QUICK UPDATE from the couch: As expected during these milder-than-mild March days and nights, the sap has run continuously since Tuesday, but not with conviction. Today’s crisp air and northwest breeze qualified as sugaring weather, and tonight it is supposed to freeze at last – but then quickly climb out of sugaring weather into the 50’s.… Read More
Go
WEATHER: At 7:30 pm the temp is 61 degrees, Rain is moving in. HOW’S IT RUNNING? So-so. BOILING STATUS: We boiled yesterday evening and again today. The syrup is just delicious. HOW’S THE BROKEN WRIST? Tuesday’s three-hour surgical repair (carpentry? auto mechanics?) went very well. The patient is resting on the couch with her arm propped… Read More
Countdown: 5,4,3,2,1
And Still SUNDAY Maple crowns sunlit and still, Bobcat tracks frozen and still, March air bright and still, Falls Brook a little frozen, a little still, Vacuum pump not on and still, Even the birds mostly resting and still. Walking in the woods, her mind stills. MONDAY And still it’s trying to snow, And still he’s… Read More
Countdown: 5,4,3
WEATHER: Frozen up all week since the February 29th boil. In the forecast: warmth and mud and sap runs. The season is about to break wide open. Stay loose, or hold on tight for a wild ride. FEBRUARY BOILS AND OTHER EARLY STARTS: We read through the logbook all the way… Read More
Ka-Pow
Our Food Correspondent Maple Trout Lilli writes: GREEN, GREENS, GREENS I recently read an article whose byline was “Let’s all stop pretending we love Kale.” Agreed, so let’s eat Chard instead. A vibrant dressing makes these humble leaves go Ka-Pow. Jolt your taste buds like the Nebraska Knoll crew jolts the boiling sap… Read More
Leap Year Boil
Coming to you live from the sugarhouse, the Nebraska Knoll crew presents “The Night of the Leap Year Boil.” Sitting to my right is Christian Wayne, no, wait, he is not sitting, he has moved away from the camera to pick up an overflowing pail of hot water by the evaporator. “I don’t know why… Read More
On Ice
WEATHER: Gray and calm, with the temp arcing from 31.5 F to 40 back to 31.5 at suppertime. The fields are bare of snow, but the sugarbush retains a base. HOW’S IT RUNNING? Not well today, although the vacuum pump is on. BOILING STATUS: The first boil of the season occurred on Thursday night,… Read More
Anemic Winter
Looking out the window this morning toward the hillside, I see snow and bare ground splotched erratically. The driveway is dull with gray ice. For you far-flung readers, here is a quote from NOAA’s forecast that repeats week after week like a mantra: “Wednesday: Snow and sleet likely before noon, then rain and sleet likely… Read More
Saturday Chores
Two people transferred boxes of new syrup jugs from a Chevy van to the loft of the sugarhouse, then cleared off the counter to make room for tools. They then wriggled the front and back pans into place over the firebox in eighteen deliberate steps, using twenty-nine different tools. Then one person found the hose and… Read More
Late November Bears
On This Date Two Years Ago: She says to L across the breakfast table, “Yesterday I hiked a ski trail to the Octagon, and as I was coming back down three bears crossed upper Toll Road. They crossed single file about a hundred yards below me. Probably a mother and two cubs.” She… Read More
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