The 2010 Vermont Life Wine and Harvest Festival

On a beautiful Fall day, we visited the 3rd annual Vermont Life Wine and Harvest Festival.  Here are some pictures and impressions of the day and this very enjoyable event, which you might want to visit next year!

The 2010 Vermont Cheesemakers Festival

cheese from Hildene

Yesterday, we attended the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival, held at the coach house of Shelburne Farms, on the shores of Lake Champlain.  I can't imagine a more delightful way to spend Sunday, than to meet 50 fascinating cheesemakers, sample countless wonderful cheeses, sip a glass of Vermont wine or microbrew, taste an array of creative local food products, and listen to the remarkable Steve Jenkins lead a panel discussion. Come with me, and I'll show you some of the highlights.

Two Sugarhouses

In case you didn't visit Vermont last weekend to tour the sugarhouses, I was your surrogate.  I visited three of them, sampling syrup out of plastic cups, and eating homemade doughnuts, maple sugar everything, syrup on snow (sort of a maple slurpie), five kinds of cheese, and I forget what else.

That might make you glad you didn't come, but you missed something great, basic and incredibly real, even at the touristy places.  I met people who have worked hard, rocky Vermont farms for eight generations, learning and changing their techniques to suit the times.  I had a glimpse at a way of life that is tied to a seasonal rhythm, and people who are proud of what they do.  It's a good life, and many of these farmers live into their nineties, still active and involved in the farm.

That's despite all the syrup and doughnuts.  Or maybe because of it.  Which has me wondering:  is there something especially beneficial in maple syrup?  Like those rare molds that live only in the rain forest...could it be?   

No.  That's the syrup talking.