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
Irish Soda Bread for Saint Paddy’s Day
Maple Trout Lilli writes: WHOLE WHEAT HERBED IRISH SODA BREAD In anticipation of Saint Paddy’s Day this Thursday, I thought I would share my favorite, non-traditional, soda bread recipe. It’s hearty and sweetened with just a wee bit of maple sugar. The herbs add a distinct flavor and go really well with soft cheese and/or butter (of… Read More
The week behind, the week ahead
THE WEEK BEHIND: Last Monday, March 7th, the forecast of freezing nights and above-freezing days looked favorable for sap runs. In fact, we got a few mediocre late afternoon runs. The sap ran all night Friday into Saturday when winter descended with cold and nearly a foot of snow. BOILING STATUS: We boiled Monday the… Read More
The Percy Arch
Chief of Operations writes: Thank You, Paul With the tragic loss of the historic Percy barn and all the cows within, it’s my time to chime in with appreciation for all the Percys have done to keep agriculture alive in the Stowe area. It was the fall of 1976 and I was hellbent to do… Read More
Tropical Pineapple Coconut Muffins
Food correspondent Maple Trout Lilli writes: TROPICAL PINEAPPLE COCONUT MUFFINS As we begin to think about warmer weather (sugaring season always makes me feel this way) these pineapple coconut muffins caught my eye. Three years ago, I posted a recipe for Super Hero Muffins. I was gifted with a book containing a slew of new… Read More
Farewell, February. Welcome, March.
WEATHER: A three-day thaw 2/21-2/23 melted away the snow from the fields and much of the snow from the woods. It has been an anemic snow winter. In December and early January we counted new snowfall in tenths of an inch. By late January we could count snow in full inches but not in feet.… Read More
Tapping 2022: A Photo Essay
The snow changed
Dispatch from a Fen
As a tribute to summer as it yields to autumn, and to celebrate the opening of the Canadian border, let’s travel to western Newfoundland to explore a fen with fellow Vermonter Jill, a botanist friend who is wild about fens. It is a drizzly afternoon in August, 2019. Jill bends over her tall rubber boots… Read More
Spring Beauties
Sugarhouse talk of spring beauties started with Larry. On Monday evening when he emerged from the woods after a day of pulling taps he said, “The spring beauties are primping for The Ball. They’re trying on their finery and practicing their twirls.” On Wednesday he announced, “The Spring Ball was today!” On Thursday, when my… Read More
All of a sudden, Summer
WEATHER: If you live in the East you know that it feels as though we skipped April and even May. It could be June. April is called “the cruel month” since just as you reach for the garden trowel a storm will dump a foot of snow which melts to muddy slush. The ragged, jerky… Read More
The Nebraska Knoll Blog 