Bloggle

The birds are singing, the trees are budding, and the snow is all but a dirty-white memory. The crocuses that herself planted last fall which are not blue or purple, but yellow — Yellow! Scott, I blame you – are blooming. By golly it must be mud season Spring. And if that weren’t sign enough of the change of seasons, the dance-card is full of ecologically-minded events, many right here in Vermont.

• Earth day is Tuesday, April 22nd. This year — in the face of looming climate crisis — it’s important to not only act locally (you can find an Earth Day event near you) but also to make some noise.

  If you’ve been following the seemingly endless string of political debates (don’t even get me started on the recent ABC debacle) you may have noticed something missing — the climate crisis. That’s not an accident. Most all of these debates have been sponsored by front groups for Big Oil, and they’ve been excruciatingly effective at keeping global climate change out of the conversation. Let your elected representatives know that you haven’t forgotten the climate crisis.

• Vermonters will want to note, too, that Small Dog Electronics is once again doing their Earth Day affiliated electronics recycling event. It’s free (recycling fees are being picked up by Small Dog’s sponsoring partners) and it’s a great way to keep heavy metal “e-waste” out of Vermont landfills. Be sure to note, too, that it takes place Saturday, April 19th.

• Green Up Day is, as always, the first Saturday in May — this year, May 3^rd. Green Up Vermont is in its 38^th year, and this time ’round more than 12,000 volunteers will be lined up along the state’s highways, byways and streams, bagging and hauling off junk and garbage revealed by the snowmelt.

So get on out there and get your green on!

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Driving back from Boston yesterday I saw the telltale blooms of steam billowing from hilltop sugar houses… Vermont’s surest sign that we’re at the muddy intersection between a long, snowy winter and spring greening. I suspect I won’t have opportunity to head into the woods this year to revisit some of Vermont’s family-owned sugar shacks, so I’m reprising a visit I made to the Isham family farm and maple sugarhouse… just down the road aways here in Williston.

Maple sugaring is a tradition that has flourished at the Isham family farm for five generations. It’s on the verge of a sixth generation — Mike Isham’s daughter Jennifer may well prove to be the first iPod-wearing sugarer in Vermont — provided the weather holds out. Maple sugaring happens only in the subtle dance between winter and spring, where the cycle of warming days and freezing nights makes the sap run. In the face of global climate change, Vermont’s tradition of sugaring may be in danger.
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Today proved bright and sunny and just begged for a bit of a drive.

There’s a hundred roads that crisscross their way through the nooks and crannies of Vermont’s smooth domes and craggy hills, and each one opens up a new vista like a brightly-wrapped birthday present. ‘Round twilight time we found ourselves on the shores of Lake Champlain, where all but the most sheltered bays and inlets are free of ice, and boats’ll soon be putting in.

While the hills and valleys of Vermont haven’t really started greening up just yet — and some are still piled deep with snow — the waters of Lake Champlain provide something of a harbinger of things to come. A touch of color marks the change of seasons, and lures the winter weary out of doors again… to work or to play, to ponder big plans, or just to soak in the warming sun.

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