Dear Friends,

It is maple sugaring time here in Vermont once again with sunny days and cool nights. Some of my fondest winter memories are of sugaring up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We would sugar the old fashioned way by using a hand drill to tap the trees and hanging buckets on the taps and just waiting for the sap to flow.

I went to farm auctions to buy the equipment I needed, including buckets, taps and a small evaporator or arch. I had a big work horse at the time and a large sled with a gathering tank attached to it. We would wear long boots to tromp through the nearly waist-deep snow to gather the buckets and pour them into the tank while my horse patiently waited to pull the heavy sled to the next batch of sugar maple trees.

Once the tank was full, it was over to the make-shift sugarhouse where the evaporator was set up and where we had stored enough firewood to fire it up and boil away the water to make syrup. Tasting it at various points along the way was required and while I don’t think we ever made any syrup that would qualify for “fancy” grade, the best tasting syrup ever was our grade b homemade maple syrup.

March tends to be one of the slowest retail months, especially here in Vermont, but our legislature here in Vermont decided to spice things up a bit and provide some economic stimulus to the retail sector with this year’s first-in-the-nation tax-free holiday. We have brought in a lot of inventory and have been taking pre-orders for payment and pickup on Saturday and it looks like we are in for a great sale.

I’m doing the midnight to noon shift but will stay at the S. Burlington store as long as Katie needs me. She and Artie are planning to be there for the entire 24 hours of the sale!