Adirondack Family Time™

The Sugarmaker’s Companion includes:  A focus on maple syrup as a healthy, local, sustainably produced alternative to corn syrup and other highly processed artificial sweeteners; Discussions about organic certification, sugarhouse registration, and the new international grading system; Information on marketing to create a profitable business model based on scale, interest, access, and more; Detailed analyses of the economics of buying and selling sap; Information on ways to process and market other tree saps, including birch and walnut; Ways to enhance diversity in the sugarbush and interplant understory crops for value-added products such as ginseng, goldenseal, and mushrooms; and, An economic analysis of utilizing maple trees for syrup or sawtimber production. In addition, readers and sugarmakers will learn plenty of practical, how-to skills, such as: If, and on what scale, syrup production is right for them; How to find trees for tapping; The essentials of sap colle

Since it is the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Horse , below are brief listings of some places to go for a Adirondack winter  sleigh ride or winter horse trail ride. Lake Placid Sleigh Rides  - during the Adirondack winter months enjoy a sleigh ride overlooking the High Peaks from the Lake Placid Club Golf Course, owned by the Crown Plaza. Emerald Spring Ranch , Lake Clear - offers year-round trail rides. Adirondack Sleigh Rides - Lake Clear - Located at Hohmeyer's Lake Clear Lodge , you can take a wonderful sleigh ride through the woods. Run by Country Dream Farms , Plattsburgh

It is a chilly morning in the Adirondacks. Taking my puppy for a walk leads me on all sorts of adventures that I look forward to sharing with my family later in the day.  The woods are so still and even my pup seems to know to be quiet.  The trees are covered in frost and was fortunate to hear the black-capped chickadees simple 3-note whistle. 

The first paintball biathlon of the season was held this weekend at Dewey Mountain in Saranac Lake. To celebrate Sochi, the kids braved cold weather to follow in the heels of Dewey mountain alumni Annelies Cook, Tim Burke and Bill Demong.  Dewey Mountain is known in the Adirondacks as being the place that gave those Olympians there start. 

No one has to wait for the Sochi Winter Olympics games to participate in an Olympic sport. Once again all young adults have an opportunity to be part of the Adirondack Paintball Biathlon.                                                        The entry is $10/event for the first six events ($5 for NYSEF, NPSC, ORDA Pathfinder, Dewey Mt and TLNS athletes). There is a $20 admission for anyone participating during the Grand Finale as part of the NYSEF Nordic Kids Festival on March 23.                                                Any child from 8-14 can register and compete in any or all of the 2014 Adirondack Paintball Biathlon Series. Any child competing in all seven events gets a free event t-shirt. No experience is necessary though each participant must have his/her own cross-country ski gear. Some kids race against each other while others just try to pull a personal best. Each race will vary depending on the location. Each venue will have a slightly different f

Ice Skating is a fun Adirondack family activity that my family enjoys all winter long! When the weather outside is cold and the ice thickens on the Adirondack lakes and ponds, we take out skates with us.   Inside we have the opportunity to take off our skates, warm up our toes and listen to the music piped in over the sound system.  Here are some Adirondack Civic Centers . So strap on those skates and hit the ice!

According the NYS Department of Environment Conservation (DEC), for every one Christmas tree that is cut, one to three more seedlings are planted.  The benefit for using a real Christmas tree instead of a plastic (fake) tree is that almost all Christmas trees are grown as crops making the switch from an artificial tree to a real one an easy decision. It takes six to seven years to grown a Christmas tree. For those years that  real tree soaks up carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change (global warming) and the chemicals to make plastic trees actually creates more greenhouse gases. Real Christmas trees are a renewable resource. In addition most town collect used trees to be chipped and recycled for mulch, which helps reduce water usage in municipalities. Most fake trees are not biodegradable.