WEATHER: The heat of the thaw hit on Wednesday and Thursday, 3/10-3/11. Wednesday’s high was 48 in the shade, Thursday’s was 56. Nights were mild; the wind blew from the south, turning around to the north on Friday 3/12 as temps dropped to below freezing by evening. HOW’S IT RUNNING? The sap run eventually picked… Read More
Traveling with dogs or trees
“Mushers like to travel at night when it’s colder and the trail is firm,” says the video host, reporting from a checkpoint on the Iditarod https://iditarod.com/. Possibly because I have not traveled, in the sense of taking a trip, for a long while, this past week I signed up to follow the Iditarod. Sugar season… Read More
Multi-seed Maple Cracker
Studying this photo, you can see the pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds but not the little ones, the poppy seeds and chia. Nor can you see the rosemary. It’s the obscure ingredients that enliven this cracker without calling any attention to themselves. Of course, the one tablespoon of maple syrup does its part. Note 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
Amaranth
Maple Trout Lilli, Nebraska Knoll’s inventive and curious Food Correspondent, writes: Spring is on its way – the days are getting warmer and longer, skies are bluer and our bodies are ready to reset. I’ve been experimenting with different grains and came across quinoa’s much overlooked cousin, amaranth. For the Aztec people, amaranth was not… 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
What to do When
What to do when: Need to finish tappingbut can’t tap some days, too cold, might crack the bark.Tap on the weekend? There’s no imminent thaw.Just might go for a ski.And you ski through a large sugarbush up north that’s all tapped out. What to do when: Should make sugar one more time before the sap… Read More
Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
Cake is in the air. If ever there was a weekend for cake, this is it. I’m writing this post indoors wearing my thickest fleece jacket and a wool hat. Yesterday’s snow lingers; my daffodils huddle by the sap shed, still waiting to blossom. It’s May 10th. “Where there is cake, there is hope, and… Read More
Corona Guilt
Earlier this April Chief of Operations wrote: The world is being consumed by a pandemic while the trees on our knoll are producing the most sap I have ever witnessed in one season. The virus barged in on the coattails of sugar season with the same chaotic rush and heartless disregard for whether you were… Read More
The Forest Meets the Sugarhouse
The 2020 bumper crop is in. As we scurry to pull taps and scrub pans, it’s good to pause, step back, and take the long view. Our crew member and guest blogger Morgan Perlman writes: The Forest Meets the Sugarhouse Once everything in the sugarhouse is cleaned in the morning, we get the boiling started… Read More
