WEATHER: April in February, now February in April. Low last night 18, snowing hard this afternoon. HOW’S IT RUNNING? The second intermission began yesterday. Of note earlier in the week was how strong the bucket taps (all five) were running; they outperformed the tubing taps. Usually by late in the season the bucket taps have… Read More
Iskigamigee-giizis
Welcome, April. Crew member Ana shared with us that the Ojibwe of the Great Lakes region call each month a “moon.” March is Onaabani-giizis, or hard crust on the snow moon; April is Iskigamigee-giizis, or maple sugar moon. For more on Ojibwe sugaring from a child’s perspective: .)https://www.glifwc.org/publications/pdf/Iskigamizigan_Supplement.pdf Weather: Nothing to alarm… Read More
Nothing but Smoke and Steam
Hill Report from woods crew wizard Ross Scatchard: Puzzled Doing the line check on KO [lowest line on Keystone] the other day, a couple of the sap lines seemed different from the others. I was in the tired, thirsty, constantly hungry, and slightly cross-eyed state that comes from chasing bubbles and small leaks… Read More
Shades of Possibility
HILL REPORT. from woods crew member Cy Kupersmith: Legs are feeling strong after enough of a break to relieve fatigue but not too long to feel gassed. Great snow for snow shoeing. Predictably soft and not punchy. Weather has been good for one layer. Sometimes two at the end of the day. Sunglasses and a brimmed… Read More
Sweet Potato and Broccoli Bowl
This afternoon, food correspondent Maple Trout Lilli emerged from her car bearing a platter heaped high with dinner. I might have written that she brought up a dish for our dinner, but it turns out it’s a bowl not a dish. We’re tired of dishes, right? Today is only the second time I’ve heard of… Read More
Intermission is Over
Morning conversation overheard in the Nebraska Knoll office. [Chief of Operations has just hung up from a phone interview with a reporter at the local newspaper.] “I’m surprised to hear you say it’s going to be a good season,” says the office manager, a woman in a sweatshirt who stands hunched over a desk strewn… Read More
Vernal Equinox: Kindlings
I know a family who celebrates the vernal equinox by cross-country skiing for 12 hours from sunup to sundown. Today I celebrated the blinding, healing sun while walking back and forth between the house and the sugarhouse (as I… Read More
Eye Gap and Crucial
WEATHER: It snowed for a week and then the sun came out. The sky today was blue as can be. Even the snow was blue down deep in the holes made by my ski poles. HOW’S IT RUNNING? The trees are buttoned up and have been since March 6th, except for one mild afternoon… Read More
Broiled Oranges with Cardamom Syrup. Maple Glazed Pecans.
Anyone visiting the Nebraska Knoll sugarhouse may note the bag of oranges on the blue counter. We all snack on oranges since they juicily offset the pore-pervading maple bouquet. The citrus cuts the sweet. Maple Trout Lilli ventures into the realm of maple and orange with a fresh sense of the possible (and the elegant).… Read More
Slowly to exhale away
“As early as 1663, the great English chemist, Robert Boyle, told the learned world of Europe that ‘There is in some parts of New England a kind of tree…whose juice that weeps out of its incisions, if it be permitted slowly to exhale away the superfluous moisture, doth congeal into a sweet and saccharin substance,… Read More
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