Bear's Blacksmithy

I don't recall what got TBear interested in blacksmithing, but I have to say he is one tenacious teen.  I'm pretty sure he started reading everything he could find in the library about it at least a year ago.  Then he got a book on blacksmithing for Christmas and has been very anxious to try his hand at it since then.  Whit, my dauntless bartering husband, managed to trade or barter for some very cool items which we also gave to TBear for Christmas, namely one anvil, a tire rim from a truck, I think, that they fabricated into a forge, and some tongs donated by a fabulous friend whose daughter plays hockey with Thayer (and who I'm pretty sure supplied Whit with the tire rim.)  TBear bought himself a hammer.  (We had to let him shop for something.)

After much discussion about where we could set TBear up to practice this fine art - without burning the barn down or setting the woods on fire - Whit finally decided to build him his own shelter/workshop out behind the barn.  They created it from wood and PVC piping then put plastic over it.  Unfortunately, the workshop is also located in the steers'/rams' field.  Charles, who is now in the freezer, proceeded to tear the plastic off the shelter scratching his head against it.  So poor TBear had to wait until the snow melted in order to staple more plastic up and finish it.  Finally - FINALLY - the snow melted enough by the time the maple sugaring was done and the project could move forward.  (The boy has been so patient, bless him!)

That's the other Charles in the background.  He's not as dimwitted as the last one and doesn't seem to bother TBear's workshop.

 Getting the plastic stapled back on again. 

 Then Whit brought a log he'd saved for TBear's anvil to sit on.

 The floor of the workshop is gravel, most of which Whit brought in with the loader; however, Sunny is helping to bring more gravel in with his little red wagon.  Um, can somebody open the gate?

 That sure would be a lot of gravel to fill in by hand, huh.

A few days later, after Easter, Whit got a door made for him...just in time to protect him from the rain.

So, here's his forge....

 and his anvil...

and his cool antique tongs, holding his first attempt at bending metal.

Fortunately this is our school vacation week, because I haven't been able to get him back in the house since the first bag of charcoal came home.  Unfortunately, he's gone through a lot of charcoal already.  Whit found him some coal today, but I guess the next lesson is in how to get the coal burning.  Apparently it's tougher than he thought.  (I heard reference made to a blow torch today...)

Notice the legs under the forge.  TBear got a lesson in welding and welded the legs on himself.  The bellows for the fire is actually a small shop vac on reverse, blowing the air through a pipe to the bottom of his fire.  (These guys seem like pretty clever beans to me.)  My only issue is that I'm pretty sure I heard the electric meter whizzing 'round when he spent the whole day working out there.  I can't seem to find a foot pump anywhere.

Of course we all had to go out and inspect TBear's workshop when it was done.  : )

Oh yeah... Nobody thought about the quenching bucket until TBear used the boys' trough.  Whit took care of that next.

There's a lot of happy, hands-on learning happening around here this week.  Another neat thing happened in March.  Thayer and a few other home schooled friends had a fiddle gig to do on St. Patrick's day at an assisted living facility.  The director asked each of the four kids what their interests and ambitions were to introduce them, so TBear mentioned his blacksmithing.  It turns out that one of the residents is not only a retired blacksmith, but was the treasurer of the local blacksmith society.  He talked to TBear afterwards and sent him a newsletter.  Then he called a friend who actually lives near us, and who is still working as a blacksmith, and that friend has offered to have TBear come watch and learn from him.  TBear has been practicing and reading so he has good questions ready for when he calls this very generous gentleman.

Tuesday is Art Day

I'm really starting to look forward to Tuesdays.  I had TBear signed up for professional art lessons for the first two school quarters, but he wasn't having as much fun as it was costing me money, so I decided to can the art lessons.  Don't get me wrong, the teacher was lovely and very knowledgeable, but she just didn't mesh with what TBear and I were hoping for or expecting to get out of it.  Who knows why.

It occurred to me that I had paid for many art lessons for Riss, who is actually a very talented artist.  So I asked if she would be willing to come share some of her knowledge with her brother (and me!) and continue our Tuesday afternoon art classes at home.  I wish I'd thought of this sooner!  We have had the best time for the past month or so painting and visiting with Riss.  The best part is that I get to "do" art too!  (I think I was a deprived child in that subject.)

We're studying the 1800's in history this year, and one of the books we're reading is Monet and the Impressionists for Kids, so it made sense to me to try out some 19th century artists' styles.  Rissie's assignments don't always stick to that century in artists or art styles - she tends to flit around in the subject, rather like a butterfly - but we did do one fun project on pointillism that I'll share, primarily because we've finally finished it!  The pictures we painted are copies of works we liked by Georges Seurat.   Riss took hers home before I could photograph it, but if she brings it back, I'll add it to the post.

Pointillism takes patience.  And practice.  We're not ready to quit our day jobs yet, but it was fun, and we have a new appreciation for gifted artists.

Catching Up

Life since mid-January has been a little busier than usual here for us, as we've taken on a darling, new, little challenge.  Consequently, I haven't been as good at blogging as I imagined I might be when I started this.  That, and so many things that occur here occur seasonally.  Which means that a lot of what I would post about seems like a re-run; however, at the risk of boring you with the same old, same old, here goes.

Our 19-month-old grandniece is staying with us for a little while, while her mom goes through Basic Training in the Army, and her dad finds a place to live and gets settled in his new job in Missouri.  Meanwhile, our 3-year-old grand-Sonny also hangs out with us most afternoons while his mom works the 3-midnight shift.  (You're starting to understand why I'm not blogging more, huh.)

I was leafing through some of the pictures I've taken this winter/spring and thought I'd share a snapshot of life here at Whit's End Farm.

I copied some music for TBear one day and went to find the tape so I could tape the pages together.

Apparently, Sonny got to the tape first.  Scotch tape makes a good tow truck.

TBear frequently finds himself with more help than he thought he needed, but she's cute! 

I won't bore you with pictures of our snow again, though the ice storm was pretty, if somewhat damaging to the trees around us.  About mid-March, the weather finally turned warm enough during the day that we were able to tap the maple trees on March 14th this year.  We still had at least 2 feet of snow in places, but the days were above freezing while the night temps were still below...perfect weather to make the sap run.  The twist on the tapping procedure this year involved two helpers in the sled.

One of our helpers really preferred to be in the snow, not the sled, where she could sample the icy stuff.  This kid has a thing about ice...  

We still needed snowshoes to get around.  Some friends loaned us a pair of kids' snowshoes that fit Sonny.  Miss T really wanted to try them out, but her little boots just weren't big enough to fit them.  Maybe next year. 

For the next three weeks or so, TBear took the sled around and emptied all the buckets until boiling day. 

At one point I walked out of a snowshoe and realized just how deep the snow still was.

The kids stuck by the sled where they could help with emptying the buckets of sap into the storage containers.

Finally on Saturday afternoons, Whit spent the day boiling the sap down into syrup.  By the end of this short season, I think we managed to make about 3 gallons of syrup.  Not a lot, but enough to get us through until next year.  As you can see below, by April 9th when TBear pulled all the taps because the trees were starting to bud and the sap was turning yellow - signs that the syrup-making season was at an end - most of the snow has melted.  It's always amazing to me how quickly it goes in some places and how slowly in others, like in the shadows behind our house.

 Miss T and Whit enjoy a sunny, warm afternoon by the evaporator.

 The wagon is loaded with the taps and buckets and TBear (and Miss T) are taking it back to store in the barn again until next spring.

I was happy with the amount of syrup we got this year.

I was also happy with my good helper.

Once the sap was done, we had to find something else to entertain us in the afternoons.  Dusting off the old rocking horse turned out to be a really good idea.

That pretty much brings us up to date.  School is rolling right along, though starting Wednesday, we'll be taking a week off for spring break and Easter.  We recently did some fun art projects with Riss, which I may try to show you next time.  Until then, no tomatoes please, I'm doing the best I can to keep everyone entertained. : P