SHARON, Conn. — Sharon Audubon will hold its annual MapleFest on Saturday, March 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors will be able to watch as maple sap is collected from the trees and turned into delicious maple syrup.More efficient evaporatorScott Heth, Audubon’s director, said that the clear liquid sap is only about 3 percent sugar. An evaporation process is used to reduce the amount of liquid in the sap and increase the percentage of sugar, and turn it into amber-colored sugar. To improve that process, Audubon now has a new evaporator that Heth said “is much more efficient than the old one.” It was a gift of the Housatonic Audubon Society, the local Audubon chapter. Sharon Audubon is owned by the national Audubon organization.“Members of the local Audubon chapter recognize the importance of our educational programs in showing many people how maple syrup is made as well as in making syrup,” he said of the donation.Heth and Wendy Miller, Audubon’s education director in Sharon, said they usually draw enough sap to make about 60 gallons of syrup. With the new evaporator, they expect to produce 75 to 100 gallons this year.Audubon syrup will be available for purchase at the store in the main Audubon building.Heth said the maple syrup season has shifted over the last decades. “It used to go from Valentine’s Day until the end of March. Climate changes have shifted it so now it goes from Feb. 1 to late March.”The new evaporator is 2.5 by 8 feet. The old one was 2 by 6 feet. The larger evaporator will hold and boil more sap, more quickly. Made of stainless steel, the new evaporator will also stain less than the old one.Heth said the new evaporator, made in Canada, is basically custom made and cost about $16,000.Aside from the increased size of the evaporator, Heth said, “The arch [or fire box] is insulated and airtight, while the old one was not.” He explained this provides much more efficient burning of the wood used to keep the evaporator hot. There is also a blower, forcing an air draft to help the combustion of the wood, rather than just an open vent as in the old machinery. This causes the wood to burn more completely. The bottom line is that with the new evaporator system, Sharon Audubon will be able to produce more maple syrup more efficiently. They will be able to draw off small batches of maple syrup about every 45 minutes to one hour.More efficient tubingOn the Sharon Audubon property there are about 450 maple tree taps. As another aid to make syrup production more efficient, new tubing is being used to collect the sap. The new tubing is more resistant to ultra violet light, which provides for a better quality sap and increased production. Heth said the new tubing should last about 10 years, much longer than the previous tubing that was used.Another production enhancement is a small vacuum pump on one line of tubing. A line of tubing collects sap from many different trees and delivers it to a collection vat. The vacuum pump moves sap out of the collecting tubes more efficiently.Heth said there is about a mile of main-line tubing plus another two miles of lateral lines at Sharon Audubon. These carry the sap to three collection points. A tractor hauls a gathering tank to these three collection points to collect the sap. The gathering tanks are taken to the sugar shack, where the sap is drained into a holding tank.On one inside wall of the sugar shack are posters illustrating the process of making maple syrup. One poster says that “40” is the magic number in maple sugaring: 40 gallons of sap equals 1 gallon of maple syrup; to collect sap, daytime temperatures must be 40 degrees Fahrenheit; and a tree must be 40 years old and at least 10 inches in diameter before it can be tapped.The MapleFest entrance fee is $5 per adult and $3 per child. Fresh syrup will be sold in the Sharon Audubon Center Nature Store while supplies last. Depending on sap flow, the sugar shack should be open each weekend in March for visitors. Call ahead to see if Audubon staff will be boiling sap. Volunteers are also always needed to help make syrup.For more information, call 860-364-0520.
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The organic runway at HVSFW puts sustainable style among the apple trees at Stone Ridge Orchard.
Jay Ballesteros
That’s the question behind Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week[end], a two-day celebration of sustainable style, local makers and the possibilities of keeping clothing in circulation. The weekend lands at Stone Ridge Orchard, a 200-year-old working farm, on Sept. 25 and 26, pairing an evening fashion show with a new all-ages Slow Fashion Fair.
“To me, slow fashion means intentional fashion. Careful, thoughtful, human,” said Joanne Louis-Paul, the event’s communications director. “Slow fashion is the speed at which one person can sew an intricately detailed dress. It’s taking the time to go to a thrift store or clothing swap and sifting through an unknown bounty of possibilities. It’s extending the life of a piece of clothing for as long as possible.”
In everyday terms, she said, “It’s stopping to think before purchasing anything or giving anything away.”
Friday’s fourth annual Organic Runway brings Hudson Valley designers to the farm for a sunset showcase of garments made from repurposed textiles and produced locally. Designers include Clare Bare, ennui, Kacy Coyle, KNUD, la vie après l’amour, Last Night on Earth, So Vicki and Touch Threads. The evening runs from 4 to 8 p.m., giving attendees time to pick apples and sip local cider before settling in for the runway.
“We’re all about the whimsy here at HVSFW,” Louis-Paul said. “The runway is so incredibly dreamy. Being outside makes for an unpredictable, one-of-a-kind backdrop every year, and there’s just nothing like that sunset glow.”
Models walk the organic runway at HVSFW. Ilan Harel
The unlikely pairing of fashion and farming is also part of the point.
“Once you’re sitting amongst the apple trees, you realize how much sense it makes to mend the relationship between fashion and nature,” she said.
Saturday introduces the inaugural Slow Fashion Fair, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with workshops, mending, fiber art, vendors, music, eco-friendly kids’ crafts and a clothing swap. There will even be sheep.
“We wanted to have a fair so we could invite more people in the eco-friendly ecosystem into the fold,” Louis-Paul said. “We get to highlight not only designers, but makers and artisans of all kinds.”
The organizers hope the fair appeals not only to people already thinking about climate and sustainability but also to those encountering the ideas for the first time. With mending, a clothing swap and hands-on workshops, the emphasis is on showing visitors things they can actually do.
“There are so many things anyone can start doing today,” Louis-Paul said. “From something as simple as sewing a patch onto a stain or tear to hosting a mini clothing swap at your house with friends and family, there are tons of ways to engage with your wardrobe more thoughtfully.”
She speaks from experience. Before becoming involved with the event, she said, secondhand shopping held little appeal.
“As someone who never liked the idea of thrifting, I am now completely sold on circular fashion,” she said. “I recently sewed a broken strap on a dress I got at a clothing swap, and I felt so accomplished! Being in this world has shown me that conscious consumption is attainable and fun.”
But behind the fun is a serious concern about what happens to clothing once consumers decide they no longer want it.
“Just because you throw it away doesn’t mean it goes away,” she said, pointing to discarded clothing accumulating in other parts of the world and the microplastics shed by synthetic fabrics. “The planet and people are suffering because of this throwaway culture we’ve adopted. If an outfit is new but super cheap, believe there’s a high cost to someone else.”
For more information and tickets, visit hvsfw.org
Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s in Ashley Falls, in her studio.
Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s in Ashley Falls, in her studio.
She has been creating lampshades for 25 years and has settled in Ashley Falls, where she is renovating a barn behind her house for a larger studio. Her mission: “Changing the view on plain white lampshades, one at a time!”
Besides using marbled paper, she uses papyrus, silk and hand-painted papers for the shades.
Shandell’s on Main Street, offers a large selection of marbled decorative home items on its website — trays, coasters and bookends, to name a few — as well as scarves and belts. Schneider will also customize items and creates custom wallpaper, gifts and favors for weddings and special events. She offers consultations by appointment.
Schneider explained how she began making lampshades.
“I was in business as an antiques and textile dealer, needing lampshades at the time (the early 1990s). I had a dealer who used to make lampshades. She was moving and sold me everything she had in her barn for making them. Arcs, templates for lampshades, and tools.”
Schneider used the marbled paper from the endpapers of old books to make small lampshades.
“I collected those voraciously.”
The papers were too small for the larger lampshades she wanted to make. To get paper in the size she needed, she decided to learn how to marble.
That was 10 years ago. She now has 20 tanks for marbling, including one 10-foot tank that allows her to make 3 yards of fabric at a time.
As she demonstrated the marbling process, making covers for journals, it was easy to see why she “got hooked.”
Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s, creates a variety of products with marbleized surfaces in her Ashley Falls studio.L. Tomaino
She explained that marbling takes a couple of days of preparation. She prepares water mixed with carrageenan the night before so that it thickens and becomes a viscous liquid onto which the acrylic paints can be dropped. Paper or fabric must also be prepared with alum, which “makes the paint stick,” she said, a day or two ahead of time.
When she was ready to start, Schneider first used a level to make sure the tank was even. Then she pulled a squeegee across the surface of the carrageenan mixture to break the surface tension, followed by strips of newsprint for the same purpose. She also dipped small pieces of newsprint into the mixture.
“The hardest thing to teach people is to break the surface tension first,” she noted.
Next, she used droppers to place rows of paint onto the mixture.
“It’s a joyful process,” she said as she chose more colors. “It’s totally the pleasure of the colors.”
She explained, “The colors are stopped from spreading by the surface tension.”
Then she added newsprint around the edges of the tank to break the tension again and added another layer of color. Next, she used a marbling comb, slowly dragging it back and forth across the width of the tank to create a feather-like design.
Combs come in many sizes, with teeth spaced at different intervals and in different patterns. She chose another comb to drag through the length of the tank, making the design more intricate before laying two pieces of paper on the surface. After a second or two, she lifted them, perfectly capturing the pattern, and carried them to the sink for a rinse with water.
Once she squeegeed away the paint left in the tank, she was ready to begin the process again.
Next, she created a different type of design, dripping colors in a less ordered array, then twirling them into curving lines and circles with a thin rod.
When the surface was ready, she laid a journal cover on top, then lifted it out, covered in a vibrant pattern of swirling colors.
For observers, the process can seem magical.
Schneider loves to share the delight of marbling by teaching classes at Dewey Hall in Sheffield. Upcoming classes will be held Nov. 20, 21 and 22. Beginning in November, she will also offer private classes in her home studio. Schneider had never pictured herself having a business like Shandell’s, but she discovered a passion for creating, as she says, “things that make you smile.”
For more information about her work and upcoming classes or to contact her for a consultation, visit shandells.com.
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