Beaver Brook Falls NH and a Moose sighting

 After our wonderful day of visiting on Saturday, we drove over to Colebook NH to stay at our friends house for the night. Our good friend (best man in our wedding in fact) moved from MA to Colebrook NH two years ago. He and his wife have a lovely homestead up there with a huge garden, a dozen chickens, and a few bee hives. I love to visit when we are up North.

We woke up Sunday morning to a bit of rain mixed with snow. We headed up to nearby Pittsburg NH for breakfast, with the intention of stopping at Beaver Brook Falls for a few photos. As we headed uphill, the rain quickly changed to all snow. I couldn't have been happier!

Beaver Brook Falls

The higher we climbed in elevation, the steadier the snow got. It was sticking to the trees and the road and it looked like a winter wonderland. As we were driving along, I spotted this moose off in a distant field.

This was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. 

Goodwin Family Maple St Johnsbury VT

 The third and final sugar house we visited was Goodwin Family Maple in St Johnsbury. This was my first visit. Once again, the smell was intoxicating as soon as we stepped out of the car.

Jeff the owner. He was so welcoming.

Jeff was busy with other visitors when I arrived and I spent most of my time talking to his son. He told me he was the 6th generation of his family to work in the sugar house. Think about that for a second. That's pretty amazing in my opinion. I love how these family operations carry on generation to generation. His son is very passionate about the business and it was a pleasure to speak to him.

This was the first time I have seen a wood fired operation. His son would feed the fire about every ten minutes.

Other parts of the operation

Window view

The sample of syrup I was given was divine. Absolutely delicious! I'm planning on returning to this sugar house again next Spring. It was an awesome day.

 Special thanks to the Goodwin family for their hospitality!

Next blog post will feature a few photos of day two of the weekend.

Monroe's Sugarin' Barton Vermont

 The next sugar house we visited was to see our good friends at Monroe's Sugar House in Barton. Due to covid, we hadn't seen the Monroes for two years and it was great to reconnect with them. The sweet intoxicating smell of the boil greets you as soon as you step out of the car.

Every visitor here is given a warm raised donut to dip in freshly boiled syrup. (I can't even describe the deliciousness) Here's Steve pouring out some freshly boiled syrup.

Love this one in black and white

liquid gold

Sugar house happenings. Click on video

Thanks Steve and Terri for your always gracious hospitality and your friendship. 

Windswept Farm Maple Syrup Barton Vermont

 I had myself a weekend!! :-) It was so good to get back up to Vermont. My soul desperately needed a Vermont fix. We went up to visit a few sugar makers that we are friends with, but also visited a few dear friends.

Maple Sugaring season is a rite of Spring for the Vermonters. It's also a time that I always look forward to every early Spring.

There will be a series of blog posts written about this weekend (yes, I finally have more material to share here on the blog), and I will start with the first sugar house we visited.

I became friendly with Adam, the farmer who owns a little piece of Heaven called Windswept Farm, several years ago. Adam gives me permission to photograph his property and you may remember seeing other photos taken here in previous blog posts.  Adam's property overlooks May Pond in Barton, which is one of my favorite places on Earth. In the above photo, you can see the steam coming from the cupola......a sure sign that the boil is underway. 

A different vantage point. Notice the gothic barn to the right. That's my favorite barn to photograph and you may recognize it here because I've posted several different photos of it over the years. You can also see the steam rising from the sugar house once again.

Inside the sugar house

After our visit and syrup purchase, we said goodbye to Adam and headed down below to May Pond to eat our lunch.

It was a great morning. Next stop is Monroes Sugarin'. Will post those tomorrow. 

Words For Wednesday 3/23/2022

 

"There's a whole world out there, right outside your window. You'd be a fool to miss it". 

---------Charlotte Eriksson

Words For Wednesday 3/2/2022

 

"God is discovered entirely through creation.....the brilliance of a sunset, the powerful roar of a waterfall, the symphony of sounds you hear in the heart of the forest, or the vastness of space and it's countless stars. God is the mastermind behind all matter. Every earth shattering scientific discovery and mystery that is yet to be unraveled was dreamed and enacted by God."

------Benjamin F Sullivan

Photo taken at a recent walk through War Memorial Park in W Bridgewater MA