Vt. Maple Products

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, summer gets real busy around here! It will not be too long before autumn in Vermont is here. Fall is one of the best times in Vermont, with the leaves turning a bright orange, red, yellow and lots of shades in between. I thought I would show a quick youtube video made by the travel show on TV.

It really does not do the scenery Justice, but until this fall comes and I post some pictures up it will have to do for now. Maple leaves really look pretty in the fall, which of course is what we tap to get that pure Vermont maple syrup. So enjoy the Vermont youtube video. I’ll have a better post next time!

So how is everyone’s summer going? It will not be long before it starts to get cooler, but right now it’s beautiful. If fact it’s a great time for exploring all of Vermont’s rivers, lakes and streams with canoes. Vermont has many rivers and streams that are perfect for a canoe ride. I’ve owned several of them.

There are many outdoor tour companies that take groups of people out on canoe trips down rivers and streams. Often these companies offer biking, hiking, mountain climbing and canoeing. More on these later. Vermont was home to one of the first and popular canoe companies, Mad River Canoe.

They still make some of the best canoes in the world, but they moved their factories to South Carolina. I’ve owned several of these, and I can tell you they are great. If you ever buy a canoe, I highly recommend getting a mad river canoe. Besides the many rivers and streams, Vermont has many small ponds and marshes that also are perfect for canoeing. Read more »

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not posted in a while, but you know how crazy summer gets. I was out on my ATV the other day going over my maple syrup lines and I thought they would make a good post. Now just in case you did not know, ATV stands for All Terrain Vehicle. They have four off road tires, a high ground clearance and most are four wheel drive.

Vermont is rugged country, with hills, woods, rocks, swamps and streams. Did I mention rocks? There are a lot of dirt, small roads that go up and over the hills and valleys. There also are lots of small logging roads, farm pastures and so on that are perfect for an ATV to drive around. Almost every farm has one or several ATV’s.

ATV’s can carry a lot of stuff as you can buy small pull behind carts or wagons to put tools, rolls of fencing, signs, salt blocks for cows and so much more. They also happen to be perfect for working and checking your maple syrup lines and tubing. Most Vermont maple syrup operations make small roads, more like paths, in the woods to the maple trees that will be tapped. An ATV is perfect to check the maple syrup tubing and carry tools. Read more »

It’s Monday again, time to start another work week! It can be hard to get going on a Monday I know. Speaking of hard, I thought I’d write a short post about,,rocks! One thing that anybody who lives in Vermont knows, is that we have lots of rocks. The state of Vermont is made up of rolling hills, valleys and rivers and creeks.

Under all those hills are rocks, lots of them! Vermont does not seem to have one single place where it’s flat, it’s all hills and slopes and rocks. Farmers that plant crops deal with rocks all the time. In fact most say their main crop is rocks! Picking rocks and stones from the field is a full time job.

It’s even a hard time to get a good lawn without rocks poking through. Hitting rocks with the lawn mower is just a fact of life here. Lots of places make rock gardens because you have so many, you might as well make something with them! Read more »

Hey everyone, happy Friday night! I hope you have something planned for the weekend. I’m a bit in a lazy mood today, so I thought I would just leave you a cool youtube video I found about trout fishing in the Bennington, Vermont area. Or rather they film the trout, not fish for them. One is a damn good size rainbow trout.

It looks like it has a hook in the side of it’s mouth or something. Anyways I hope it keeps you entertained for just a few minutes at least. I have to go down to the sugar house now and check on some things I need to fix so that next years pure Vermont maple syrup is processed right. So enjoy this youtube Vermont trout fishing video!

Hello everyone, hope your having a great summer. I sometimes forget that people that visit Vermont don’t really know much about the wildlife we have here. Some people think we have mountain lions, wolfs and grizzly bears, which is not the case. So I thought I would break down just what type of wildlife Vermont does have.

Lets start with the reptiles. Yes we do have snakes, but often you will never see them. The most common by far are the garter snakes. These are small and green and do not hurt anyone. We do have one or two snakes that are poisonous, but you will hardy ever see them. In fact with all the time I have spent in the woods I’ve never come across them.

We have frogs, toads, salamanders and several types of turtles. We do have snapping turtles, so be careful about reaching into any holes along a riverbank or pond. A few other small reptiles and that’s about it for Vermont reptiles. You will just about never see them. Read more »

HI everyone! Boy have I been busy. There is always something to do when you make pure Vermont maple syrup, even at this time of year. Well summer is in full swing, and the weather is getting hot. Vermont for most of the year is cool to downright cold! But we do have month or two where is really warms up. At that time the locals seek out their favorite Vermont swimming holes and beaches.

Now Vermont has many streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. So different people have different preferences when it comes to soaking in the water. Some people who live up more in the mountains love to swim and cool off in the beautiful trout streams we have. Since those streams wind their way down all mountains there is always one close by.

The Vermont mountain streams flow over rocks and cliffs, sometimes making big cold pools below the falls. These are popular with the local young people. Many have their own secret place they go to, but there are some popular spots that everyone knows about too.

The problem with this type of swimming is you have to really be careful. It’s all rocks, and a slip or fall can be very dangerous. In fact there is several popular water falls that have claimed a few lives over the years. Don’t dive in the pool, as it’s hard to see hidden rocks below. Read more »

He everyone, boy have I been busy! Summer is the time of year when so much is going on. It’s also the best time for camping in Vermont. Vermont has many campgrounds & RV parks. You can find very simple ones that are just for tents, to fully equipped ones that can handle 40 ft. RV’s with pools, snack bars, full hookups and more.

Now you have two kinds of Vermont campgrounds, private campgrounds and state campgrounds. Private ones have more amenities on average, with full hookups and other things to make life easier. They also tend to cost more. Most of them are just a spot for your tent or RV, not really in any big woods that you can walk to and explore.

State campgrounds are in a park or a forest. They can be just a bare spot for your tent, to full hookups for RV’s. Normally you can walk from your spot and go hiking, fishing, hunting and so on. A lot are on a lake or even Lake Champlain, the 7th largest lake in the USA. Most spots are cheaper than the private campgrounds, but most don’t have as many amenities. Read more »

How’s everyone doing today? I thought that I would talk just a bit about Vermont’s many farmers markets and roadside stands, or vegetable stands. With so many farms producing so many different kinds of products, you can find many farmers roadside stands all over the state. Most are on rural or secondary roads, so it’s easy for people to pull off on the side of the road or in the driveway of the farm.

Now there is a difference between a farmer market and a farmers roadside vegetable stand. A roadside stand can be just a table put out in a farmers front yard with produce, or as elaborate as a small open building on the farmers property that people can stop in and browse around. They also can be places that people drive their pickup or van to.

Vermont’s rural roads have a lot of turnoffs, little places you can get off the road to take a break. So some people drive to those and set up a little tarp or something and sell produce out of the back of their van or pickup. But most roadside stands are places right on a farm where they sell produce. Now a farmer market is much bigger. Read more »

Hi everyone, sorry I have not posted in a while, I’ve been really busy! Well today I’ll talk about skiing in Vermont. Downhill skiing and cross country skiing are very popular in Vermont. Tourist come from all over the world for snow skiing here. Vermont ski vacations are one of the busiest times here. Stowe and Killington are two of the most popular ski resorts towns.

Jay peak and Smuggler’s Notch are two other very popular Vermont ski resorts. The ski resort of Stowe has trails up the side of Mt. Mansfield, which is the state’s highest mountain. I’ll talk about all them in more detail in a bit. Vermont gets a lot of snow in the winter, sometimes a bit too much for those who have to shovel it!

But that makes for some great skiing conditions. Vermont has ski areas all over the state, from the very northern part to the southern area. Skiing conditions are almost always just right, with lots of sunny days and gentle snow storms. The views from the tops of the mountains are spectacular. Read more »