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Angela Miller, a neighbor, runs a goat cheese operation, “Consider Bardwell,” just a few miles down the road from me. The cheese is great and it is available through her website.
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Goats have very strange eyes but can be cute (unless they are giving birth on a cold February night).
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I often go rabbit hunting on Angela’s land. Most of the farm used to be planted with corn but now she is turning some of it back to pasture for her goats. A stream runs by the side of the fields and offers good cover for rabbits.
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Emily was helping me out by “being the dog” that day -- our rabbit, dog, Bernadette was taking the day off.
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Emily spotted a weasel headed for a neighbor’s chicken coop and so I dispatched it before it killed more of their chickens. A few years ago, we lost half of our flock due to a weasel.
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He has a large arch that is fired by an oil burner, not wood. He had made over 600 gallons of finished syrup in the first two weeks of the season.
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Axel still checks the syrup by hand although he uses, as we all do, a thermometer as well. When it is 7 degrees above boiling, syrup is ready to draw off.
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Nothing fancy here -- the syrup is drawn off into buckets and then put through a filter press.
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We use a pump to help draw the sap down the mountain. The sap then runs through an RO machine that takes out some of the water and then the processed sap goes into the evaporator for boiling.
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Tom (on left) and Nate, his son, taking a quick lunch break with “venison tip” sandwiches.
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We use wood to fire our arch and had over 12 cords stacked in the shed attached to the saphouse.
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Wood is loaded into the arch every 5 minutes or so. There is an art to managing the fire for consistent heat.
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Jocelyn, Tom and Nancy’s daughter, was up for a weeklong visit with her son Trip.
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Nate checks the boil and sap level in the back of the pan.
About the Author: Christopher Kimball
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Such a joy…month after month. Thank you.
Are you sure that was a weasel you shot? It looks more like a mink or maybe even a small fisher. Of course, they are of the weasel family, but the animals that are called “weasels” are lighter brown, most often with white undersides, and a black tipped tail. There are three varieties that are common to North America, the long tailed weasel, the short tailed weasel, and the least weasel. In the colder climates like Vermont, it is likely they would turn white in winter, and thus be called “ermine.”
This looks like marvelous fun! I wish we could also smell the syrup boiling down! mmmmm
Very interesting & enjoyable. This is my first, and I’ll look forward to more; thanks!
Thank you for the pictures and the story. It is fascinating to see how the syrup is made.
Thank you for going to the effort each month to send out your letter. I think you’re an excellent writer and look forward to receiving them.
I live in Orange County California so your way of life is truly worlds away from how we live. So interesting to read your stories and see your photos – really enjoy it!
I have several of your cookbooks and I especially like how you have explanations of why and how things work. Not to mention that your recipes are always a success too – and that’s most important.
Thank You again!
… Judy
We were in Vermont in Oct.’11 and LOVED it!
We appreciate the effort that it takes to do the
work of making the products from this area.
What a great state!
jr
It’s always a delight to find the Letter from Vermont in my e-mail! I save it for sometime in the day when I just need to step back and relax for a few minutes. Thanks so much.
Thanks a million! I enjoy your notes and pictures and look forward to more of them.
So look forward to your emails from Vermont. What a wonderful escape from the work cubicle. Wish I was there.
I know one thing for sure that Chris sure does make some tasty syrup. It would be great to see the process from beginning to end.
Thank you for showing us a part of your life in Vermont, I used to spend time with friends sugaring in the spring. Weasels – never will I forget the time my Cat caught one! I look forward to each of your letters, being I am originally from a small town!
Enjoyed the pictures and letter so much! Have read about making maple syrup all my life,but never seen it done the “old fashioned way” Thanks
Your story is interesting! But the pictures….. very bleak and remote.
Perfect timing for this letter. I’ll be heading to Vermont in May to pick my nephew up from school–just outside Brattleboro–and I’ll be sure to stop by Fireworks and Mocha Joe’s. My sister and I had become fond of the Stage Restaurant and Cafe in nearby Keene, N.H., but don’t hold that against us!
I grew up during WWII on a dairy farm in Walton, NY. We had 95 milking Holsteins and about 75 sugar bushes, (Sugar Maples), but we collected the sap with individual taps and a team of Percheron horses pulling either a sleigh or wagon. Needless to say, we didn’t have a RO filter and we used a lot more wood than you do. It took 20 cords to make 80 gallons of syrup. During college I worked in a small french restaurant run by a retired Cordon Blu de Paris chef instructor. After 2 years he said I was a saucier. Then I graduated and turned into an engineer. At America’s Test Kitchen you seem to be doing the same thing Auguste Escoffier did. He collected recipes all over Europe and then carefully refined them and published them in his Le Guide Culienere. I really appreciate your letters and your show, keep them coming.
I enjoy your letters very much. My maiden name was also Kimball and I came from the Wolcott/Elmore section of Vermont. Have lived all my married life in western NY, but looking at your pictures always takes me back to my beginnings. At 84 years of age, I remember the Vermont of long ago. Beautiful country and a hardy people. I watch your cooking show often, buy an occasional cookbook and enjoy your fool-proof recipes. Keep up the good work.
Great photos. This reminds me of my childhood near the St. Lawrence river in Ontario Canada, where we “sugared off” at an outdoor wood fired “arch” behind my uncles farmhouse.
Great tasting syrup & we also had to have some “jack-wax” which was hard ball stage syrup drizzled over snow in a dishpan & “twirled” around a fork. Mmmmmmmm…Thanks for your letters of life in Vermont.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures & stories from Vermont. I get my maple syrup from the farmer down the road. When the syrup is ready, it appears in mason jars with a money box on a picnic table by the road. My New York friends always marvel that the “honor system” still works here in Connecticut.
I watch America’s Test Kitchen, on PBS…its one of my favorite shows….I just wanted to let you know, I enjoy your emails so much….you describe your part of the couunry so well….I live in Texas, so Vermont is a world away….Your emails are so personal….you make your readers feel like friends…I love them so much, I forward them…and my friends love them too….Thanks
We always look forward to your letter & pictures at maple syrup time. My husband and I have a very small operation here in northern Indiana (60 or 70 taps) and make syrup each year. We took a chance and started the first of February this year and it was a good move because by the end of Feb., when we usually start, it was all over. We don’t sell the syrup but give it to friends and family and share with those who give us a helping hand. My husband also gives it to several farmers who allow him to rabbit hunt on their property. Love America’s Test Kitchen too.
I think I must be one of your most intrigued fans! I am from the island of Jamaica (yes, of jerk chicken and reggae music fame) and until recently subscribed to your wonderful magazine. I watch your show regularly on WXEL here in Greenacres, Florida and am a better cook for it, Thank You. The “sugaring” is fascinating but I must admit I am ignorant of the terms – RO and “arch” (but figured it out from the pictures) and I wouldn’t be able to tell a weasel from a mink or a fisher! (Felt a bit sorry for him even ‘tho he eats the chickens.)
I look forward to your stories from Vermont – you are an excellent raconteur – keep them coming.
I have seen stunning pictures of Vermont in Fall and Winter and have also seen beautiful pictures of Tasha Tudor’s garden. Vermonters (is this correct?) remind me of my Grandmother’s generation – hardy, no nonsense and hardworking. Would love to tell you about the flora, fauna and life in Jamaica but space does not permit. : )
I have been searching for maple syrup that is not pumped through plastic pipes. Do you use plastic…is there anywhere I can get pure Amber maple syrup that has not gone through plastic pipes?
Thanks
Love your shows, magazines, & website. This is an awesome article on sugaring. Wish I was there in person to watch it.
Thank you.