Quaker Community Forest

Three people (& three dogs) tapped the trees on March 8.

We cleaned out the 100 gallon tank,

(click on the image to see it full size)

got it level, and steady to be filled to the brim. 

We drilled the tapping holes,

and connected the trees to the tank with hundreds of feet of tubing.

A week later, the sap started running while Ralph was there tapping other trees that drip into five-gallon jugs.

We will be ready for the great Maple Syrup Boil-Down Family Day on Saturday March 28.

We will follow the general plan outlined here.

Here are this year’s variations for Saturday (updated last on 3/18/09):

• No carpool-gathering point this year. Hopefully you can find an old-timer you know who is going.
•  Veggie Chili will be served Saturday, 5:00-5:30. Bring a cold-food potluck supplement (like bread/apples/cheese) if you plan to stay for this supper.
• BYO bag lunch
• Sap-sweetened tea and cocoa provided
• The privacy-screened, kid-friendly Porta-Potti will be there.
• Remember your quart jar.

Directions to the event are here.

We will also be there most of the day Sunday 3/29. We’d be glad to see you. Maybe you can stay to help us pack up!

  We’ll be gathering on Sandhill, 40 acres owned by Cynthia Bartoo and Ralph Jacobson for almost 30 years, north of Menominee, Wisconsin.
Join us, arriving anytime between 11AM & 3PM.
Harvest quirky Jack Pines for Xmas trees or boughs, or cut yourself some firewood. Donations accepted. Or get away on a tromp through woods and prairie.
Looks like we’ll have snow. If so, there’s nice cross-country skiing through mixed forest & prairie environments, and there’s a little downhill sledding.
Check out the re-growth from the “three acres of logging for tax-breaks” that happened in 2004.

Hot cider. Kid friendly: warming tent & porta-potti available on site.
Plus:
*Talk about the Quaker Community Forest vision and our hopes for this land.
*Discuss and implement some of Ralph & Cynthia’s DNR-approved forest maintenance activities.

If you think you might come, please let Cynthia know. This is because we are uncertain enough about the weather that we want to know how many to prepare for, especially children, and also how long we should stay out there, to welcome latecomers. Cynthia will have information, maps and car-pooling connections. (It’s about a 90 minute drive from the Twin Cities.)

If you are carpooling with us, arrive at Ralph and Cynthia’s at 8:30. We’ll pack ourselves and our gear into as few cars as possible and
Depart for Sandhill at 8:45.

If you come, but don’t carpool, here are directions.

Bring a hand saw if you have one. And loppers. We will have extras.

Bring your own lunch. We’ll have a stove, cider and tea.

For the eighth year in a row Quaker Community Foresters will be doing buckthorn removal. Here’s what it looked like in 2006.

This year we will meet at David Paxson’s farm, quite near McCutchan’s farm. Sad to say, Mac & Margie needed to move  into town (Northfield).

Map to farm of Dave Paxon and Becky Jokela:

(Click for full size.)

Here are some instructions for the day

1. Bring sturdy warm clothing - you will be moving through some scratchy bushes on uneven terrain so be prepared - work gloves are needed and eye protection is recommended. Shoes with ankle support are good. Layering is helpful: you’ll likely be down to your shirt sleeves after some heavy work!
2. Bring pruning saws & shears or clippers if you have them. We’ll have weed wrenches and extras of most equipment.
3. (This is not a child-friendly event. We are glad to see children under 16, but if you bring them you should think of this as your educational event for them, where you will be attending to them at all times.)
4. Bring a dish for potluck lunch. Hot drinks will be available.
5. Bring your own drinking water bottle.
6. Starting time is 10:00 AM, lunch about 1:00 PM. Quitting time is about 4:30 PM or whatever earlier time you choose, or it when gets too dark or cold to continue!!!

Cynthia Bartoo is coordinating rides for Twin Cities folks. Please contact her if you are planning to come, even if you will go on your own. We would like to know how many people are coming. We will gather to carpool at Cynthia and Ralph’s house, 8:30 AM, leaving  about 8:45. We’ll leave maps inside the front porch door for anyone who arrives late.

COME HAVE A GREAT, FOCUSED, OUTDOOR DAY WITH QUAKER FRIENDS FROM SEVERAL AREA MEETINGS.

Buckthorn Removal Outing, Saturday November 1, 10AM to late afternoon.

Meet at Dave’s home, near Sogn, MN, in the Cannon Valley.
People in the Twin Cities area who want to carpool should meet at Cynthia & Ralph’s 8:30 AM.
Bring your own lunch, hot drinks provided.
For Buckthorn trees too large to uproot, 14oz and larger cans would be appreciated.

People who are interested should reach Cynthia, to inquire and RSVP.

Early Winter Harvest
Saturday, December 13, at Sandhill.

8:30AM carpool from Ralph and Cynthia’s. The other details will be as usual and will be repeated in November.

Harvest Yule trees and greens.

Cut firewood, with optional lesson on chainsaw use and safety, and how to harvest wood in ways that promote forest stewardship.

Perhaps a forestry project—pruning the red pines.

Our Next meetings will be on the Mondays of November 3 (just after Buckthorn Busting) and January 5.

Sadly, Margie and Alden McCutchan had to move off their beautiful rural land, on which we have done buckthorn removal the last six years. They are both over 85, and it seemed prudent for them to live in Northfield, where help will be nearby, when they need it.

Fortunately, another member of the Cannon Valley Quaker community has offered to host our seasonal event, David Paxon, who has moved here from the Philadelphia area. (He has lots to say about the Quaker tradition of Arboretums in the area.)

The date will be:

Saturday, November 1, 2008,

The outline of the day will be similar to previous years, with a carpool from the Twin Cities, and probably folks coming from other areas. Work on the land starts mid-morning. We will have a potluck lunch, followed by more buckthorn busting in the afternoon. Home by dark (Daylight savings time will last another 10 hours).

Details are still being worked out, and will be posted here, when we have them.

Here’s what it looked like in 2006, at McCutchan’s

Heads up, the Family-Camping Overnight is at Sandhill on August 2 & 3.

Check out what you can expect with these photos from previous years.

Here are directions for getting there.

Call Cynthia Bartoo for more information, including specifics on a carpool from Cynthia and Ralph’s house on Saturday morning.

We have six confirmed campers, mid-July.

The Annual Meeting will be held at Cynthia and Ralph’s house:

It begins with a potluck at 6PM.

Current Forest Friends Board Membership:

Term expires June `08:
Sarah Marquardt (will do a 2nd term)
Pam Heggie
(Richard Fuller has been nominated to replace Pam, as her term is ending. )

Term expires May `09:
Ellen Seagren (eligible for 2nd term)
Lyn Egolf Grider (eligible for 2nd term)

Term expires May `10:
Ralph Jacobson

Agenda of Board meeting

1. Reports from officers
   1. President
   2. Treasurer
   3. Secretary
2. Choosing new Board member and officers
3. Officer selection: President, Treasurer and Secretary.
4. Do we want to continue to be registered in Wisconsin, as well as Minnesota?
5. The Treasurers’ Team recommends filing only the new, low-impact 990-N. Approve?
6. Approve a continuing resolution, such as: “The Board authorizes the officers to open or maintain bank accounts and to conduct the routine business of FF Inc. between annual meetings.”
7. Do we agree to plan the next annual meeting at or temporally near Northern Yearly Meeting Gathering in 2009?

Kids plant Trees: Sunday May 18th, 12:30pm until 4 pm

• Kids will plant trees with adult support.
• Lunch will be a potluck picnic
• There will be games on the lawn (weather permitting)
• And a special visit from the Gaia Troubadour
  who will lead a spring tree dedication.
• Also, solar powered ice cream - from Izzy’s!!

Please bring finger food for the potluck
and a shovel to dig with (if you have one).

Drinks and ice cream provided.
Where: Newman-Heggie’s Backyard, 3 blocks from TCFM, in St. Paul.

So here’s the plan for the weekend of April 4-6, 2008:

(And here’s how to get there.)

Friday April 4
Three of us will go out to Sandhill with Richard’s camper.
We probably won’t know till that day what time we are leaving town.
We will get the boil-down rig set up, the fire started and the sap beginning to boil, and have a simple supper.
And boil on, `til “Quaker midnight.”

Saturday April 5 Weather Forecast: Cloudy, low: 40, high of 60.
At Sandhill
Before breakfast, it’s up to the sugar bush to rekindle the fire. Then, for breakfast, oatmeal made with boiling sap and cut fruit bits.

In Saint Paul
Saturday morning in Saint Paul, a car-pool group will gather at the Bartoo-Jacobson’s house at 8:30, leaving at 8:45 in as few cars as is convenient.

As we fill cars, we’ll take into account when people need to return. You should be able to arrange a ride back into town that suits your needs. Otherwise (gasp) you can just drive yourself, within the caravan.

People are welcome to drive on their own, as well. Come and go when it suits you. Use the maps on the website.

Lunch
Saturday is BYO lunch and maybe a bit of snack to share. Hot beverages available.

Supper
Cynthia is making chili and brownies for a 5PM supper. You can bring bread or cheese or fruit to share as a supplement.
RSVP to Cynthia, if you’d like to have part of the chili.

Any hardy soul who wants to try some late-winter camping is welcome to stay overnight.
(Next year maybe we’ll clear out part of the wood-drying shed for you.)

Sunday April 6 Weather Forcast: 40% chance of showers, low: 30, high of 45.
At Sandhill
A repeat of Saturday morning, for those who spent the night.

In Saint Paul
Again on Sunday morning in Saint Paul, a car-pool will gather at the Bartoo-Jacobson’s house.
8:30?! Probably! Better call between 7:45 & 8AM to make sure. (Phone # above.)

Lunch
Sunday is BYO lunch, again, with hot beverages available.

At least Cynthia will be leaving Sandhill at 3PM, on Sunday.
The boil-down will probably wind down shortly after, although we might go into extra innings, running even until dark.

Come, be a part of the scene, maybe take part in one of Ralph’s impromptu guided tours of the land, and also feel free to take some time walking by yourself, or with one or two others.
If you want to harvest firewood, do. We’ll be accepting donations for chili & firewood.

This is our dream for QCF outings: folks take the opportunity to be on the land and to reconnect with the living earth. They spend some time helping with the group effort, which we understand as “spiritual refreshment in community.” They also feel free to take some time for spiritual refreshment with one or two others, or alone.

Come to the woods north of Menomonie in western Wisconsin! We’ll be boiling maple sap and tromping through the woods as winter melts into spring!  It’s a great time, we’ll have a warming trailer and hot maple sap–makes great cocoa! (We’ll be there some of Friday and Sunday too.)

Here’s what to expect, generally.

When we have more information about the particulars of this year, we’ll post it here.