THE Sugar Shack at MEADOWS Bee Farm

We’ve had a funky winter weather-wise, but conditions were finally optimal and I was able to experience the working sugar shack at Meadows Bee Farm in Windham, VT. I signed on as a “WOOFER” at the farm for the month of March and it’s been an amazing experience. I’ve learned so much and have been so warmly welcomed into the vibrant, progressive community that has built up around the biodynamic, educational farm founded and run by Leigh and Charlie Merinoff (more about this fascinating couple in another story!)

Our small crew collected over two hundred gallons today – heavy bucketful by bucketful – from the the Farm’s surrounding sugar bush. Ben Farrell mans the sugar shack. Ben and his wife Haley (who also works part-time at the farm), live down the hill and have chosen to home school their three children Marley, Wendell & Augustus. They’re all frequent visitors to the farm and very active in the Farm’s extensive young farmer’s program.

Marley pops into the shack to drop off a bowl of nachos to her wool clad, perspiring dad who is attentively focused on the current boil. She then rushes off with her mom to her ukulele class and a couple hours later, the full family returns to lend a hand and taste test the finished syrup pouring off the tap. Hyped up on sugar, little Wendell asks if we can go to the barn to visit the two little lambs we witnessed being born the night before. Such a charmed life.

Stay Tuned… I plan to share more stories about Meadows Bee Farm in the near future and explain how I wound up there!

Learn more about Meadows Bee Farm

Learn more about WOOFING.