Sasha and I took a long walk around the lake, enjoying the spider webs dancing in the morning breeze, studded with diamond bright water droplets. The world had not yet had it's second cup of coffee, so peace and quiet was everywhere. What a beautiful way to start the day!
After Donna and I had our "second cup of coffee", we drove north about 30 miles to Montpelier, Vermont, the Capitol city of the state. One of our hobbies is touring state capitol buildings, so we wanted to take advantage of being so close to Montpelier. We found the Capitol Building, known hereabouts as the State House, and approached, hoping to catch the first tour of the day.
Unfortunately, all state offices were closed today in observance of the Battle of Bennington which occurred during the Revolutionary War. The gentleman at the visitors center told us that the battle actually took place in the state of New York, but several soldiers set foot in Vermont, and state workers wanted the day off, so….
Adjacent to the State House, the Court House was also closed.
A Plan B was required, and fast, so after looking through some of the things at the visitors center, we took a short drive to Morse Farms Maple Sugarworks. The farm maintains a working sugar shack for the tourists, but has a separate facility for production "sugaring". The original shack, seen below, was built in the 1960's by the Morse Family and used until recently. The wood that you see in the wood shed is used to boil off the water in the Maple tree sap in this facility, but nowadays oil fired boilers have taken over the industry.
Looking out over the pasture in front of the farm, we could see part of the maple tree forest that is tapped each winter for it's delicious syrup.
And behind the shack, more maple trees can be seen.
The sugar season typically occurs mid-March through mid-April, and always consists of one, two, or three runs. Old timers say that a run of sap occurs for every day of January thaw. Most years a January thaw occurs and its duration can be measured in one, two, or three days. So, there you go.
On average, it requires 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup. Four maple trees, each 40 to 200 years old, are needed to make one gallon of pure maple syrup in an entire season.This area is blessed with sugar maples, sugar weather and sugar mentality. Native Americans were making maple sugar hundreds of years ago by dropping super-heated rocks into wooden containers of maple sap to boil off water, and resulted in maple sugar. When the Morses arrived in the eighteenth century, they learned the process and improved on it over generations. The Morse family considers itself a member of the proud maple syrup maker families.
Maple syrup is now graded into four different groups: Grade A Golden has the most delicate taste and lightest color. Grade A Amber has a richer taste and slightly darker color. Grade A Dark, is characterized as having a "robust" taste and an even darker color, and Grade A Very Dark has a very dark color and a strong taste and is used mostly for cooking. The various grades come from natural bacteria that exist within the tree sap, and has nothing to do with processing. We made a small donation to the Morse Family Fund and bought some Grade A Amber, which we think has a bit more character than the Grade A Golden, and actually tastes like real Maple syrup should taste!
The sugaring season is short, miserable and cold, with temps often -40 F and snow on the ground. The tradition of sugaring runs deep in this part of the woods, and will continue as long as these Yankees live here, I'm sure.
Montpelier is a small, unassuming village, and it is surprising that the State House is located here. Burlington, an hour north, is a more natural choice, but here we are, and it is a beautiful village, with a lot of restored Victorian homes, some of which, like this one, have been converted to condos and offices.
State Street is the main street near the State House, and is the home of several restaurants, one of which is Pinky's on State, an eclectic sandwich shop where we purchased a couple of half-sandwiches and some root beer for lunch.
We had a bit of time left, so off we went to Waterbury, VT to visit one of the two Vermont manufacturing facilities of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. As you can see, the line waiting to buy ice cream was long!
We had a bit of time before our tour started, so shopping was necessary to fill the time. D found a nice shirt!
People gathered early for each of the tours, departing every ten minutes for a look at the manufacturing process and a sample of ice cream at the end of the tour.
At the completion of the tour, we gathered for a delicious sample…
But we had to settle for a sample of the current best selling flavor:
Ben and Jerrys has a lot of flavors, but these are top sellers also:
But in the states of Washington and Colorado, this is the best selling flavor:
We visited the Graveyard of Flavors on our way back to the parking lot.
Where a number of flavors that didn't enjoy much success are "buried".
Like they say……
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