Articles from May 2008
May 26, 2008 | Posted by admin
Well I hope everyone had a great Memorial day weekend. I had a pretty busy one myself. Well, today I thought I’d tell you a step by step recipe on how to use that great pure Vermont maple syrup to make maple sugar candy. It’s really easy, but there are a few tricks you need to know so you don’t make a huge mess! (more…)
Categories: Maple Syrup | 
Tags: candy, candy molds, maple candy, maple sugar candy, Maple Syrup, vermont | 
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May 24, 2008 | Posted by admin
I hope everyone is enjoying the memorial day weekend! Me, I’ve got so much work to do I’m not sure if I will be able to relax or not. Anyway I thought I would write today about Vermont’s bed & breakfast Inns. Bed & breakfast Inns are very popular with tourist here in Vermont. They have a charm you just can’t find in a hotel.
In fact one of the most popular searches for bed & breakfast on the net is southern Vermont bed & breakfast. I’m not sure why, as the northern part has the most famous Inns. Anyways I’ll explain a little about just what a bed & breakfast Inn is. They really are the same as that one on the old Bob Newhart show, that was about a couple who ran a Vermont bed & breakfast.
Most bed & breakfast Inns are close to a popular resort town, like Stowe, Killington and others. They are open year round, so they get tourist for the skiing season, fall foliage season and the summer season. Vermont bike tours often use bed & breakfast Inns for overnight stays. Because Vermont is sparsely populated there are not many hotels outside of the bigger cities. So, bed & breakfast Inns are the answer. (more…)
Categories: Recreation | Tags: bed & breakfast, Inns, Maple Syrup, southern Vermont bed & breakfast, vermont | No Comments »
May 22, 2008 | Posted by admin
How many have heard of the Vermont teddy bear company? Well in case you did not know, the Vt. teddy bear co. is the largest manufacture of hand crafted American made teddy bears in the USA! They are now worldwide known and make dozens of different kinds of teddy bears.
It all started when a Vermonter by the name of John Sortino starting making hand made teddy bears. At first he had a hard time selling them. Then one day a customer gave him the idea of shipping the bears right to the customers homes, along with some extras. That was the start of the Bear-Gram concept, and it has been growing ever since.
What each Bear-Gram contains is a bear dressed up to reflect a life event, holiday or occasion. It’s placed in a colorful box with air holes, a game, candy and a personalized greeting. Everyone from the old to the young love getting a personalized teddy bear! (more…)
Categories: Vermont Life | Tags: company, teddy bear, teddy bears, vermont, vermont teddy bear | No Comments »
May 20, 2008 | Posted by admin
Hiking in Vermont is a very popular activity. The famous long trial runs straight through the center of Vermont, hugging the mountain ridges. This trail is 270 miles long, with 175 miles of side trails and 70 or so cabins and primitive shelters. But there are lots of other trails to hike also.
Up in the resort town of Stowe, Vermont you can find plenty of hiking trails and bike paths. Driving up the mountain road to the top of Mt. Mansfield and hiking along the ridge is very popular. The view from the top is spectacular. Vermont has many small streams that make lots of small waterfalls for a beautiful view or place to stop and eat.
There are also plenty of hiking trails in Vermont that are short, maybe just a stroll through the woods or along a paved path. So there are hiking trails for all kinds of people and abilities. Vermont tends to have a rocky ground, which means most wood trails get worn down to nice solid rocks that make the trail a stair step up the mountains. (more…)
Categories: Recreation | Tags: camping, hiking, trails, vermont | No Comments »
May 16, 2008 | Posted by admin
If there’s anything at all that you may have heard about Vermont, most likely it had something to do with Stowe, Vermont. Stowe has been named the ski capitol of the east, with many ski trails off Mt. Mansfield, the states highest mountain. But Stowe is also a year long resort town, with many things to do and see.
Stowe is about a 40 minute drive north from Burlington, Vt. The international airport is located in Burlington, so most tourist land there first. Despite Stowe being such a tourist hot spot, it still is a small town with wide open country and woods to relax in, while still having all the big resort amenities.
Stowe has many world class resorts, bed & breakfast Inns, condos, hotels and even cabins you can rent. Stowe is also home to the Van Trapp family lodge, a magnificent Inn that is owned by the family “the sound of music” movie was based on. From camping to five star resorts, Stowe has it all. (more…)
Categories: Recreation | Tags: hiking, resort, skiing, Stowe, vacation, vermont | No Comments »
May 14, 2008 | Posted by admin
So how many of you like to fish? Fishing is one of mankind’s oldest and most popular pastimes, as well as a great way to get a tasty meal! Fishing in Vermont is very popular, as Vermont is filled with many Lakes, ponds and streams. Vermont has lots of different kinds of fish, from the little but colorful brook trout to the huge northern pike.
Also, because Vermont is so sparsely populated you can really have room to yourself, not a mad dash to get to the best areas in the morning before the other fishermen. I use to do a lot of trout fishing in the many trout streams here, and often I would fish all day without seeing anyone. Of course everyone has their preferred type of fish and way of fishing.
You can take out a boat on big Lake Champlain or the hundreds of other smaller lakes and troll for lake trout, or hug the cattails and throw a spinner out for largemouth bass. Maybe do some live bait fishing for northern pike or walleye, or lob out some cheese balls to catch some catfish. Of course most people think of fishing in Vermont for stream fishing for trout. (more…)
Categories: Fishing & Hunting | Tags: boat, fish, Fishing, lakes, streams, trout, vermont | No Comments »
May 13, 2008 | Posted by admin
So how is everyone today, getting through the week ok? I bet you did not know that Vermont is home to some of the best chocolate makers around, did you? It just makes sense really. With Vermont’s quality food products and ingredients, the clear mountain water and wholesome milk from local dairy farms this is a perfect place for making world class chocolates.
Vermont is home to many small family run specialty chocolatiers and other food products. You will not find this in your local walmart, as they are not big enough to produce a lot. But that’s fine, because what they do make is very quality food products that you can buy online right from them. Just like pure Vermont maple syrup, you can only find it here in Vermont.
These Vermont chocolate makers make all kinds of different chocolates. Chocolate truffles, nonpareils, chocolate coin bags, soft chocolates, nut filled chocolates, cream filled chocolates, gift baskets and more. They make them in all kinds of shapes and figures, in fancy boxes or plain paper bags. (more…)
Categories: Vermont Life | Tags: chocolate, chocolates, Maple Syrup, truffles, vermont | No Comments »
May 11, 2008 | Posted by admin
Hi everyone, it’s a beautiful Sunday here in Vermont. Well today I want to write a bit about how most sugar makers collect that maple sap the modern way. Now most people have the image of maple sap buckets made out of tin, hanging from tree to tree with a tin lid over it.
Now a lot of places still do that, even big operations in areas where that is the only way it can work. But today most places that make a lot of that pure Vt. maple syrup just tap too many trees to make that feasible. Heck some places tap over 20,000 maple trees! You would have to hire a crew of 20 to work non stop collecting in buckets.
So the maple sugar industry came up with a practical and environmentally safe way to make collecting all that maple sap a whole lot easier. Now as I’ve said before, Vermont is a very hilly state. You almost can’t find any flat ground around here. So, sugar makers take advantage of the fact that most maple trees are up in the hills above the sugar house. (more…)
Categories: Maple Syrup | Tags: collecting, Maple Syrup, sap, tubing, vermont | No Comments »
May 9, 2008 | Posted by admin
Well It’s Friday, time to relax a bit for the weekend. I’ve got some stuff to fix down at the sugar house, making that pure Vermont maple syrup is a year long job! I thought I’d talk a bit about the dairy farms here in Vermont, since they are such a big part of our state.
Tourist are surprised at how many dairy farms there are in the state. Just about anywhere you go you will find a dairy farm. In fact dairy farms are the #1 agricultural business in the state. Farmers have been carving out patches of pasture out of the hilly woods of Vermont for many years.
Most of the state is a combination of rolling hills with patchworks of pastures cut out, with hundreds of those black and white cows dotting the landscape. In fact there are more cows than people in the state of Vermont! (more…)
Categories: Vermont Life | Tags: cows, dairy farms, Maple Syrup, vermont | No Comments »
May 8, 2008 | Posted by admin
Hello everyone, today I thought I’d write about biking in Vermont. I can’t talk about that great pure Vermont maple syrup all the time! Vermont is a fantastic state for biking. The many rural roads, sparse traffic, cooler weather and spectacular scenery makes for an unbeatable combination.
Now there are two types of biking in Vermont. One is mountain biking, where you go up trails through the woods, over rocks and through the streams. This is more popular with the younger crowd that really wants to test their abilities.
The more common and very popular type of Vt. biking is guided or self guided tours along the many winding Vt. roads. There are a lot of small biking outfitters here that takes groups of bikers along planned biking tours, stopping at different country Inns along the way. (more…)
Categories: Recreation | Tags: bike, biking, Maple Syrup, mountain, tours, vermont | No Comments »
