Setting notes for "Not Until We Are Lost"
Feb. 28th, 2024 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThese are the setting notes for "Not Until We Are Lost."
Lazy Maple Lane currently spans about 75 acres of sugarbush and pastures. Like many farms in Terramagne-America, it gathers mutlple income streams to support the family. These include spring wildflower viewing, fall leaf viewing, and winter maple sugar. Some things like birdwatching, camping, creative arts, fishing, hiking, and hunting span multiple seasons. Vermont Acer cows provide meat, milk, and animal power.
This is an aerial overview of Lazy Maple Lane, which includes a mix of pastures and forest.
These are closer views of the forest and pastures.
The Vermont Acer is a heritage breed of smallish cows, selected for their ability to browse in sugarbush forests as well as graze on grass. This triple-purpose breed gives a modest amount of excellent milk, produces a modest amount of sweet tender beef, and can be trained as oxen for packing or hauling cargo even in forested areas. Historically they were used in forestry and maple sugaring. They come in a wide range of colors including black, brown, and white. They are more often dotted or patched than solid, and many have a heart-shaped or maple leaf spot on the forehead. Sleek in summer, Acers grow a voluminous shaggy coat to protect them from harsh winter weather, believed to come from Highland cows although most Acers are naturally polled (hornless). Dairy Shorthorn, Jersey, and Pineywoods are other ancestors of the breed. Acers make ideal homestead cows throughout the Northeast, easy keepers and sweet-tempered enough for even novice farmers to handle. They are also quite popular for Teen Cow and 4-H projects.
This pasture overlooks the sugarbush. Some of the pastures are sloped.
This general-use log cabin has a large deck. It has a great room with living room, kitchen, and dining space as well as a master bedroom and common bathroom downstairs, and sleeping lofts upstairs. The deck features a variety of seating and part of it overlooks the pastures.
This grassy road goes through the sugarbush.
Rocks edge this pasture. A wooden fence surrounds this pasture.
This old shack stands beside a grassy road.
A low stone fence borders a leafy road.
One of several natural springs on the property, this one has been capped and piped to provide water to a nearby campsite.
This hike-in campsite has a picnic table and firepit, with enough level ground for several tents. It has water piped in from a nearby spring.
Daniel Hazeltine has an alliance with the Abenaki. They send scouts to survey the whole farm and make recommendations of what to hunt when and how many. Daniel then cross-references that with Vermont hunting seasons to plan slots for his guided hunts. In exchange, the Abenaki get some free hunting days. A similar arrangement covers gathering in other seasons.
The game cleaning station also has running water from the spring.
The visiting artist cabin is distinguished by a round window. The back and side have a large deck designed for working en plein air, thus providing a convenient place for the artist in residence to host classes. The living area includes a futon, coffee table, chairs, wardrobe, and woodstove. The studio has an easel, art desk, and cabinet for art supplies. The bathroom has two sinks, a bathtub with a handheld shower hose, and a toilet (not visible in this picture). The sleeping loft has two full-size beds.
The writing cabin has a large deck. The living area includes a woodstove, writing desk and chair, coffee table, and futon. The bathroom has a sink, a rainshower, a bathtub, and a toilet (not visible in this picture). The sleeping loft has two twin mattresses.
The sugar shack has equipment for making maple syrup or sugar, along with a small storefront for selling maple goods.
In some areas, tapping lines run between the trees to carry sap.
Hiking trails wind through the forests.
The old-growth remnants occur in places too steep and/or rocky for clearcutting or farming, so they were left alone. Lazy Maple Lane has designated all of its surviving old-growth patches as protected territory, not for harvesting. Some are accessible for hiking. Standing snags and down logs provide wildlife habitat, the bigger the better.
Are there other tree species besides sugar maples in our sugarbush? Yes. We have American beech, white ash, black birch, bitternut hickory, and red oak. (Red oak is particularly valuable because lots of native insects like it, so lots of insect-eating birds like it, too.)
Several parcels of former clearcut have been treated with restoration plantings of half sugar maple and half a mix of American beech, white ash, black birch, bitternut hickory, red oak, and other native sugarbush species. Terramagne-Vermont sells sugarbush packages in sizes ranging from 10 to 1000 trees with combinations such as this. You can also get a half-oak (black oak, bur oak, chinkapin oak, pin oak, red oak, scarlet oak, white oak, etc.) mix, or a mix of half sugar maple and half assorted native nut trees (American beech, black walnut, bitternut hickory, butternut, American chestnut, oak, shagbark hickory, etc.), to make a mast forest.
Higher up the slopes, more evergreens appear. Most of these are native species too.
Wildflower Spring emerges in a meadow of wildflowers within the forest.
Sandy Spring seeps up in one of the pastures. Its source is fenced for protection, but part of the spillover is left open for the cows to drink.
Daniel Hazeltine lives in this log cabin.
The ceramic studio includes work tables and chairs, pottery wheels, and supply cabinets.
The living room has an assortment of tables and chairs, along with a woodstove. Bedroom 1 has a queen-size bed. Bedroom 2 has a built-in bunk with three beds. The common bathroom has a sink, a toilet (not visible in this picture), and a bathtub with a handheld shower hose.
Upstairs, the dining room includes a couch and a table with chairs. The kitchen has an island with a double sink.
On the second floor, the bathroom features a sink, a toilet (not visible in this picture), and a bathtub. Bedroom 1 has a queen-size bed with end tables. Bedroom 2 has a twin bunk bed.
The ArtWorks store holds the gift shop with finished goods and the art supply shop.
The wildlife pond has a bird feeding station beside it.
Lazy Maple Lane currently spans about 75 acres of sugarbush and pastures. Like many farms in Terramagne-America, it gathers mutlple income streams to support the family. These include spring wildflower viewing, fall leaf viewing, and winter maple sugar. Some things like birdwatching, camping, creative arts, fishing, hiking, and hunting span multiple seasons. Vermont Acer cows provide meat, milk, and animal power.
This is an aerial overview of Lazy Maple Lane, which includes a mix of pastures and forest.
These are closer views of the forest and pastures.
The Vermont Acer is a heritage breed of smallish cows, selected for their ability to browse in sugarbush forests as well as graze on grass. This triple-purpose breed gives a modest amount of excellent milk, produces a modest amount of sweet tender beef, and can be trained as oxen for packing or hauling cargo even in forested areas. Historically they were used in forestry and maple sugaring. They come in a wide range of colors including black, brown, and white. They are more often dotted or patched than solid, and many have a heart-shaped or maple leaf spot on the forehead. Sleek in summer, Acers grow a voluminous shaggy coat to protect them from harsh winter weather, believed to come from Highland cows although most Acers are naturally polled (hornless). Dairy Shorthorn, Jersey, and Pineywoods are other ancestors of the breed. Acers make ideal homestead cows throughout the Northeast, easy keepers and sweet-tempered enough for even novice farmers to handle. They are also quite popular for Teen Cow and 4-H projects.
This pasture overlooks the sugarbush. Some of the pastures are sloped.
This general-use log cabin has a large deck. It has a great room with living room, kitchen, and dining space as well as a master bedroom and common bathroom downstairs, and sleeping lofts upstairs. The deck features a variety of seating and part of it overlooks the pastures.
This grassy road goes through the sugarbush.
Rocks edge this pasture. A wooden fence surrounds this pasture.
This old shack stands beside a grassy road.
A low stone fence borders a leafy road.
One of several natural springs on the property, this one has been capped and piped to provide water to a nearby campsite.
This hike-in campsite has a picnic table and firepit, with enough level ground for several tents. It has water piped in from a nearby spring.
Daniel Hazeltine has an alliance with the Abenaki. They send scouts to survey the whole farm and make recommendations of what to hunt when and how many. Daniel then cross-references that with Vermont hunting seasons to plan slots for his guided hunts. In exchange, the Abenaki get some free hunting days. A similar arrangement covers gathering in other seasons.
The game cleaning station also has running water from the spring.
The visiting artist cabin is distinguished by a round window. The back and side have a large deck designed for working en plein air, thus providing a convenient place for the artist in residence to host classes. The living area includes a futon, coffee table, chairs, wardrobe, and woodstove. The studio has an easel, art desk, and cabinet for art supplies. The bathroom has two sinks, a bathtub with a handheld shower hose, and a toilet (not visible in this picture). The sleeping loft has two full-size beds.
The writing cabin has a large deck. The living area includes a woodstove, writing desk and chair, coffee table, and futon. The bathroom has a sink, a rainshower, a bathtub, and a toilet (not visible in this picture). The sleeping loft has two twin mattresses.
The sugar shack has equipment for making maple syrup or sugar, along with a small storefront for selling maple goods.
In some areas, tapping lines run between the trees to carry sap.
Hiking trails wind through the forests.
The old-growth remnants occur in places too steep and/or rocky for clearcutting or farming, so they were left alone. Lazy Maple Lane has designated all of its surviving old-growth patches as protected territory, not for harvesting. Some are accessible for hiking. Standing snags and down logs provide wildlife habitat, the bigger the better.
Are there other tree species besides sugar maples in our sugarbush? Yes. We have American beech, white ash, black birch, bitternut hickory, and red oak. (Red oak is particularly valuable because lots of native insects like it, so lots of insect-eating birds like it, too.)
Several parcels of former clearcut have been treated with restoration plantings of half sugar maple and half a mix of American beech, white ash, black birch, bitternut hickory, red oak, and other native sugarbush species. Terramagne-Vermont sells sugarbush packages in sizes ranging from 10 to 1000 trees with combinations such as this. You can also get a half-oak (black oak, bur oak, chinkapin oak, pin oak, red oak, scarlet oak, white oak, etc.) mix, or a mix of half sugar maple and half assorted native nut trees (American beech, black walnut, bitternut hickory, butternut, American chestnut, oak, shagbark hickory, etc.), to make a mast forest.
Higher up the slopes, more evergreens appear. Most of these are native species too.
Wildflower Spring emerges in a meadow of wildflowers within the forest.
Sandy Spring seeps up in one of the pastures. Its source is fenced for protection, but part of the spillover is left open for the cows to drink.
Daniel Hazeltine lives in this log cabin.
The ceramic studio includes work tables and chairs, pottery wheels, and supply cabinets.
The living room has an assortment of tables and chairs, along with a woodstove. Bedroom 1 has a queen-size bed. Bedroom 2 has a built-in bunk with three beds. The common bathroom has a sink, a toilet (not visible in this picture), and a bathtub with a handheld shower hose.
Upstairs, the dining room includes a couch and a table with chairs. The kitchen has an island with a double sink.
On the second floor, the bathroom features a sink, a toilet (not visible in this picture), and a bathtub. Bedroom 1 has a queen-size bed with end tables. Bedroom 2 has a twin bunk bed.
The ArtWorks store holds the gift shop with finished goods and the art supply shop.
The wildlife pond has a bird feeding station beside it.
