The Cornell University Maple Research Center

My sister and I had just visited the John Brown farm in Lake Placid, NY (see yesterday's post) and began driving back to the main road. But we had to stop for photo of the Adirondack high peaks behind the John Brown farm. You can just see the peak of the John Brown farm house above the little shed. As for the mountains, I can't identify them although I probably hiked a good number of them when I was younger:

We could also see the Lake Placid Olympic ski jumps from the John Brown farm:

So before getting back on the main road, we pulled in for a closer look. The picture doesn't convey the immense size of these things. They were impressive!

Before leaving Lake Placid, we stopped at the Cornell University Maple Research Station:

It was very much open, even though they weren't currently boiling sap:

We went inside the sugar house to see the huge, modern evaporator:

Signs explained the operation:

And maple syrup was available for folks to buy if they arrived when the building wasn't open:

And then we went into the main building:

That was a busy place, with a number of people unpacking boxes of empty jugs and then filling them with syrup:

There was, of course, maple syrup for sale - and lots of it:

One man began explaining the operation to us:

They also make birch syrup, so he gave us a taste. The funny thing was that everyone described the taste differently. The man said it was savory, not sweet. My sister said it was fruity. I thought it tasted like molasses. Some people say it has a mineral taste. One thing I can say is that it is much more expensive than maple syrup, largely because it takes more sap per gallon of syrup, but also (I suspect) because there are fewer big birch trees in the forest and a smaller market for it. My sister purchased both types of syrup to take back with her to Ohio. This was the end of our Adirondack excursion, so we headed back to the farm to let the dogs out. They were sure happy to see us:

The Beginning Hours Of A March Nor'easter

Another (our third in a row) nor'easter had just begun and it was frosting the woods and fields like white cotton candy. I'd recently taken the tractor driving tour around the north field but decided to hop into my car and start down the gravel road to again see what beauty the snow was creating. I began with this field, backed up by a brushy woodland:

A former gateway into a field which hasn't been used in many years:

A patch of Staghorn Sumac, the red clusters of berries seemingly covered with powdered sugar:

My neighbor's maple sap lines. It was certainly sugaring season, but I hadn't seen him out and about. I worried if something had happened to him:

But then I found him and his uncle stopped along the road, transferring the sap into a giant tank to be boiled down. They are friendly and some of my favorite people. I'm always glad to stop and chat:

I continued on my way and began looking for places where beech trees added a bit of color to what otherwise might make the photos look like they were in black and white:

A beech tree and pine tree among the aspens, with an old barbed wire fence paralleling the road:

An old stone wall where I once released a mouse I'd caught in a live trap:

The snow was sticky and causing an intricate, lacy beauty:

I'd been expecting the Red Pines to be exceptionally lovely, but they seemed to be holding less snow than the hardwood branches. They were still beautiful, though:

More piney woods:

Pines and beech. I stopped at my Amish neighbor's field where he appeared to be digging a well. I asked him if he'd come and trim my horses' feet on Saturday, which is the day he has assigned for such jobs. He said he'd be there in the morning. This was the end of my driving tour, so I headed home to get some work done:

Winter Scenery Along A Gravel Road - Part 2

I was driving down the gravel road by my house to photograph the wintry woodlands (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

Stands of Red Pines had been planted on former potato fields in many places, and now stood tall:

My Amish neighbor had been sawing logs into lumber and stacking it in a large field he'd cleared. I don't know what he intends to use it all for, but he sure is ambitious:

Baby Beech trees clustered at the feet of taller Maples and Aspens:

Red and White Pines, with hardwoods mixed in:

Most of this land was once farm fields, but it is now growing up into woodlands. Only one large plot, which belongs to my Amish neighbor, has been changed back from woodlands to farm fields:

Another neighbor harvests Maple sap for syrup each spring and the lines were up all over the place, just waiting for the weather to break:

This stand of Staghorn Sumac was colorful against the blue sky and fronted by a barbed wire fence:

Another large stand of Red Pines:

The golden leafed Beech trees were especially beautiful, dusted with snow and contrasted with the white Birch trunks and Pine trees:

More of the mysterious, needle-less conifers. I'll try to remember to investigate and identify them when the weather warms up - if I can find them again, that is:

Beautiful West Stockholm, NY - Part 3

I was touring the tiny hamlet of West Stockholm, NY (see also parts 1 and 2, posted previously). I turned around on Hatch Road and returned to County Route 57, where I turned right (south) onto the one lane bridge over the icy St. Regis River:

At the end of the bridge was this giant old house, much larger than it appears in this photo, dominating the main intersection in town. The size of the place and the two huge front windows hinted that it may once have been an inn and/or a country store. Remember this building, for we will return to it:

I continued south on County Route 57, stopping to snap photos as I went:

This classic old farm house appeared to have had a number of additions over the years:

And a colorful, comfortable, country style home with Christmas decorations:

A very old home, set back from the road a bit:

I turned around on County Route 57 and returned to the main intersection, turning right (east) onto Livingston Road at the big building I'd seen earlier. As I said then, it was much larger than it appeared from the front:

West Stockholm, tiny as it is, has its own Post Office - and it's a darn busy one:

A colorful house which also had extra-large front windows. Was it once a country store?

A former (or current?) farm house with a nice front porch:

I couldn't fit all of this historic, rambling farm house into one picture:

An elegant brick home:

I sure remembered this home from my 2013 driving tour. I was as impressed then as I was this time. What a beautiful place to live, both the buildings and the location:

Another family farm, pretty enough to be a calendar page:

I stopped to photograph this maple sap collection setup, all ready for spring. The lines fed into that small building. My driving tour ended abruptly here because my camera got so cold that the battery stopped working. So I put the camera in my pocket and continued on home: