OOPS: Whose nest is this?
March, Final Round
EXPECT NOTHING. Unfortunately we can’t resist viewing the NOAA and Weather Underground sites to check the forecast. The Wunderground site displays a graph that illustrates the fluctuations in air temp hour by hour. We get our hopes up for a sap run when we see it freezing by 9pm and climbing to 40F. by 1pm… Read More
Maple Cardamom Glazed Salmon
The blog’s food correspondent Maple Trout Lilli writes: First, a little history on this very-unique-not-often-used spice we’ve pared with maple syrup. Did you know that: In ancient Eastern medical traditions, cardamom could cure a sore throat, teeth and gum infections, congestion, tuberculosis, stomach, kidney, and lung problems, and also be used as an antidote… Read More
Sunday Buds
Maple Open House While people twirled sugar-on-snow onto their wooden sticks bit into dill pickles slipped closer to the bonfire sipped sap coffee while chatting with someone they knew from somewhere else, While children slid down the snowbank again and again scrambled back up on all fours rubbed the smoke out of their eyes clung… Read More
March, Round Two
WEATHER: First it snowed for three days, then the sun came out and drew everyone outdoors for three shimmering days, then the air warmed enough on the first day of spring to wake up the trees, then the clouds moved in along with snow and plummeting temps, and today the sun returned and the… Read More
Sunday Caption Corner
SUNDAY NITE AT THE MOVIES: Sugarmakers made the most of the Big Thaw of February, and this past week COO and the Hutchins brothers (who grew up climbing on our wood pile, next worked crew for many years, and now sugar in Caledonia County) made the most of the Pi Day Snowstorm. Here is Ben… Read More
To Thrive in the Sugarhouse, Remember a Few Tricks
One of our new crew members, Sarah Bailey, is today’s guest blogger. She writes: Thriving (surviving) in the Sugar House When the weather is right the hard work of the day bleeds well into the night. The wood needs stacking, the filter needs changing and has anyone checked the density lately? If the run lasts… Read More
Blizzard Soup
O happy day, Vermont is in the midst of a blizzard. Stay home, don’t venture out, the newscasters advise. Sit by the woodstove with a neighbor and sip hot soup, I advise. Serendipitously, Maple Trout Lilli stopped by with carrot soup, cashew cream, and croutons. She writes: If you have ever ventured into the world… Read More
Sunday Caption Corner
SUNDAY NITE AT THE MOVIES: Christian T. (woods crew 2015, 2016) sends along his take on the tapping beat. https://vimeo.com/207681940 SUNDAY CAPTION CORNER/MYSTERY PHOTO: What does this photo bring to mind? Or, what is it? [HINT: This photo was taken in the sugarhouse.]
March, Round One
WEATHER Saturday 3/11 Walking to the mailbox, my eye sockets ache in the winter wind, the thin snow squeaks underfoot, the woods shrink back from the road. WEATHER Wednesday 3/8 Standing by the sap shed, steam rises from a snowbank, the picnic table lies bare, my boot squishes one inch into the mud, ravens call… Read More