MAPLE SYRUP

this weekend marked the 7th annual vermont maple open house event. throughout the state of vermont, sugarmakers opened their sugarhouses to the public to learn more about their operations, taste samples of different grades of maple syrup and hopefully purchase their products. last year, we visited the audubon center in huntington where our friend kim is the outstanding director. this year, i took my son to a friend's sugar house in rutland county, baird farm. it was a sunny and brisk day. the wind chill was a blizzardly 10 degrees. walking into the steamy house was a treat. imagine all of that steam smelling like maple syrup. wow! we had sugar on snow with a homemade dill pickle because that is the way it is done. we met a sweet dog named esta, took some photos, learned about a new technology called reverse osmosis and bought some maple syrup... some fancy and some medium amber.

this coming week is forecasted to be one of the warmest we have had this year. i think nearly 62 degrees on tuesday, april first known as april fools day and also our wedding anniversary. i suppose being farmers and all, we are april's fools. we are scheduled to start planting in the field in just a few weeks and there is still a fair amount of snow on the ground. see what i mean about being april's fools.

the onions are germinating. this week in the greenhouse, i am seeding celeriac and alot of peppers... sweet, hot, green. peppers are one of our best selling crops at the farmers market. we grow over 10 different varieties of sweet peppers. this is one of my favorite morning snacks in the field. when i was pregnant, there was no way i could even think about eating red peppers but my love for them has returned. and i am thankful for that.

A SIGN OF SPRING

the other day, i came across these snowdrops. throughout the spring and summer, i think we will be surprised by the flowers growing and blossoming since this will be our first season living on the farm. i remember from frequent visits last summer that there were lots of lilies scattered around the farm along with other landscape flowers buried in weeds. this summer, i would like to mark where & which flowers are growing with small flags. it will help me to remember in the fall when i am ready to dig up bulbs and transplant them.

as i mentioned last week, i attended the FEED conference. it was a great opportunity to meet other farmers, teachers and school food service workers in our area. we now have a great contact from the east salisbury elementary farm to school team. the school is just 10 minutes away. this makes our farm accessible for field trips in the future. for now, they have asked us to be a part of a taste test this spring. the farm to school team wants to use our black beans to develop a black bean hummus recipe to serve in the school lunch program. i am excited for the possibilities. i have been involved with the vermont farm to school program for 4 or 5 years in various ways ... digging potatoes with first graders, attending school open houses & community dinners presented by elementary students, working on farm maps with 5th graders in the classroom, handing out samples of red pepper slices during lunch periods and more. part of our mission at the elmer farm is to be a resource and classroom for local school groups. we will start small. maybe first with this taste test and taking part in the farmer pen pal program.

in the greenhouse, we have seeded parsley, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, endive, onions, scallions, calendula, kale, chard and tomatoes. we have moved all of the trays from the house to the greenhouse. i think there are a total of 20-22 trays now. the rocket stove is heating fairly well. we have also been lucky with some sunny days to help with heating. we are learning alot and already coming up with ways to improve this design for next year.

another sign of spring... spencer shaved his beard but i am not supposed to write about this on the blog.