Sweet start to spring at MapleFest

Sweet start to spring at MapleFest

Theo Adkins, 7, and his dad, Craig Adkins of Lakeville, enjoy a sampling of maple syrup during Saturday’s MapleFest.

Ruth Epstein

SHARON — The atmosphere was steamy, yet sweet at the Sharon Audubon Center’s sugarhouse Saturday, March 15, during the annual MapleFest.

Each year at this time, as the days warm up, but nights stay cold, the sap from maple trees begins to flow. And each year Sharon Audubon offers guests a look into the process of converting the sap into the sweet-tasting syrup.

As she has for several decades, Wendy Miller, education program manager at the center, welcomes those who arrive at the sugarhouse. The visitors have already strolled down a path surrounded by maple trees to learn how they are tapped. When they get to the tiny building, where the evaporator is going full steam, Miller demonstrates the procedure and explains how sap is mainly water, containing only 3% sugar. To classify as maple syrup, it has to be 67% sugar.

The process is completed when the sap smells sweeter, is thicker and is a golden-brown bubble. She noted it has to reach a temperature of 219 degrees Fahrenheit.

Miller then displayed a hydrometer, which shows the level of sugar in the syrup and demonstrated how the product gets filtered to remove dirt and bugs. When the syrup is bottled, it needs to be between 185 and 190 degrees. Syrups, she said are graded by color.

While learning all about making maple syrup can be interesting, the best part of the tour for many comes at the end, when samples of the treat are offered. For Theo Adkins, 7, of Lakeville, this was the second time in a week he’d been at the sugarhouse. On Saturday he was there with his dad, Craig Adkins, and earlier in the week he’d been there on a school trip. He didn’t have to be coaxed to take a second sampling for a photo.

Wendy Miller, education program manager at Sharon Audubon Center, and intern Brandt Boscio, welcome guests to the sugarhouse during Saturday’s MapleFest.Ruth Epstein

Helping Miller this year with the program is Brandt Boscio, 17, who just graduated in January from Housatonic Valley Regional High School. He has been interested in making maple syrup since he was a freshman, when he began learning the process. “I love syrup for breakfast,” he said, which was a motivator. He produced two eight-ounce bottles his first year and in his sophomore year had 30 taps, building his own evaporator. Last year he had 80 taps, creating a small tubing system for more efficiency. But, Boscio said, finding private property owners to allow their trees to be tapped became a real challenge, so he wasn’t able to continue. His capstone project was about making and selling maple syrup, for which he was able to secure several grants.

David Moran, his vocational agriculture teacher, put him in touch with Miller, and he has been interning at the center with her.

Boscio said he’s gotten a lot of good experience and Miller said he’s been very helpful, “so it’s a win-win situation.” Boscio plans to attend college and study landscape management. He is a member of the Canaan Fire Company.

There was also a bake sale at the event where all the items were made with maple syrup.

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less