I went out for a walk to the local cafe/store and onwards around the bend. I decided to head by the local sugar shack that I'd seen the sign for, but had never seen it in use. Well today there were dozens of people out and about, steam pouring out of the slat walls, and a few friendly folks waved me over when I slowed to take a look.
They had a dozen or so people crammed into the shack. In the middle was a boiler boiling away and D.M. greeted me with a warm smile. I got a full session about how maple syrup is made, a taste of fresh sap from the tree, a physics lesson on specific gravity, and a tour of the boiler and how the maple syrup is made. He then gave me a sip of hot, fresh maple syrup. BLISS.
I walked the mile or so home and gave this sip to Steve. Ten minutes later we were headed back up to the shack. We spent 45 minutes there, sang songs, pet dogs, chatted with folks from NH and neighbors we never knew we had, and bought a quart of hot maple syrup. We were offered dinner, we were offered beer, we sang with a family member who brought his guitar and watched the water vapor swirl into the lights at the sun set. We walked home along a dark road with the stars in the trees with warm maple syrup keeping our hands warm and a little cup of the golden stuff fortifying us until we got home. The carbon footprint of this syrup is probably just about 0, if you're willing to forgive the fire for the boiler.
Maybe tomorrow I'll drop off a pint of pickles for them...
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14 March 2009
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lovely! so lovely.
Posted by: n | 15 March 2009 at 11:55 AM