Comments on: Our two Live Oaks

By: MaryAnne

MaryAnne — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 05:02:11 +0000

Employment situation pushed us back to PA. We lived in Brattleboro, in the southeastern corner, populated by some old-timey Vermonters blended with what a local called “aging hippies and trendy radicals”. The rest of the state pretends it’s part of Massachusetts.

Let’s see… food related things about VT…

Going to the sugarbush with my son’s nursery school class to watch and participate a little in the maple sugaring process was both fun and instructive. Watching a bunch of 4-year-olds out in the woods to learn about a hundreds of years old craft has its joys by itself. Just knowing how much sap has to be collected to make syrup makes me less likely to complain about the price.

We found out about the Puritans’ early version of breakfast cereal: popcorn with maple syrup and cream. I made it for the children one Thanksgiving morning. After tasting it, they gave me that baleful look of children who have been hoodwinked. I never knew fresh popcorn could get so tough. We chalked that one up to historical research and I made everyone some toast and hot cocoa.

Vermont common crackers are the best things on Earth to serve with stew, and very good with soup and with jam on them for tea. They look like very large unsalted oyster crackers, and are like dense and crunchy biscuits that keep for months. I’ve never seen them outside of VT.

Last but not least, even though VT makes some fabulous cheeses, trying to get a decent pizza there is like walking in the wilderness in search of the lost city of Cibola.

By: podrock

podrock — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:53:46 +0000

…in an effort to teach you how to hunt. A queen cat will bring live mice to her charges to begin their training with a wounded prey.

By: Jody

Jody — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:24:16 +0000

Lindy lives near Ashville.

I am pretty much stuck here for awhile.

By: FrankC

FrankC — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:16:05 +0000

It was okay. Some good, some not so good. I’ll tell you about it sometime

Just so you know I’m not stuck on Gulf Coast life. I preferred the Ashville area of NC for rustic mountain charm and the Atlanta suburbs for overall quality of life.

By: Jody

Jody — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:07:26 +0000

You lived in Vermont???? I am jealous!!!!

By: Jody

Jody — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:38:04 +0000

THAT is not so far fetched!!!! Annie…my one outdoor kitty…belonged to DJ’s owner. She would come over to visit…and I would feed her…and that was eight years ago. My neighbor was quite happy with the arrangement.

By: MaryAnne

MaryAnne — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:24:38 +0000

The deer, hosts to deer ticks, which are carriers of lyme disease, flourish when there are lots of acorns to eat.

By: MaryAnne

MaryAnne — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:18:47 +0000

I remember this one tom in Vermont who would bring little dead things to the back door. He liked my daughter, who was 2 1/2. She liked the cat, but refused the carcasses, which I was just as happy about.

By: Jody

Jody — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 19:57:46 +0000

Thanks Pod! My husband is OCD about the acorns on the lawn…and has been out picking them up by hand for almost three months now. I see the co relation to rodents…there are four cats in my immediate vicinity so we are okay with that.

My neighbor DJ the cat came sauntering across my porch with his fresh kill first thing in the morning. I do believe he thought I was gonna take it from him.

By: podrock

podrock — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 19:28:01 +0000

Acorns and nuts are known as “Mast” and a year with lots of nuts is called a “Mast Year”. Our pin oak, which rarely produces a mast, had acorns this year. We were down in the Blue Ridge in the autumn, and the ground was just covered in acorns and hickory nuts.

Only problem is that mast years result in bigger rodent populations.

Learn more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mast_(botany)