Chief of Operation writes: Notes from a couple of memorable days of sugaring during the final week of March. March 27/28 March 29 6” snow last night, skied close to 2,000’ vertical through fresh powder from top of Morningside Ridge above our south-side sugarbush in the morning, slept all afternoon, temperature too cold most of… Read More
The Beauty Tour
QUICK UPDATE 3/13: It’s happening: thaw weather and sap runs. Today commences a multi-day thaw. We don’t relish the forecast of temps in the 50’s or 60’s with no freezing nights. It could be a year when all the sap comes at once. THE BEAUTY TOUR On tapping days and tubing-maintenance days the woods crew… Read More
Sugarhouse Dome
Chief of Operations writes: Visitors entering our evaporator room during boiling hours are immediately confronted by the roaring evaporator that commands their attention. As the initial shock of voraciously steaming pans subsides, the observant begin to notice a few other points of interest in this room. High on the north wall over the woodshed doors… Read More
Notes from a blur of a week
We’re doing that different now, he announced. She could smell from outside that the syrup had dropped grade.Everyone is saying it’s the worst mud season in a long, long time.Forty degrees feels chilly after two days of sixty.Now we scrub the niter off the hydrometer cup during evening cleanup. Until this week we soaked the… Read More
The Pot That Never Boils
On Sunday morning Chief of Operations wrote: Sunday’s Threelittle (Tri-Cube) Corner:[Three syllables per line; three lines per stanza; three stanzas per poem] Connect hoseto the nextby the shed. Pull back thenpush til thefitting clicks. Takes strength, takesfinesse, takesrepeating. ——— Write to meof March orthe full moon. Write to meof drizzleor blossoms. Write to mebecause Iam… Read More
Sunday Oddities
Introducing: The Threelittle, the 2021 Blog Poetry Form. The rules for composing a threelittle: Each line has three syllables.Each verse has three lines.Each poem has three verses. Here’s one: When you writefor fun justbe silly. Type it outbefore youthink on it. Choose anyflavor butstrawberry. As Blog Madame I invite you to write threelittles to your… Read More
Let’s Bake a Cake
Maple Trout Lilli writes: PARSNIP CAKE WITH MAPLE MASCARPONE CREAM “Where there is cake, there is hope, and there is always cake.” – Dean Koontz I was speaking with my sister the other day about the state of our world and she said “make a cake – you’ll feel better”…. So I pulled out my… Read More
Night or Day?
Weather: In the past week we got two freeze/thaw cycles followed by a cold Saturday. Today, Sunday, A Mighty Thaw (The Mighty Thaw?) got going. At 7pm it’s in the mid-forties and most likely won’t freeze for several days. This forecast is not ideal, it’s intimidating. How’s It Running? Those freezing nights last week triggered… Read More
April 8th Update
WEATHER: Since the April 4th post, the nighttime lows have ranged from 30-33, the daytime highs from 33-40 except for yesterday’s high of 46 or so. Today the temp hovered at 34 while sleet stung the face. In the tug-of-war between winter and summer, winter is currently tugging harder. The dreaded precipitous April thaw hasn’t… Read More
Preparing for Open House
WEATHER: Snow. It’s a white white white white world. HOW’S IT RUNNING: Ever since Wednesday afternoon the sap’s been flowing, but not well. At night it trickles, during the day it sputters (collectively, that is, with sap from all 9,700 taps flowing into one receptacle). SAP SWEETNESS: 2.2%. Good news. BOILING STATUS: Thursday was Day… Read More
The Nebraska Knoll Blog 