Site Discussions

With a similar-sized operation (about 2200 trees) I find that we’re already being regulated by the market due to new HACCP standards, and many other measures that bulk clients impose on us sugarmakers. I’ve had to do phytosanitary tests, build an HACCP plan, and create Certificates of Analysis for commercial clients. These are not things that are at all economical to someone making 50 gallons a year.

This is not all a bad thing (that lead tainted bottle is less likely to get out there), but it is certainly overkill in many respects. My sausage company client, which has federal inspectors working full-time within their facility, assumes that my maple syrup is as dangerous as any pig part that they have coming into the plant. A dirt smudge on the barrel is enough to have them send it back across the country. This is all to say that people with commercial clients are likely to find the government regulation small beer. People with only retail clients are in for a wake-up call.

Vermont state folks, maple syrup association people, and our congressional delegations can help in making sure that maple syrup is treated as the sort of product that requires a bit less scrutiny. For instance, we need not install chain-of-custody-wide temperature control systems. If our product is thrown into an overly-large bin of food products, we could have some pretty silly regulation, which I already find in the market-driven requirements.

-Tig Tillinghast

Thanks, Chuck Wooster, this was an engaging explanation of a pertinent topic.  It also got its point across without beating me up.

We would all benefit for more articles like this, I will keep reading and watching for them. And I hope you will keep raising sheep.

KJ

These articles are not useful.  What specifically are the proposed standards? 
Your comments and that of vtdigger are rather useless rants, with few specifics. 
You might also report on the new NOFA Organic maple standards. They are specific and clear, and ensure that organic syrup will command premium prices and meet health standards.

So, what are the expenses that exceeded the revenue? I know that you are using the sheep story as a vehicle to make a larger point about carbon in the atmosphere, still, what are the sheep related costs that put you in the red? The cost of the hay would be some percentage of property taxes, fuel, and equipment. Same goes for water. Do sheep require extensive veterinary care, dietary supplements, or do you buy additional lambs in the spring? Wishing you the luck of the 1860s with this years flock.

To your main point, there is a balance in nature. The problem of the parched Andes and the inundated Floridians may be offset by a longer growing season in New England or fewer logs in the stove during a Wisconsin winter. Is there a situation of compensating events that should be taken into carbon cost accounting?

Thank you for helping me understand why more people don’t have sheep on their land!
I understand from what you wrote that we can’t have it both ways: cheap gas for our cars, and cheap lamb to eat at our tables.
I’d rather have the cost of gas go up, not only so it is realistic, but also so it spurs people to invest in alternative forms of energy.  If this helps the sheep farmers, so much the better!
Rosemary Yaecker

Wow!  Thanks so much for making this important concept come alive through the sheep in your barn.  It’s such a critical idea for us to grapple with, and start to incorporate into how we think about costs.  Thanks!

While at the Sportsman Show in Essex this past week, having a
conversation with a game biologist, we were approached by a friend
carrying a folder. He was excited to open it up to show us an amazingly clear photo of a catamount taken by his wife from their camp window in Belvedere. There is no mistake, it is the real deal, a picture of a young catamount, perhaps a female, as it stopped along the wood line. I’m not sure what the next step will be. The Vermont
Fish and Wildlife are on board and it is just a matter of time before
the photo is released and made public.

Need help telling the difference between springwood,summerwood

As I emailed Vermont Fish and Wildlife earlier this month, they have not taken into consideration the private landowners who open up their property for hunting seasons. I am not a hunter, yet I have allowed hunters on my 120 acres for 22+ years. However, I informed them that I would seriously consider posting my property, something, as a native Vermonter, I take seriously, if this rule were passed. October should be off limits to another 4 days of muzzle loader season. This is a month we (as well as tourists) all love to go into our woods to enjoy the great weather and beautiful foliage.

Vermont could lose big if this rule were passed, from the lost infusion of money from foliage tourists to the private landowners forced to post more property. Is it really worth a few days more of hunting, when they could lose untold numbers of private property acres to posting?

One of the main reasons they want to do this is to remove does early in the year to save on available food sources to help the remaining deer make it through the winter. By removing them 6 weeks earlier, they would save a lot of browse for the remaining deer. I as a bowhunter don’t have problem with this because it is for the health of the deer. I would like to see have seen them not continue to allow shooting does, especially those bred does in the December muzzleloading season, which this plan allows. Bucks run themselves ragged chasing does for those few weeks in November and to have that energy wasted by shooting bred does doesn’t make sense to me. They should have an early hunt to remove what does need to be removed and be done with it!

Several years ago, a low-life neighbor whose own land is posted came onto my 90 acres to shoot an “extra” deer. Apparently bored or angry at his lack of success, he shot one of my dogs instead. Despite confessing to F&W and the State Police, cruelty to animals charges against him were dropped. At that point I seriously considered posting my land, but mindful of other hunters who treated my family and my land with respect, I served him with a no trespass order instead.

I’m willing to give my woods over to hunters in November. I keep my dogs on a short leash and have plenty to do around the homestead getting ready for winter. I’m not willing to give up the month of October, however. October is one of my favorite months for being in my woods. I’m either working, getting in the last of my winter wood, clearing roads and XC ski trails, or hiking with two- and four-footed family members. The cool, bug-free environment, the glorious vistas, and the opportunity to explore and enjoy my land mean too much to me to sacrifice for an October hunting season of dubious value. Simply put, if October hunting is allowed, the posted signs will go up on my land.

If the state were concerned about safety when hunting does with rifles, perhaps we could have a blaze orange requirement for that part of the season. Come to think of it, blaze orange is a good idea any time you walk in the woods during hunting season. The safety statistics of every state that requires it are ample proof.

They tried that here in central New York. Bow hunters were outraged. It didn’t fly - thank god for common sense!

This comment came in as a Letter to the Editor for the printed magazine.

Out West buffalo and bison have been brought back to healthy populations.  Even though the opposite problem exists in the Northeast of too many deer, the solution may be the same. Is there any way that deer may be allowed to roam somewhat freely and their meat be sold and enjoyed by the general population in a very sustainable way as is done in the west?  It may be worth looking into.

Sincerely,
Pam McGuinness

The hunter is still our best controller of the deer population. I don’t understand the opposition to law abiding citizens helping control the population, and at the same time reap the reward of the meat provided. We are subjected to hormone riddled meat and fish and poultry today, why is it so reprehensible to some to partake in some natural, healthy meat? Through licenses, It places money in the state’s coffers, people get meat and it helps control the damage done by deer/car collisions, overbrowsing and landscape damage.

I was also happy to see the bird population mentioned. There are 27 or 28 birds on the threatened list that are shrub nesters that have had their nesting areas (the first 6 feet of the canopy) decimated by deer. Let’s not forget the babesiosis, erlichiosis, Lyme disease, etc,causing untold millions of dollars of damage, not to mention the suffering being endured by people contracting these horrible maladys.

Great article! I have a theory that Oak trees retain their leaves to protect the acorns as they develop. I have not documented it, but I have noticed in years when ther red oaks retain their leaves well in to January and February, they have a good crop the following year. I have not noticed this in white Oaks. I am not sure if this theory also pertains to the Beech trees, but I will be watching next year, because this year they seem very persistent in their leaf retention.

What gives me hope -

In the winter, it’s seeing the crows as I leave the office. They flock up in Greenfield. Their sounds and swoops bring me joy. It’s breathing in the crisp morning air and being greeted by the resident chickadees. It’s the surprise of seeing the raven couple visit our yard. It’s the beauty of where landscape meets streamscape - ice bubbles skirting rocks, water babbling beneath the ice; snow snakes slithering in the wind, snow laden hemlock. I don’t even need the promise of spring on sunny winter days; just the connection with the forest and stream sends me into delight.

I would be interested in any photos or recent stories.  I have grown up in Southern Vermont and have heard three credible stories of either catamount sightings or prey cache in the last 5 years.  I now live in Northern Vermont and being an avid woodsman and hunter I hope to see there return soon.

I grew up in Vt and graduated in Botany from UVM with Dr. Hubert Vogleman.  Since then I have earned a M S and PhD in Botany at Montana State Unv. and taught at Montana Tech of the University Montana (formerly Montana School of Mines) in Butte for thirty 33 years. I grew up in the Woodstock area and my parents later in life lived on the lived on the Westerdale road near the Lincoln Bridge between West Woodstock and Bridgewater North of Rt 4, after selling Up Hill Farm.  Maurice Sawyer my father while living on the Westerdale RD discovered a Chestnut tree on the NW road side bank underneath the electric or telephone in the late 1960’s or 1970 and one day in that same time frame he showed it to me and indicated his concern that it might be cut because of the lines.  This past Dec. with Jimmy Richardson, a high school classmate from the Richardson Farm in Hartland was with me and we decided to see if the chestnut tree was still there.  It was and is a growing magnificent specimen.  I share my fathers concern and feel that some chestnut authorities ought to know of its existence. You might give Jim Richardson a call (802) 457-1959 and go visit this tree.  Thanks Paul Sawyer

Hope…..to me, a resurgence of Spring from the long winter…..to dream…

The days get short and cold and dark, and insects scurry, under bark. The geese fly over, heading south, winter’s here…there’s no doubt.

The bears and bats are hibernating, chickadees are contemplating…suet cakes and sunflower seed, we recognize their time of need.

Mother Nature’s slowing down, she calls the snow to cover ground, and signals us, get in the wood, dig up the carrots, bring up canned goods.

The farmer with the haylofts full, slows down a bit, enjoys the lull; is thankful for the land that gave, the crops they store, the food we save.

The sun sets low, the temperature drops, the books come out, we don wool socks.  Sit close to the fire and dream of Spring, when birds long gone, return to sing.