Wake Robin

Title: Wake Robin Sugar Shack [SIV 168]
Time: 6 min 7 sec

Description:

3/10/10: Residents at Wake Robin, a retirement community in Shelburne, have been maintaining a Sugar Shack in the woods since 1998 when resident Ed Wheeler organized CVU students to help build the shack. 65 and older residents tap over 100 trees for sap, boil it down and strain about 26 gallons each season. Eva gets a lesson in syrup making and has a shot (or two) of their sweet nectar.

Transcript:

this episode of second Vermont is brought to you by Coldwell Banker Hickok and Boardman Realty welcome to stuck in Vermont but to you by 7 days my name's Avis ol burger we're here in Shelburne on a beautiful sunny day at wake Robbin a retirement community and behind me is the wake Robbin sugar shack maple syrup from one it's very gooey back in 1998 awake robin resident dr. Edie wheeler began sugaring in these beautiful woods they're about a hundred and thirty six acres all duded wheeler and some students in a sea view shop class built the Sugar Shack and ever since then wake Robin residence had been spending every maple sugar season sugar in oh yes everything is done here by volunteers are there all over 65 because it's fun it's just a fun thing to get out in the spring I really love this whole oh the culture of sugaring I've never done it before the Sun starting to shine and the snow is melting and the mud is squishing up around your boots gets you the chance to get out in the woods a little bit start up the fire and then the steam starts rising and you can smell the sugary smell in the sugar house and drinking that serve it becomes a community event it's a lot of fun and then people come around and we talk and we think great thoughts then after a while we make some sugar and then we go home this app is running yes yeah half a bucket the night before last it didn't freeze we had absolutely no no SAP at all and so today it's running quite well now isn't it yeah so we can come back up the trees to mysterious things that way we take buckets and we go out to the where the taps are and empty the sap into the bucket I hadn't done those David didn't somebody else do not much top in the jungle tree over here it's coming but only beginning this is a SAP tree it tastes like sweet water and we put a tap into intercepts just a little bit of it but most of it go for the tree but I think we get 225 gallons who say well that's fine and then we filter it through this sheet that was distilling out the bark pieces and whatever and then someone carries it up the ladder to dump it into the holding tank then it feeds in through the piping and into this room and into the evaporators and this has to boil away for a while well is anywhere between 40 gallons to 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon those cereals and then into the final syrup making here all the while it's boiling away it takes a new piece of wood every five minutes or so it's up to us to solve them up into proper blank pieces and just with them not automatic splitters see refer others drone off there when it's time and nineteen degrees this is a hydrometer more than readiness it's the last step after that's all the boiling it's going to be drained through there and it's not a quick process because it is thick there's the end of the line so these are the people who made it happen this year is wake Robin Robin is a wonderful community of people they're very supportive of each other they're very active vigorous and interested in so many different things I mean motivated to to do things what it is technically is a CCRC a continuing care retirement community and it does allow us to go from one step to another as long as we can we all want to live independent I'm having as much fun here and the stimulating people here this sugar maker was a retired electrical engineer not as far from agriculture as you could imagine I work for the US Geological Survey that it's an internal medicine Medical Center and I was a professor of education at University of Vermont one of those New York City Wall Street bankers I was hoping that I would be yeah Robin you can park your car here and surf to your heart's content it's free its public hmm nothing like sweet maple syrup on a beautiful sunny day in the Vermont woods will get stuck mouth with you again real soon mmm hope you're enjoying maple syrup this season delicious and I'm here with my wife Gloria we're starting to outgrow our home now and we're just renting and we're getting married in two weeks so we want to start a new home together to be represented by a realtor makes more sense now than ever it's great he does everything for you and explains everything your home is your largest investment that you're ever going to make take your time you have to have fun with it my goal is your realtor is to help you make a good decision that you're going to be happy with for a long time