Inside the Kingdom
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INSIDE THE KINGDOM April 6, 2016 the Chronicle Section B – 20 Pages At Dabble Day Event connects the dots for childcare resources by Elizabeth Trail COVENTRY — Indoors and out, the Coventry Village School was a beehive of activity on Saturday morning. About 300 parents, children, and volunteers showed up for Dabble Day — an annual spring event that combines activities for children with a chance for families to connect with child care providers and community resources. Outdoors, a dozen or more hardy children clambered around on the swings and playground equipment, supervised by adults willing to ignore the on-again, off-again sunshine and chilly breeze. Indoors, youngsters had a chance to watch a filmed puppet show, build towers with giant blocks, watch someone play the guitar, get their hands gooey in a trough of a cornstarch emulsion, and experiment with art projects. While the children were entertained, their parents walked around the school’s multi- purpose room collecting brochures and talking to representatives from local organizations. Dabble Day is put on with funding from Community National Bank and additional grant money, Theresa Forbes said. Ms. Forbes was at Dabble Day as a volunteer with the Northeast Four-year-old Amelia Drown watches raptly while Steve McManus plays the guitar. Mr. McManus is an employee Kingdom Providers’ Association (NEKPA), which of Northeast Kingdom Human Services. Amelia’s parents are Josh and Alice Drown of Orleans. represents day care providers and preschools. Photos by Elizabeth Trail The event was a little different this year in several respects, she said. coordinator for Building Bright Futures, one of may need education or training to find higher- First, there was more emphasis on services the organizations collaborating to put on Dabble paying work. and resources, rather than on individual day Day. “We have at least 30 volunteers from child Then there is the bewildering world of care and preschool providers. care programs, schools, and services — and I healthcare options, nutrition programs, and “We’re here to help parents connect the know some are here who didn’t sign the list.” other services. dots,” Ms. Forbes said. Families with young children can face a lot “I feel that one of our biggest downfalls is Second, there was more entertainment, of challenges, especially in this part of the state, that a lot of parents don’t realize the resources thanks to a partnership with the Ms. Forbes said. that are out there,” Ms. Forbes said. Memphremagog Arts Collaborative (MAC), Transportation infrastructure is almost Northeast Kingdom Community Action Head which helped pay for the show by The nonexistent and getting to work can mean a long Start and Early Head Start has put out a 73- PuppeTree which played 15 minutes out of every commute. Homes can need repairs or page Northeast Kingdom Guide to Community hour. weatherization. Some parts of the Northeast Resources, which was handed out at Dabble Day. “We’ve had an amazing group of partners Kingdom are still at over 7 percent But child care providers can be a family’s this year,” said Martha Braithwaite, regional unemployment — and even parents with jobs best connection to area resources, Ms. Forbes said. They often have a close relationship to parents, and are in a position to notice when a child — or the child’s family — has needs. “Parents might ask: Where do I even start to look?” she said. But in order to be a resource for families, the providers themselves have to know what is going on around the area. “It’s building that collaboration,” she said. Christina Nelson, who owns and operates Mountain View Child Care in North Troy, was at Dabble Day helping children make picture frames with stickers and magnets. Ms. Nelson was recently recognized as a “child care superhero” by Let’s Grow Kids, an organization dedicated to raising public awareness about the need for high-quality, affordable child care in Vermont. The award was not so much for her work directly with children, but for mentoring other day care providers in the region, Ms. Nelson said. On top of running her own day care, Ms. Nelson works as an early childhood mentor to other day care providers in the Northeast Kingdom. She teaches providers how to identify where they are on the way to meeting quality Stillman Sykes models a plastic fireman’s hat at Dabble Day, which is held every spring at Coventry Village standards with the state, and walks them School. Stillman, the son of Alisha and Hunter Sykes of Holland, will be two years old in July. (Continued on page 10B.) IN THIS WEEKLY SECTION, YOU’LL FIND: BIRTHS l WEDDINGS/ENGAGEMENTS l OBITUARIES l KINGDOM CALENDAR l CLASSIFIED ADS l RESTAURANTS & ENTERTAINMENT l REAL ESTATE & AUCTIONS l YOURS FROM THE PERIMETER l RUMINATIONS l AND MORE! Page 2B the Chronicle, April 6, 2016 Ruminations It’s a good year for maple syrup by Tena Starr It’s maple season. It’s early for sugarmaking, but it happens when it happens. Any longtime farmer of any type learns in a hurry that the weather does what it wants; for better or worse, you roll with it. Last year, it was so cold that on Maple Open House Weekend many sugarhouses were boiling water in order to demonstrate how sap turns into syrup. Not everyone had even started sugaring yet. This year, it’s been so warm and snowless that the danger was that sugaring would be all over. Nope. It got unseasonably cold this past weekend, after being unseasonably warm, and sugarmakers are still hanging in there. The ones we’ve seen were struggling with exhaustion at the end of last week from what appears to be, as of now, an excellent season with steady runs of sap that left sugarmakers boiling nearly every day. We tap one huge and very old maple. Two buckets. Last week the buckets filled nearly every day, and we, too, like “real” sugarmakers, boiled every day. We do that partly on the wood stove and partly on the kitchen range. Since Maple dumplings. Photo by Tena Starr there’s no wallpaper in the house, I don’t have to worry about it being steamed off the walls. So far we’ve made close to a gallon from that and fast. He then ordered his people up, telling Some would like to move the story of maple one big tree, which I believe is a personal record, them that the trees were no longer filled with the syrup backwards. It’s not hard to find a although last year was the only year we actually maple syrup, but only a watery sap. He told sugarmaker who believes that technology has had to buy maple syrup. For more than ten years them they would have to hunt and fish and tend affected flavor and quality. we have generally made enough syrup for our their gardens for sustenance. He promised that At this house, the old methods are still in own needs. the sap would run again, but only during the place, by necessity. It doesn’t mean we make the Not to take away from the serious winter when game is scarce, the lake is frozen, best syrup; in fact, it tends to be dark, but it’s sugarmakers, but making syrup on a small scale and crops do not grow.” tasty. is so easy it puzzles me why more people don’t do In any event, it’s clear that, by the 1700s, Here is what I believe to be an old French- it. Tap a couple of trees, which only requires a Native Americans and European settlers alike Canadian, or maybe old Vermont, recipe. We drill and a few buckets, and you’re in business. were making syrup and sugar. don’t tend to make it unless it’s a very good Haul the sap into the house when you have “In 1755, a young colonist was captured and sugaring year like this one because it uses a lot of enough to make boiling worthwhile. ‘adopted’ by a small group of natives in the region syrup. I’ve looked at actual recipes and find them It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one that is now Ohio,” says the UVM website. “In too complicated. So here is my own. gallon of syrup, so you need a substantial amount 1799 he published his story in An Account of the of sap to make any syrup at all. We tend to make Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels Maple dumplings about a pint at a time. A sugarmaker asked me of Col. James Smith, which includes a description the other day if I use a hydrometer, which of how the Native Americans made maple sugar: Make drop biscuits. There are lots of recipes basically measures the density of a liquid, to “Shortly after we came to this place the squaws for drop biscuits. Here’s one: decide when the sap has turned to syrup. began to make sugar. We had no large kettles with 2 cups flour I don’t. I decide it’s syrup when I scoop out a us this year, and they made the frost, in some 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder spoonful, and it’s syrup when it cools. measure, supply the place of fire, in making sugar. 1/2 teaspoon salt Admittedly, it’s a method that leads to variation, Their large bark vessels, for holding the stock- 1 tablespoon sugar and none of our syrup is perfect. Some is a little water, they made broad and shallow; and as the 1/2 cup melted butter thick, and some is a little thin, but we’re not weather is very cold here, it frequently freezes at 1-1/4 cup milk selling it.