Walking up Nebraska Valley Road today at dusk, the nip in the air invigorated me to my core. Once, on a similar autumn day, a friend commented, “You can divide people into two groups, the ones who feel happiest with cold air striking the cheek and the ones who are energized by the warm… Read More
The Hemlock Forest
hemlock, n. [ME. hemlok < OE. hemlic, hymlik, akin? to hymele, hop] Just thirty Eastern Hemlock trees in a cluster on a steep ledgy bank can seem like a whole forest. After a day’s work among the maple trees in the sugarbush, I seldom choose to walk home through the hemlock forest just below… Read More
$3 Cotton Candy
I didn’t notice until I got home at 11 pm Friday night that I was still wearing the apron. All five of us behind the stainless steel counter in the maple building were handed forest green aprons when we arrived at 5:15 pm to work the evening shift. When it got chilly around 9… Read More
Downpours and Water Bars
Waterbar A water bar or interceptor dyke is a road construction feature that is used to prevent erosion on sloping roads, cleared paths through woodland (for utility companies such as electricity pylons), or other accessways by reducing flow length. —Wikipedia Downpour; Rain pours down. Thunder thunders, lightning streaks. Falls Brook rages then subsides. June… Read More
A Few Stats
This week, a brown envelope arrived from the USDA bearing the annual survey for sugarmakers. Twice, a USDA person left a message regarding technical problems with completing the survey online. In a couple of months, the survey results will arrive in another brown envelope and will be summarized in maple industry publications along with similar… Read More
Fast Forward
The trees are released! At Nebraska Knoll, even though there is considerable preliminary or mopping-up work at the edges, sugar season itself spans from the day tapping begins to the day the last tap is pulled and every last tubing line is rinsed. Yesterday! No one will miss the urgent… Read More
That Maple Walnut Combo
To get to Nebraska Knoll you follow the road that crosses Miller Brook and swoops sharply right into Nebraska Valley. The first house you pass is Joe and Becky’s on the left. Look to see if their sheep have lambed. You may glimpse a chicken or rabbit in the yard. Notice the skis lined up… Read More
The Black Box
Today’s writing prompt is ‘The embarrassing truth is, I knew this.’ Here is Chief of Operations’s entry: The Black Box Old Blue, my ’64 International woods truck which I have owned since 1980, was parked, as it had been all winter, in the only turn-around suitable for the 26’ truck I had rented to transport syrup… Read More
They abide…until
Duking It Out
Chief of Operations writes: Duking It Out Summer and winter, the opposing seasons, cycle through their rhythm of dominance and remission. Spring and fall… Read More
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