Happy Spring!! Springtime in Vermont means ...

Here are bits and pieces of an article that I'm working on called, Vermont's Liquid Gold, along with some interesting facts and figures.

The sweet scent of boiling maple sap drifting in the air, as one navigates muddy ruts in the road, means it's "springtime" in Vermont. Time to harvest,'Vermont's Liquid Gold!'



Collecting Sap-Fairfield-Don Lockhart


More than 2,500 sugar shacks dot the Vermont landscape, making it the leading producer of maple syrup in the United States. In an average year, Vermont produces more than 570,000 gallons of maple syrup.

We can thank the Eastern Woodland Indians for maple syrup for they were the first to discover 'sinzibukwud', the Algonquin word for maple syrup, which literally means 'drawn from wood.' They harvested the maple syrup by making V-shaped slashes in the trees with their tomahawks, then inserted reeds or concave pieces of bark to direct the sap into buckets, which were made from birch bark.

Vermont has the strictest standards of purity of any maple producing state in the country. While more lax federal guidelines permit the addition of various undesirable elements such as preservatives, salt, etc. into maple syrup Vermont law requires that its maple syrup to be free from any preservatives or other additives. Its 100% pure Vermont Maple Syrup... nothing else!

Sugaring's 40/40 rule: It takes forty years to grow a maple tree large enough to tap and approximately 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.


Did you know that:

Maple Syrup has the same calcium content as whole milk and has only 40 calories per tablespoon? Honey has 45 calories per tablespoon, Cane Sugar has 52 calories, and Corn Syrup has 60 calories.

It is also rich in minerals such as calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron. Vitamins B2, B5, B6, niacin, biotin, and folic acid are also present in Maple Syrup, and it even contains trace amounts amino acids.


Sugar on Snow Recipe

Ingredients:

Vermont Fancy, Grade-A Light Amber Maple Syrup
A bowl or large pan of clean snow
Sour Pickles
Plain Buttermilk Donuts

Directions:

Heat the syrup to 255 degrees Fahrenheit. Scoop snow into a large bowl or pan. Then without stirring, quickly drizzle the hot maple syrup over the snow. The syrup will harden into a candy-like substance.

Use forks to twirl up the thin taffy-like strands. Follow this with a bite of sour pickle, to cut the sweetness, and a plain buttermilk donut.

It's A Lance Mackey Three-Peat!!!

Lance Mackey and his team outside of Golovin

Lance Mackey pulled into Nome right before 11:40 a.m.AKDT to win the 2009 Iditarod Sled Dog race, for his third-straight championship. Of the 15 dogs still in harness, as he crossed under the burled arch on Front Street in Nome, six had been on both previous Iditarod winning teams. Of those six, five were in harness for Mackey's four career victories in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race between Whitehorse, Canada and Fairbanks, Alaska.

But this year’s race wasn’t easy as Mother Nature controlled the entire race. First she threw deep snow at the mushers in the interior and then they had to battle the fierce, biting winds that blew so hard off the Bering Sea that the mushers had trouble standing up. But she wasn't done yet, not by a long shot, and added in a deadly, bone chilling cold of 50below zero.

With this win, Lance becomes only the third musher in the race's 37-year history to win the race in three consecutive years, joining Susan Butcher (1986, 1987,1988) and Doug Swingley (1999, 2000, 2001)

Well done, Lance, Larry and Maple (his two lead dogs)!!!

Please Welcome Children's Author Nan Marino To Blogger

My very good friend, and a long time member of the Daydream Believers critique group, Nan Marino, has finally taken the blogging plunge. YAY!

Please drop over to Welcome to Ramble Street and say Hello. Also check out her web site Nan Marino's Website and her writing blog Small steps, giant leaps . You can also find Nan on, Facebook

Nan is a fantastic writer and her book, Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me, is slated for release in May 2009 by Roaring Book Press. She is represented by the Stimola Literary Agency.

As part of her debut novel's promotion Nan has sent her two main characters, Tamara Ann Simpson and Douglas (Muscle Man) McGinty into orbit around the earth as part of NASA’s Glory Satellite Mission.

Here is what author, Patricia Reilly Giff, had to say about Nan's book:

“Nan Marino may be a debut author, but she's obviously a born storyteller. You will immediately feel at home with her characters, you'll ache right along with them, and you won't be able to leave their stories behind.”


From the Book Jacket:

Muscle Man McGinty is a squirrelly runt, a lying snake and a pitiful excuse for a ten-year-old. The problem is that no one on Ramble Street knows it, but me.

Muscle Man McGinty can certainly tell some whoppers, but this time he's done the unthinkable. He bragged he can beat the entire block in a game of kickball! On Ramble Street, tough talk about kickball cannot be ignored.

For Tamara Ann Simpson this is great news. Now she'll finally be able to prove to everyone what a wormy little runt Muscle Man really is. Of course things would be a lot easier if her best friend Kebsie Grobser were here to help her...

It's the summer of 1969 and the world is getting ready for a man named Neil Armstrong to make history by taking the first step on the moon. But change happens a bit more slowly in Massapequa Park, and it'll take one giant leap for Tamara to understand the likes of Muscle Man McGinty.

Top O' The Mornin' To You!!

Beannachtam na Feile Padraig !!


May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons bring
the best to you and yours!


Adare Cottage-Timothy O'Keefe

Torched Giveaway!!

April Henry’s book, Torched comes out tomorrow! And she’s having a contest!!

Here’s the blurb...

When Ellie’s parents are busted for growing pot, the FBI thinks they've finally found a way inside Mother Earth Defenders, a radical environmental group. They give her a choice: infiltrate MED or her parents will go to jail. At first Ellie is more than willing to entrap the MEDics, but the more time she spends undercover—particularly with Coyote, the green-eyed MEDic that she can’t stop thinking about—the more she starts to believe in their cause. When talk turns to murder, Coyote backs out, but Ellie is willing to risk everything to save her family—even if it means losing Coyote and putting her own life on the line.

Kirkus says "the thrills and action will keep readers interested."

Booklist says, "The contemporary mix of politics and thrilling action will grab teens, not just environmentalists."


April's giving away a couple of signed copies! And here is the lowdown on how to enter

1. Go to http://aprilhenry.livejournal.com/488806.html and comment on her post and let her know that you’ve entered.

2. To get your name entered twice, paste the link to her livejournal, or copy her post into your blog.

3. Wait until March 15, when the winning names will be drawn by Teen