Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Evaporators and Publishing Houses

This past weekend we dropped in on Burr Morse up at Morse Farm in Montpelier, VT. I met Burr probably 4 years ago. Coming up on our then third sugaring season, I was hot for information to improve our process. Vacationing in VT we swung into his place to take the tour. Lucky for us, Burr was on site and we chatted about all that is maple sugarmaking.

Email conversations followed, with the promise to come and visit. But not during sugaring season. Understandably... Then word came that Morse Farm has a new evaporator. The draw to visit strong, so prior to a family gathering we stopped in. And Burr was there.

The evaporator is beautiful with its prewarming steaming overhead pan. Two hours is all it takes to go from sap to syrup. They fire their operation with wood pellets, and have an automatic sap feeder system to keep the pan levels constant. I have evaporator envy, but to no end. There pan is the size of our sugar shack. Still I love it.

Then the conversation turned to writing. Both of us published authors we talked about the writing process and what it is like taking an idea from brain to book. What an opportunity this meeting was: 45 minutes -- 4 years in the making. And as we parted, I promised to send a copy of my book along this week. Maple sugarmaking and writing -- two things that are near and dear to my heart.

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