Next we hear from Maple Trout Lilli who writes: Here’s a recipe I found online for a delicious, bold take on asparagus. It’s hearty enough for a light dinner and the crisp, sweet caramelized scallions are delicious paired with the asparagus. Bon appétit. SPRING SALAD ¼ cup farro or any grain really 2 ½ teaspoons soy sauce… Read More
Monday Buds
To celebrate the conclusion of the 2017 Sugaring Project at Nebraska Knoll, the blog will feature the equivalent of a Fireworks Finale. First let’s start with the trees without which there would be no sugaring project. Here is the most recent painting of sugar maple buds by Ana Lucia. A retrospective: Thank you,… Read More
Sunday Buds and Maple as Leader
Here is a new painting by crew member Ana Lucia that shows how buds look when they have just popped, in this case shortly after the final boiling day. Compare the popped buds with the tight buds of March. It seems right to print once again the story of how First Nation citizens revere the… Read More
Ephemerals Fest
The Ephemerals: Spring Beauties
This year the blog will revive its photo celebration of the northern hardwoods ephemerals, the flowers that bloom on the forest floor after the last sap run and before the canopy fills in and shuts out the sunlight. Here is the front of a card created and printed by neighbor Heather Hale on one of… Read More
Saturday afternoon at the opera
April 22. It is a Saturday afternoon in late April, eleven days out from the final boiling day, and all seems familiar. Wild leeks near the Keystone line are poking up 3-4″. Spring beauty buds are tight today but won’t be for long. Witch hobble blossoms and leaves are greening up at the edges. Falls… Read More
Maple Ginger Beer
Guest blogger Sarah Bailey (see Thriving in the Sugarhouse, 3/17/17) writes: If you’re already familiar and experienced in keeping cultures and fermenting beverages this recipe is a breeze. If the world of fermentation is totally new to you, I’ll try to make it easy enough. The basic recipe is as follows: 1-3 inches ginger (depending… Read More
70 degrees in the shade
In case you readers have not read the blog comments recently, I will print the poem offered there by Elyse Moore in response to the previous post. Sweet Music to Boil By Sweet music to boil by floats minds on clouds of steam, through harmonies of aching muscles and hearts– Hums liquid tones through soaring… Read More
Music to Boil By
12:30am. When I walked out of the sugarhouse after 16 hours of work, the greater world expanded in stillness below a full moon, but just until I noticed how clouds chased across the moon, how urgently Miller Brook bellowed from the bottom of the valley, and how cool air emanated from the snowbank. … Read More
Sunday Buds and a Washing Machine
Other titles for today’s post could be: I Smell M.U.D. Saving the best for last There’s red in them thar hills Even the sunshine can’t get her off the couch The last option explains why there is no post titled April, Round One. It wasn’t clear that last week’s continual weak run would end –… Read More