April is coming to an end...

It's hard to believe May will be here the end of this week! The meadow is really getting green, the trees are ready to burst their buds open, and sometime next month the cows will come back to hang out in our meadow. We had a chilly, wet week, and even more snow, but mostly just a few flurries. Unless you live further east of us, like my sister. They had a covering of white on Friday! We see the turkeys roaming around more often, lots of ducks and geese, and the birds are so busy building their nests everywhere. Last Sunday we even started our Summer ritual of getting a creamee in the afternoon. Who needs lunch when you can fill up on one of 98 flavors of soft serve ice cream? I started with one of my favorites: Reeses Pieces! But these past 3 days they had the Maple Festival in town, and I'm sure the visitor count had to be down. Not too many people would have wanted to walk around the food booths and ride the carnival rides when it was only 39° out! 

Next Saturday will be Bucket Washing Day. We will all head over to the barn about 10am and start the task of washing all of the sap buckets, lids, taps and equipment from Sugar Season. It was a fairly good year, we collected and made 83 gallons of pure Vermont Maple Syrup. Some of it is being sold this year, which is rather sad, but it will help to regenerate some of the costs needed for jugs and supplies. We hope it doesn't mean that we won't have a stable amount of syrup! I use it so often in cooking now that it would be sad to have to go back to regular sugar. Or worse yet...to have to buy it from someone else!

Business is starting to pick up at the store, which helps the days pass quicker! We are seeing more tourists and people visiting for things like weddings and sports activities. The colleges only have 2 weeks left, then graduations will be the middle of the month. It feels so different in Burlington once all the students are gone. This past Monday I had 2 women come into the store from over in New York. They were fun to chat with and, as often happens, they asked for a recommendation for someplace for dinner. My first choice is always Leunig's Bistro, right next door to us, so that's where I suggested. The funny thing: Bill and I went there to eat after I was done working that afternoon. Just as we were finishing eating, the same 2 women came up to our table and thanked me for sending them to Leunig's! They said they had the best meal ever, and were so happy I told them to go there! It was great! And, we also had a fabulous meal, as always. 

Here's a final photo to close out the evening. We get some beautiful sunsets from our bedroom upstairs, especially this time of the year.

A Sweet Dripping-Part II-Spring for a Day

Today was a perfect day to be off. The sun was out, the sky mostly blue and we reached a high of about 68°. I sat out on the steps for awhile and watched the birds at the feeders, the Canada Geese returning home, the horses in the meadow, and I could almost hear the snow melting. There are a few piles of it around, especially those created from plowing or shoveling off the flat roof. And if you have a dog who loves the cold, winter weather, here is where you'll find her as the first few signs of spring emerge:

She is so funny. She sat there watching the squirrels and chipmunks running all around. It's not like she chases them, she's getting too old for that. But she'll wander around checking out where they disappear to when they run between the rocks. After awhile, she changed her spot. I guess she thought she had a better view from here:

She loves being out, and finally came in to rest after about 2 hours. 

I made some Hot Cross Buns from a King Arthur mix this morning, and some maple sugar cookies to bring over to the sugar house. The sap was running, so we went out to gather about 4 o'clock. It was so nice out. Lots of mud, and still icy spots where the snow had packed down, but a light jacket kind of day. And the sap was running fairly well. We all hung out in the sugar house afterwards for some mac and cheese and lots of desserts. It was still pretty mild out as I walked home across the meadow. Later tonight it will drop to about 32°, the snow will start about midnight, and tomorrow we will wake up to a covering of white mush. Crazy, but that is the way the weather tumbles around here. Sure makes you appreciate the days that are as beautiful as today was!

P.S. Saturday April 4th, 8am:

Need I say more? Remember, this is a Sugar Snow!

A Sweet Dripping-Part I

Normally, sometime around this time of the year, I write about Sugar Season up here in Vermont. These wonderful few weeks where the snow is melting, the days are getting longer, and the sun starts the sap running through the veins of the maple trees. This year we have had a very late start. We didn't even tap the trees until March 14th, which is pretty late by the book's standards. And gathering has been more off than on since then. Last Sunday I was able to go out to gather with everyone. It was a beautiful, sunny, mild day and it was great catching up with everyone I haven't had a chance to talk with all winter long. Plus, the nice weather made for a great hike thru the woods running from bucket to bucket in search of any sap slowly dripping out of the taps.

There wasn't much. Saturday night had been cold, into the teens, and it just didn't warm up soon enough for the sap to have run yet. By the time we got back to the sugar house they had decided it wasn't even enough to bother boiling that night. So we stood around talking and munching and eating sugar-on-snow. We boil down the maple syrup until it is about soft ball stage, then pour it over packed snow, then roll it up on sticks and eat it like maple taffy. Talk about a sugar high! But it is soooo good. And, remember, maple syrup is said to have all those antioxidants for good health.

They are boiling over at the sugar house tonight. On days when I work, I get back too late to help gather, but it is always special to come over the hill on our road and see steam pouring out of the roof of the sugar house. Today was perfect weather for it. The low last night was around 30°. By noon the sun was out bright and clear, and it was 57° as I got home. Normally that is too warm for the sap to run well, but the ground is still so frozen out in the woods, I imagine the buckets were filled to the brim. Hopefully they gathered a bunch so we can get a good supply of syrup for the year. We often make about 80 gallons a year. Last year wasn't so good, only about 47. They've probably done about half of that so far. But sugar season is tricky. If we don't get down below freezing tonight not much will run tomorrow, then the weekend doesn't look ideal. Saturday we are expecting 3-5" of snow. It's what we call a "Sugar Snow." It is always welcome during sugar season because it puts needed moisture back at the base of the trees to give the roots something to absorb during the nights. Really, I think it's just Vermont's way of coming up with a cute name for another spring snowstorm other than the really nasty word everyone wants to call it!