By Jaime Thomas Like most eighth-grade students, Lauren Bucciero has responsibilities from schoolwork to chores at home. Unlike many of her peers, though, the 13-year-old girl also maintains her own egg business. Bucciero has 45 chickens and recently bought 20 more. She has been selling her eggs every Sunday at church for at least four […]
Maple, maple, everywhere

By Jaime Thomas After all the preparations and a significant snowfall, the sap is flowing and it’s time for Maple Fest. For about two decades, the Poultney Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the event, and this year there will be no shortage of maple-themed things to do. “It’s going to be excellent; it’s a spring […]
Maple Weekend offers sweet activities

By Jaime Thomas The trees are tapped, and the maple is flowing just in time for New York’s two consecutive maple weekends. More than 100 maple producers throughout the state will be participating in the festivities, including seven in Washington County on March 16, 17, 23 and 24. Most farms will offer tours, demonstrations and […]
Big crowds for Maple Weekend

By Bill Toscano Mike Grottoli was surprised so many people visited Grottoli’s Maple House in Middle Granville this weekend. After all, Sunday was very likely the nicest day of the year so far. “I am actually surprised we had so many people,” said Grottoli, who like other local maple-syrup producers was open for breakfast and […]
Maple events on tap next two weekends

By Bill Toscano On one hand, it looks as though the maple-sap run will very likely be over by the weekend. On the other hand, the next two weekends will offer a variety of chances to taste the results of that sap run. Local sugar houses open their doors for Maple Weekends, scheduled for […]
As maple season ends, final reviews are mixed
Some up, some down at end maple season As the Maple season comes to a close at Rathbun’s Maple Sugar House the crew on Hatch Hill Road can look back on a successful year, not one for the record books but quite nice by comparison. Matt Rathbun said the early work in the woods paid […]
Rathbun and crew prepare for Maplesugar weather

As the mercury crested 50 degrees last week, most people in the area were thinking spring, but just a handful were doing something about it. Matt Rathbun and a crew of four men were checking lines, tapping trees and running new lines, getting ready to collect ample maple sap when it begins to flow. “Trying […]
a few outtakes from my maple excursion
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDwB6R1vSJc[/youtube] Welcome to the blog. Here I am out with Matt Rathbun from Rathbun’s Maple Sugar House in North Granville – the sugar house is located there; we’re in Hartford. I’m out of breath from stomping around in the woods. Despite the snowshoes getting around was not easy and as it had been some time since […]
Spring is Maple Time – tapping trees has started
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoMyla0glH4[/youtube] Matt Rathbun and crew are out in the woods on a great spring day checking lines and tapping trees to prepare for the coming maple sugar season. Rathbun says the crew will tap about 7,000 maple trees to bring to Rathbun’s Maple Sugar House in North Granville.