Pages 1 & 2 Excerpt
Featuring
"Chambers Hollow Winter"
Winter
Winter and discontent have occupied the same
space in our minds as a species since long before
Shakespeare immortalized the connection in his Richard
III. For one thing, it’s cold. And in upstate New York,
it’s really cold. But the hardy settlers and their successors
made the most of the low temperatures. They cut blocks
of ice from frozen ponds and rivers and packed them in
straw in their icehouses: refrigeration without electricity.
They built the famous Yankee clippers, which sailed so
fast that they could sell ice in India.
As an alternative to distillation, they froze fermented
apple cider to concentrate the alcohol, creating applejack.
For those with less patience, there was a drink called
a “Stonewall,” favored by Ethan Allen and the Green
Mountain Boys, made from hard cider and rum, so
called because its consumption eased the construction
of all those stone walls on the farms. Elizabeth and I are
particularly fond of the cider that comes from New York
McIntosh apples, but it doesn’t go hard the way fresh
cider used to do. The sterilization process, required by
law to prevent the spread of salmonella, kills the natural
yeasts and bacteria too. We’ll just have to save up for our
own cider press.
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"Chambers Hollow Winter"
Chambers Valley is nestled in the hills of New York and
Vermont. The surrounding area is used solely as farmland
and of course maple syrup production. Located
between the historic villages of Salem, NY and Manchester,
VT, Dry Brook Sugar House is a great place
to visit in the early spring during boiling season. This
painting was based on one of Jon McClellan’s beautiful
photographs.