We’ve had whipsaw weather this month, from a low of -17 to well above freezing. Mark took part of the warm and windy Tuesday off to go windsurfing. The surface of the pond melted and re-froze into a perfect skating surface. I wonder what the roots are thinking, just below the surface. We are getting the buckets and the spiles out now, ready for tapping the sugarbush this afternoon and tomorrow. Who knows what kind of sugar season we’ll have? There’s no predicting. But with no snow around the bases of the maples it may well come on fast and be over quickly.

Our Amish friends, Samuel, Dennis and Emmanuel, were here again on Tuesday, to follow up on leads on land for sale in the region, on which they hope to start a new community. As bad luck would have it, our oldest cow, Sis, slipped in the barn that day, after evening milking, and could not — or would not — get up. This has been an occasional problem this winter, as the changing weather causes freezing condensation on the cold barn floor. Kirsten and Isabelle were milking, and Mark and the Amishmen and I went out just before dinner to see if we could help get her up.

We tried lifting her in a sling, with a combo of English and Amish muscle, and then Ben Christian came over and demonstrated his fool-proof non-Amish method, which involved rolling Sis into the bucket of the skid steer, driving her out to the covered barnyard where the footing was firm, and gently dumping her, feet first, onto the sturdy bedding pack. She landed upright, and ambled off to eat hay, as though nothing had happened. Continue reading this Essex Farm Note.