February Thaw!

We've had two really nice 30-degree days in a row! That said, I haven't noticed that our snow-pack has gone down much at all. We are expecting more snow beginning tomorrow and into the weekend, and then probably back to colder weather. This morning I had a low of 5 degrees above zero, but it warmed up remarkably quickly. I just went down for the mail and it's very nice, even though the sun was already behind the hill in back of my house. I should have gone sooner and enjoyed the sun, but I was waiting for an important phone call and had to delay. Still, the temperature is 30 degrees, and that feels like spring!

I was in St. Johnsbury yesterday and enjoyed being able to get my car washed - one of the very few times I've had it washed this winter. It seemed that whenever I was out with it, there was either 3-4 inches of slush on the roads or it was way below zero, so no point in having it washed. I'm sure it won't last - more snow and slush ahead, and then slush and mud. It's hard to keep cars shining and clean, especially when you live on a back road.

We are beginning to see signs of spring. The sun is warmer and the days are longer; our roads are ribbons of darkness between the snowbanks wherever the sun hits them, and there's water running in the streets in towns, and highways are mostly bare and dry. Ice-Out Contest ticket sales are beginning to increase as people enjoy the warmer weather and begin to think about spring. If you aren't in the area where you can pick up your tickets at one of our outlets, go to our Joe's Pond Vermont website and get them online. It's that easy!

I was doing a little research earlier this week and found that Vermont produces over 50% of United State's maple crop. That amounts to over 3 million gallons of syrup - from more than 8 million tree taps. Vermont is followed by New York and Maine in production. New York produces about 1/3 of what Vermont produces, and Maine a little less than New York. Our northern neighbor, Quebec, produces large amounts of maple products, as well. 

I found some old photos of sugaring in Cabot when nearly every farmer tapped at least a few trees and made some syrup and maple sugar. One of the larger sugaring operations was on the Walbridge farm (top photo), probably around 1920.  My family tapped trees on what was the Webster farm north of the Plains Cemetery for many years. 

In the picture here are my father, Aaron Bolton, Jr. standing and facing the camera, and sitting, back to camera is his brother, Jack, Bill, sister Mabel, and standing, back to camera, Bob. I'm not sure who the other person bending over and partially hidden was. It might have been a haired man or a neighbor. They were on their way home after a day gathering sap in the woods - my father tended the boiling process in our sugar house. We made mostly syrup, but there was always a tub of maple sugar on hand at our house. There was a small wood stove in the sugar house where my father would boil down syrup for at least one "sugar party" each spring - hot syrup was drizzled on snow where it became firm and we could pick it up with forks in big golden globs of candy. 

Years ago, the syrup was almost always boiled down until it crystalized into sugar that was easier to keep and to transport than the syrup. It was a staple in every household, used in cooking and baking. Beans baked with maple sugar were common. During WWII we used a lot of maple sugar because white 
cane sugar was scarce and rationed. I remember my father never liked maple sugar to sweeten his coffee. We used maple syrup or sugar for lots of other things - my mother adapted recipes and often used it in place of white sugar.

I like maple walnut ice cream, especially with a little real maple syrup drizzled over it. I like maple syrup on my oatmeal or on vanilla ice cream, too. My mother used to make maple candy at Christmas - it was a long process to get it stirred down to the right consistency. Chocolate fudge was a frequent treat, too. We didn't have thermometers to tell us when it was at "candy stage." Instead, we watched how it dripped off a ladle or a spoon and then the final test was to drop a little into a glass of cold water. If it balled up, it was ready. 

The things we remember! Have a pleasant day with wonderful memories shared with friends.