Can you feel it?

-February, 2022 –

Can you feel it?

After a wicked Nor’easter, another storm that came as rain (ugh), and single digits temperatures in that last week or so, we are thinking of spring. Can you feel it too? Longer and brighter days, the sky looks a bit different, and it smells crisp and clean. One of the things I have always loved about syruping is that it makes you go outside when most sane people are nestled inside with a hot cup of tea and a good book. I love a good cup of tea and a book, but I would (almost) always rather be outside. The best thing about those really cold temperatures - we can walk on snow.

Turns out, Kodi loves a good snow storm

A tippy tappin’ we go.

We are in full syruping mode now. We started and finished tapping this week, walking on snow like little maple angels out to collect sweetness. We were able to turn on the pumps late this week and are now down to the business of finding missed taps and “buttoning up the leaks.” This is slow and hard business as we have to walk all the lines and listen for escaping air while crunching on the snow. Having a great Sugarbush Supervisor helps! Fingers crossed for a boil yet this week.

It was a cold but sunny week to start tapping.

The difference between a working dog and a sporting dog

If you recall, last year our dog Juneau was a finalist for Sugarbush Supervisor. We had a great picture of her checking a tap and thought she was sure to win. She did not and we thought, “that can’t be, she’s a natural, just look at the picture.” The true story is that Juneau was not a very good Sugarbush Supervisor. She is by no means a lazy dog - she loves to go for walks, swim, fetch - but she doesn’t like to be outside when you are not directly engaged with her. She wants to be entertained. In retrospect, maybe the folks at Leader Evaporator knew that about labs. After all, aren’t most sporting dogs in that group because they like to be entertained by their human? 

Kodi, on the other hand, is a great Sugarbush Supervisor. He is part of the sugarbush buggy rideshare. He waits everyday to hear the buggy start so he can go to work. He gets impatient if his crew is delayed. Maybe this is why he is a working dog. Kodi’s best day starts with a big breakfast, hopefully with a fresh egg mixed in, time to relax and go sniff around the house, hearing the buggy around 8. He comes home for lunch and grabs some more food and a nap and then is back out there to make sure Abby, Jacob and Ben are working hard. Come home, take another nap and then it’s time for dinner. If you look up what working dogs were bred for, it says to perform practical duties. What could be more practical than being in the woods watching over Abby , Jacob and Ben?

Kodi is part of the buggy ride share!

Gratitude, always gratitude

There will be a full moon next week, called the hunger moon in indigenous cultures because February was a time of scarcity as food ran out and winter had yet to release its grip. Winter is coming earlier now, but I think about how grateful indigenous peoples must have been to sense the coming spring and to see the sap start to flow. I am grateful in a very different way as, I assure you, I am in no danger of starving anytime soon! I am grateful for the trees and for the constancy of Mother Nature and the gift she gives us every year. We can definitely feel it!

May sap flow and the trees grow!