The theme of this year’s annual Mud Ball is NEON. Seeking to out-do itself, the Mud Ball, one of the Upper Valley Haven’s celebratory fundraisers, is seeking maximum contrast to spring mud with bright lights and Day-Glo cocktails. Scheduled for Saturday, March 23, from 7pm to 11pm at The Quechee Club, the Ball attracts a crowd of people whose enjoyment of a good party is enhanced by awareness of supporting a worthwhile cause.

This year’s entertainment is Conniption Fits, a high-energy modern rock trio known for getting the crowd up and dancing. They maintain a highly booked schedule touring New England, and are familiar to – and popular with – many who have heard them locally in Hartford and Lebanon. Dancing to their music in the special setting of the Quechee Club is an exciting opportunity.

The Mud Ball is in its 11th year, says Ashley Wood, an administrator at the Upper Valley Haven, a local shelter and food shelter in White River Junction. “The Mud Ball is run by a committee separate from the Haven,” she says, “the funds raised support children’s services at the Haven – the after-school and summer programs.”

“The Ball crowd skews a bit younger,” Ashley adds, though pictures of past events show a wide age and style range. Some people do wear mud boots, though that custom was more widespread in earlier years.

“I really like that we have a meaningful impact in our community,” says Laurie Pauli of Lebanon, now in her third year on the committee. “Children are the most vulnerable, and they have no say in their situation,” she says, and adds, “The Haven does so much to support them.” Laurie has turned to Rent the Runway, an online service that rents designer dresses and accessories, to find something special to wear to the Ball, “something bright and not what you usually see in the Upper Valley.”

This event has moved around a bit, adding variety to the experience. This year’s location at The Quechee Club is, of course, popular. “The space makes the party,” says Liz Cassell of Quechee, who describes herself as “an avid attendee.” She used to be a regular but has not attended for several years, and she’s excited about this year’s event. “The bands are always excellent – great live music – and the live auction and silent auction add to the excitement. Everyone feels good because the money goes to the Haven.” Liz and her family support the Haven in other ways, including before Thanksgiving she and her young son baked pies. She also says that her eighth-grade son has a neon tie with a battery pack for flashing lights to loan to his dad. “I expect I can find earrings to match,” laughs Liz.

Do I Dare to Drink Day-Glo Cocktails?

People mixing Day-Glo cocktails might expect a nervous drop in glasses poured, even at the Ball, where the first hour is open-bar. But it turns out that Day-Glo coloring is not sinister; common ingredients like tonic water and edible substances like B-vitamins glow under black light. “I was skeptical, but then I heard about tonic – it glows blue – and B-12 is yellow,” says Ashley. “It’s just another way science operates in our favor.”

Ross Connor of Lebanon has many friends on the committee and has gone to the ball for four or five years. “The biggest piece is it benefits the Haven,” he says, but he appreciates the whole event. “The live music, the Conniption Fits, will be a big draw, but my favorite part is the live auction. There’s a really dynamic auctioneer.” Ross has made winning bids, including one for a tour and tasting at Hanover’s Morano Gelato. Other items have included vacation lodgings, high-end cooking lessons, and sponsorship of Haven kids events.

Ross hasn’t planned his outfit yet. “I’ll probably fall back on a jacket, no tie. But always my L.L. Bean boots,” he notes. Hard to dance in? Perhaps, “but”– he pauses and then claims – “I can’t dance anyway. In the boots, I can shuffle just as well.”

Photos by Carmen D. Noradunghian

Nordic adventures — on snowshoes or cross country skis — are a wonderful, invigorating way to explore and fully appreciate the great outdoors during winter in Quechee.

In the words of one smiling skier, “It is so picturesque with the water flowing and only the sounds of nature can be heard. The setting is spectacular: the connection to nature, the quality of trails, the experience of fueling your soul and heart with great Vermont fresh air.”

A couple of intrepid snowshoers negotiate the abundant fresh
powder on the golf course after a recent storm.

The Quechee Club manages miles of trails on the dormant golf course, groomed for both skate and classic skiing; a couple of trails meander along the shores of Lake Pinneo. All are easily accessible from and close to the comfort of the club house where you can warm up and relax after a day on the snow. For a more ambitious outing, there’s an extensive network of trails in the Section 5 Wilderness area (Map at quecheeclub.com).

Rental gear (classic skis or snowshoes) is available at Henderson’s at the base lodge (802-295-1515), and nordic lessons may be arranged through the Quechee Lakes Ski School (802-295-3929).

The Wilderness Trails behind the Quechee Inn also offers Nordic activities, with a network of groomed trails, rental equipment, and lessons (802-295-7620). You could  wrap up your adventure with a meal at the Inn’s restaurant, or just linger with a drink in front of their wonderful fireplace.

Topher Bordreau getting in his first ski of the season on the
perfectly groomed nordic trails alongside the ice-covered Lake
Pinneo. “The trails are perfect for a quick ski before dinner at
the lodge, or – even better – at night with a headlamp,” he said.
“Something about the combination of the sound of the river rushing by,
the snow reflecting the light of the lamp, and the often bitter cold that
is undeniably invigorating. And any time of day, it’s always nice to
reconnect with neighbors out there, too!”

And last but not least, there’s a well groomed loop on the Green, right by the post office – it doesn’t get more convenient than that. Wherever you choose to go, it’s a treat to spend winter in a place where the stark beauty of a Vermont winter is made so easily accessible – you really owe it to yourself to take advantage of it.

Prior to my excursion with Braeburn Siberians of Windsor, the only dog-sledding experience I had was when my brothers and I would hitch up our Collie to a plastic sled and attempt to entice him to ‘mush’ down the driveway. This ‘mushing’ would only occur if one of us ran in front of the dog with half a bologna sandwich. If the dog caught you, the sandwich was quickly gone and the ride was over. We always used our younger brother as a pseudo ‘lead dog’ since he was very fast and often wouldn’t be caught for a whole minute. When my wife, Kim, informed me that she had booked a two-hour sled trip for the family I thought, “I’m not really in that kind of shape anymore.” I called my brother. He refused to go, figuring that once more I was tricking him into becoming part of the sled team. Reluctantly, wishing to please the wife, with bologna sandwich tucked securely in my jacket, we headed out to the trailhead in Claremont where we were met by the owner, Alex MacLennan and his assistant, Emily.

Alex MacLennan (above) takes Ron Dull, his wife Kim, daughter
Katie, and grandson Darby on a dog-sled tour.

Now, we like dogs so imagine our delight when, after reaching the designated trailhead, we were greeted by the excited barking of ten purebred, blue-eyed, and energetic Siberian Huskies. These beautiful animals are historically bred to do this sort of thing versus Collies who, like Lassie, are more at home on a movie set and thus reluctant to work unless bribed. A Siberian lives to run and pull! It’s when they are happiest, and for a more thorough description of this magnificent dog you must visit their website (www.braeburnsiberians.com) and read the words of co-owner Kathy Bennett. “If you have any thoughts about it being ‘mean’ to ask them to work, let those reservations go. What would be ‘mean’ to a Siberian Husky is to keep it cooped up in the house with leash walks. This is what the running lines of Siberian Huskies are designed to do. This is not to say that they don’t enjoy couch time. They do! But not as a steady diet.”

Of course, this does not apply to Sunday football or whenever their favorite team – the University of Washington (Huskies) – are in the college playoffs. Then, they just lie around and eat hot dogs.

On the property in Windsor, there are 42 purebreds living together in pristine and obviously loving conditions. The owners began 15 years ago with a mere five but, like potato chips, apparently you can’t have just one. “We are humbled and inspired by the mutual  partnership and friendship we have with the dogs,” they say.

The sled is controlled by a professional driver. There are eight to ten dogs per sled with a 375-pound-weight limit on each sled. There are no reins or physical connections between the driver and the dogs. There are no bologna sandwiches either, but I kept my own close by just in case something happened, and I would have to take command. The team follows the leader. The leader listens to the musher and the musher watches the leader’s body language. It is all built on two-way communication and trust. There seems to be a lot that we as humans can all learn from this operation.

On the day we reserved the excursion the owners picked the best appropriate trail for weather and snow conditions. These trailheads could be anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes from the kennel in Windsor. Our own was chosen to be a portion of the rails-to-trails in Claremont, about 45 minutes from Quechee. After introduction to all of the very friendly dogs and plenty of squealing snuggles, we were quickly off onto a picturesque trail following along the frozen Sugar River.

These dogs love cold weather! The colder the better, but for their human cargo who are getting much less exercise than the running pups (unless smiling a lot counts) the 20-degree temperatures with sunshine, blue sky, and a fresh six inches of snow was simply perfect.

While one passenger sits in the front of the sled, cozy under warm blankets, another will stand on the runners behind the driver and can mush the team. Smaller children like our grandson, Darby, will sit with an adult in the main body of the sled covered by warm blankets and although the entire experience is exciting and unique it is totally safe with no roller coaster style plummets over sheer cliffs or harrowing turns. There are plenty of chances to switch roles, although I must admit I was an impatient rider and really preferred to yell “Mush!” while endeavoring not to fall off and being left to freeze to death in New Hampshire. There are plenty of stops for pictures, switching positions, snacks, and dog snuggles – everybody’s favorite part. By the way, the dogs don’t care if you yell “mush” or not. “Giddy-up” will work just as well.

So, do something different this winter! Check out the website for loads of information and book a trip for the whole family. It’s fun! And that is no bologna!

…and the Way It Still Is for Some

Boiling sap outside, circa 1906

There is a romantic feel for many today when talk turns to how farming once was. That feeling is accentuated by visiting places such as Billings Farm in Woodstock, where visitors learn about farms and farming techniques from years back. One aspect of New England farm lore of particular interest to many is the art of maple sugaring.

Today, most often in the early spring, Upper Valley residents and visitors have the opportunity to visit working maple sugaring operations and see how maple syrup and candy is made today. Many are also intrigued by the old fashioned methods of tapping trees and making syrup. Yet one does not necessarily have to go to a museum to learn about old-time sugaring techniques. Many sugaring operations, particularly small and hobby operations, still incorporate those techniques of the past.

Sugaring in the past

One of the basics of sugaring is tapping the sugar maple trees, and collecting the sap. Modern sugaring operations use a system of plastic tubing to collect sap, but in times past, taps and buckets provided the means of sap collection. Dale Lyman of Hartford, whose family has produced maple syrup in the Upper Valley for generations, began his sugaring career about 40 years back by drilling the trees with an auger, setting the tap in the hole, and hanging the metal bucket from the tap. When the sap buckets filled, they would be emptied into a larger vat for transport to the sugarhouse and re-hung on the tree for further collection.

Metal buckets and metal taps were the common tools used for decades. Before that, staved wooden buckets and wooden taps were used. As those would decay and break down over time, the metal taps and buckets were a welcome improvement for early sugarers.

Coopers, who made the staved buckets for sugaring in the 19th and early 20th centuries, also made large staved vats for storing the sap before boiling it down for syrup. Bill Stinson, who operates a western New England vegetable farm, has one of these large staved vats sitting next to his early New England sugarhouse. Measuring about three feet in diameter, and over ten feet long, Stinson estimates the early staved vat held about 300 gallons of sap, which was gravity fed from the vat to the evaporator for boiling down

Sugaring now

Tapping maple trees, circa 1940

Stinson began sugaring in the late 1970s, using a local sugarhouse and equipment that had not been used for decades. The area sugar maples he tapped were the same ones used in previous decades, and the area still showed evidence of tracks from the oxen and wagons that once traveled through the sugar bush (the grove of maple sugar trees) to collect the sap from the buckets.

Jeff Luce, of Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, also began his sugaring career in the 1970s, as a youngster. Much like Stinson, Luce and his family used the older methods of collecting sap at the time, before boiling it down to make the syrup and maple candy sold from the farm. “We didn’t use power tools, but used a bit and brace for tapping the trees,” says Luce. The sugarhouse they used at the time was an old one existing on the farm, which had sat dormant for many years.

Farm work never ends, it seems. Luce recalls that he and his father would head to the sugarhouse for the boiling down process after milking the cows, usually around 8pm. They then spent several hours in the sugarhouse. The old wooden sugarhouse was missing a door for a while, Luce says, and he recalls sitting on a bench while the evaporating process took place, feeling the cold night air and wind circulating through the structure. Having some structure for the boiling off process still beats the out-of-doors scenario.

Besides the hard work of trudging through the snow to tap the trees, collect the sap, and get it to the sugarhouse for the syrup production, Dale Lyman reminded me of another part of syrup making requiring hard, physical labor; the cutting, splitting, and stacking of the firewood used in the boiling off process. Lyman says before the modern, more efficient wood-burning heaters for the evaporation process came about, his family would use 40 to 50 cord for a sugaring season. For those of us who’ve cut, split, and stacked three or four cord for home heating, that amount of wood is impressive indeed.

Jeff Luce says he can remember stacking ten to 15 cord of wood in the old sugarhouse his family used in the 1970s. Luce says with the advent of modern, draft controlled wood heating units used in the evaporation process, Sugarbush Farm can produce 100 gallons of syrup per cord of wood. Using the old-style heating units, production per cord of wood was a mere ten gallons.

Though there are no records to indicate it, one can imagine that with an old, wooden sugarhouse, filled with multiple cords of wood, and having an old style stove burning steadily throughout the sugaring season, a significant number of sugarhouses fell victim to fires over the years.

In the past, even If one did not have a sugarhouse, or their own sugar bush, it did not necessarily mean they could not make their own syrup and sugar products, says Bill Stinson. He says he has heard many stories from old-time sugarers about folks that would hike into an area containing a sugar bush, set up tents and an outdoor cauldron, and stay for a week or two tapping trees and boiling off sap for syrup.

Of course, syrup makers know that achieving the proper temperature of the evaporating sap is key to making quality syrup. Before efficient burners and sensitive thermometers, this was a bit more of a challenge. To keep sap from boiling over, which it is prone to do at too high a temperature, Stinson says old-time syrup makers might have added fat or bacon to the sap during the boiling off process. This was effective at the time, but likely would not sit well with today’s consumer, particularly if they are vegan or vegetarian. “For lunch, and as a way to pass time during the boiling off, they would also cook boiled eggs in the sap,” Stinson adds.

lugging sap buckets, circa 1940

I asked Dale Lyman, who produces Lyman Family Maple Syrup on the family farm on Jericho Street, if he – despite the modern efficiencies in producing syrup – misses using some of the old methods of syrup making. “I do. If I had the time, I’d still hang buckets,” he says. I asked Jeff Luce if he has a warm, nostalgic feel for the old methods, or whether he says “good riddance,” to those. Laughing, “Definitely, it’s more the latter,” he says. No surprise Luce feels this way, as he finds today the farm produces 50 gallons of syrup in the same time period that produced seven gallons in the past.

One thing about syrup making hasn’t changed: it is still hard work. Jeff Luce says that instead of trudging through the snow emptying sap buckets, he is still trudging through the snow, checking sap lines. Sugaring, particularly in the old days, was a physical test, adds Dale Lyman, getting through a sugaring season, “You knew you were physically fit.”