Maple Glazed Doughnuts

Tom learned years ago that when the yellow school bus is at the sugar shack there are kindergarten children on a tour. And if there are children, Ginger has made maple cream frosting. That cream is to be spread on special “non-glazed” raised doughnuts.   As soon as that bus leaves Tom ambles (if his attempt at disguising a trot can be called ambling) on over to the sugar shack to sample the left overs. Fresh doughnuts, pure concentrated sugar maple flavor - there are few things better in life.

It’s a special thrill to start off from our house on our afternoon walk during sugar season. We can see the steam rising from the sugar shack across the valley. We know that our friends are hard at work. Stoking the fire with logs the size of a leg, monitoring the pumps and gauges to be sure all systems are flowing, pouring off cupfuls of brew to see if it is at the syrup stage. We get a quick “Hello” -- there is not a moment to be distracted from this demanding choreography of making sugar. One of the beauties of sugaring is that it is truly at the command of Mother Nature. She may give you a week of good temps - she may grace you with 6 weeks. No matter what the sugarer must be ready when the sap starts to flow and have the stamina to keep up with the bounty of the maple trees.

It takes 4 taps on each of 40 trees that are at least 40 years old to produce enough sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Somehow Mike and David and the gang get their work done. There are always visitors to this steamy action packed room. They might be drawn to the shack for a taste of the sap water or maybe the warm syrup straight from the boiler or just simply the pure magic of witnessing something still being maybe by hand, in your own back yard, by people you know and love. We have strayed so far from this kind of connection to our foods. 

Sugar Season

Winter is loosing it’s grip on Vermont. Our 5th Season is well under way. The sugar shack has steam rising and the smell of sugary sweetness is floating in the air - Maple Sugaring season has begun.

As the days grow longer the warm sun breaks the dormancy of the maple trees. Freezing nights and thawing days make the sap flow.

Sugar makers collect sap, remove the water and concentrate it into syrup. Nothing added, nothing removed except pure water. 

Our neighbor sets 1600 taps in his “sugarbush”. In the olden days his family collected with metal taps, buckets and a tractor drawn sled. Now a days it is all plastic tubing that flows into large collecting tanks. A little less romantic, but still the same timeless taste of maple. All this sap flows down from the sugarbush to the sugarhouse and the wood fired evaporator. Eventually it ends up on our pancakes for a taste of New England.

Inspiration

Fool proof ways to learn (immerse yourself in) French.

Number one, meet the neighborhood children. They laugh at you and with you. It’s a lot of fun to learn while playing games, taking long walks and meeting other adults while watching soccer practice.

 Who else will think your dog is smarter than you are and ask about your sanity in front of you? How else would you find children that aren’t related to you to criticize your driving, your clothes, your hair, and your eating habits? For after all, they must know more than we because they speak French like ten year-olds while we speak like three year-olds.

Two, walk your dog or borrow a friend’s. Of course ours is the cutest dog that ever was and all French people seem to agree. We are stopped all along the way to let her lick and jump on them. We know every word for cute, sweet, and stubborn. We know every word for all the tick medications that don’t work. We know that language is not a barrier for a dog’s ability to disobey. And we know how to explain the rules and regulations for traveling with a pet.