It was very chilly here this morning. All the trees were covered in frost and with the sun shinning, it was beautiful. We have plenty of syrup to fill your holiday gift giving. If you want to call us, that is fine; otherwise use our secure online order form. May you, your family and friends enjoy this special time of the year. 

… when Jim uses lots of cow manure to fertilize. And, they are not just all plant and no tomato. Broccoli has been plentiful as well as the basil, swiss chard and cukes. Putting Food By has started here at Happy Acres Farm. 

For the past several years, we have shared our peonies and lots of homemade pies with our friends, family and neighbors. We have over 100 peony plants and they were in full bloom last weekend. We made 14 pies to eat as we viewed the peonies. No pictures of the pies, but we did have pecan, rhubarb, chocolate cream, banana cream, lemon meringue, custard, pumpkin, coconut cream and blueberry! Thanks to Pat Moore for the upclose photo of one of many peonies. 

Take a close look at this photo. I am pointing to main line for sugaring. What is frozen on the little branch that is under the sap line?         Answer: Sapcicle. 

What do you call a good day? For us sugarmakers, it means we are up and taking nourishment, the sun is shining and there is steam rising from the sugarhouse. Today was one of those good days. We made golden with delicate taste pure VT maple syrup....another thing that makes for a good day! Yum!

This past weekend was a glorious time to work in the woods to start the process of clearing the sugaring lines from tree limbs that have fallen on them. The foliage is not quite as brilliant as in other years, but these photos of leaves will show you that I indeed was in a maple orchard.

I took a little time to clear an old log road that I will be able to cross country ski and snowshoe on this winter. 

​It turned a bit cooler this a.m. Time to get oatmeal with maple syrup on my breakfast menu. Yum!