Well it’s been a long time since I made a post on here, sorry about that. Time goes fast in the fall in Vermont. There are so many things that needs to be done. Besides all the work of getting ready for winter, you want to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Also it’s just right for hunting and the last fishing trips of the year.

So I’ve had my hands full! I did get time to go out and take some nice pictures of the fall leaves in Stowe, Vermont. The colors were pretty good this year, bright yellows, oranges and reds. Lots of tourist come up in the fall, leaf peepers we call them. So the tourist areas are busy with them buying lots of apples, cider, apple pies and of course that pure Vermont maple syrup!

I’ve put a bunch of my best fall foliage pictures in here and hope you like them. It was an overcast day out on some of them, so the colors could have been better. But they look nice, it’s always better when your right there of course. So enjoy the following pictures of fall in Vermont! (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. (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. (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. (more…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)