From earlier this week: Sugar Season in the Fickle Mode 3/17/15 The thermometer which hangs in the shadow of our north facing woodshed is always quite accurate, even when the sun is shining. It shows the temperature has been oscillating between 31.5 and 32.5 for the last 16 hours. During this time the precipitation has… Read More
Camel’s Hump on Repeat
One recent Sunday there was no sap, so Chops took a holiday. He writes: The Addict (Camel’s Hump on Repeat) The Camel’s Hump Challenge is a backcountry ski tour around the base of Camel’s Hump, Vermont’s third highest mountain and its highest undeveloped peak. It begins and ends at the Camel’s Hump Nordic Center in… Read More
Climbing Rhyme Sunday Summit
“Is there any movement?” my neighbor asked this afternoon. “No,” I replied. “Tomorrow there might be some,” she said. “It’s a possibility. Then nothing the rest of the week.” Weather: Back to winter, but to a user-friendly version, with temps just above or below freezing. Snow: Magic Carpet (firm base plus two inches powder)… Read More
First Boil Expectations
“Expect the unexpected.” “Expect nothing.” ******** The first boil taught me there are layers of expectations. What we thought we expected, and chatted about as we built up the fire in the arch: The filter press pump to work. (It did.) A novel crisis to bedevil the crew. (It did.) What we expected but didn’t… Read More
Up and Running
Weather: Tuesday, high in upper 40’s, overnight in 30’s; Wednesday around 40; currently 37 degrees at 11:30 pm. West wind (“Wind from the west, sap flows best”), mostly sunny. Picture perfect. How’s It Running? Steadily since Tuesday afternoon. Sap Sweetness: 1.2 % on Tuesday, 1.1% Wednesday. Weak indeed. Boiling Status: Fired up at 7 pm… Read More
Cheese and Crackers Exalted
The blog’s local food correspondent Maple Trout Lilli just dropped off a plate of fresh crackers and cheese. I’m struggling to save one tiny little shard for Chief of Operations who is too busy to eat. (Change of weather: We’re collecting sap now.) Maple Trout Lilli writes: I recommend placing a thin slice of your… Read More
Year of the Climbing Rhyme
Some years, this blog introduces a poetic form. One year it was the Japanese tanka; two years ago, the Korean sijo. In 2014 we took a break. 2015 is the Year of the Climbing Rhyme, a poetic form from Myanmar (Burma) featuring internal rhymes, i.e. the rhymes occur within the lines rather than at the… Read More
Coast to Coast Contrast
Coast to coast, there’s no end to talking about the weather. Today I read in my brother’s local newspaper The Nome Nugget that Alaska suffers from too much warmth and too little snow. The start of the Iditarod got moved from Anchorage to Fairbanks for only the second time in its 43-year run (the ceremonial start… Read More
Hatless
Shadow Tapping
Being the first Tuesday in March, today is Town Meeting Day, a guidepost marking the turn of seasons. Town Meeting Day is to sugar season what Memorial Day is to summer. For me, both days signal permission to buy paper plates. Of course, we speculate on when the season will break open. Always, we say, “I… Read More
The Nebraska Knoll Blog 