Here is a quick update on the status of sugar season. WEATHER: March 15: Frozen.March 16: Frozen.March 17: High 46 and sunny. Overnight low 34.March 18: High 40 and drizzly. Overnight low in the teens.March 19: Frozen. Sharp wind. March 20: High mid 40’s and sunny. Low tonight will probably be in the 20’s. Forecast… Read More
Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day
Maple Trout Lilli, who is Irish every day of the year, writes: IRISH SODA BREADThe savory herbs in this bread go well with butter and a soft cheese. This is a basic recipe, enabling you, the baker, to substitute a cup of oat flour for whole wheat or exchange herbs to basil, thyme and oregano. Eat crusty and… Read More
A Pilgrim Run
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
The Nebraska Knoll Blog 