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Vermont Trip
Friday July 25, 2008
We left the Cape in our two Toyota car caravan just after 9 am and arrived at Half Moon State Park campground at about 3 pm. We located our campsites which were adjacent to each other and set up our respective sites. We chose to get sites with Adirondack style lean-to structures which we have used before at other Vermont State Parks. These are large enough to easily fit a tent inside and it gets you off the ground. We go a step further and have a queen size Aerobed which is luxury camping. Our site was "Cherry" and Bryan & Kristin had "Elm".
We made contact by cell phone with Mr. Stannard at the farm and we planned to meet him at 5 pm. We arrived and met Mr. Stannard in front of his barn which is next to his home. We talked for a while and then it was time to try to find the cattle. It was possible that we would not see them as they rest among the trees in the hedgerows to keep out of the intense sun and they are pretty much free to roam. He has two or three herds on various pastures on his hundreds of acres of land. Mr. Stannard has a Kubota all-terrain vehicle with an enclosed cab. Mrs. & I got into the cab with him and headed off down the road. We traveled for about a mile and came to a pasture on the left. Mr. Stannard exited the Kubota, unlocked and opened the gate. The pasture was the perfect Vermont picture. Rolling and very green. Eventually we were able to view the cattle through a hedgerow and made our way around to that pasture. We stopped a few hundred yards away and I snapped a couple of photos.
We observed them for a little while and then headed back through the pastures. We stopped along the way to see where they come to get their water and his set up for capturing them if needed for veterinary emergencies or simple care such as a sore hoof. And of course for loading into the trailer for the trip to the slaughterhouse.
Once back at the farmhouse, Kristin and Bryan loaded up and headed off to check another pasture for a different herd. Unsuccessful at locating that herd they made their way to the herd we had observed. Mrs and I lounged around on the grass and walked around and took some photos. While we were waiting, Mr. Stannard's daughter came out of the farmhouse and invited us to the porch if we wanted to get off the ground. We chit-chatted with her for a few minutes and she went back to the house.
We could see the orange speck that was the Kubota coming back down the road and they eventually made their way back. We talked more about the product we would be getting, about what size freezers we should have, the cuts of meat we could get and he showed us how they would come packaged in thick, vacuum-sealed plastic. He let us have a two and a half pound package of ground beef so we could try it over the weekend.I could probably have stayed for hours talking to this man. We found him to be a brilliant, caring, beyond hard-working, completely and totally competent farmer who quite obviously has a passion for raising quality beef. An educated animal nutritionist and former dairy farmer who understands why feedlot beef is so very wrong. He has a fantastic outlook and I can say I am quite excited to receive our beef this fall.
We left the farm a little after 7 pm and headed back towards the campground. We stopped at a local store for some wine and beer. This was an amazingly great little store and had Long Trail beer and wine that we were looking for. I don't recall the name of the place, but there was a large cartoon beaver on the sign.....
That evening we had burgers made from Stannard's beef, and various veggies and enjoyed our wine and beer. We sat around the fire listening to several barred owls calling all around us. So great to hear them again and share the experience with friends.
Saturday July 26, 2008
I was awake at 4:30 am but was able to get back to sleep. We were both awake for the day by 6:30. Overnight we had a barred owl that sounded very close and was calling loudly. Fantastic!
There was a light fog over Half Moon Pond, which was directly below our site and accessible by scrambling down a steep grade. Mrs and I walked nearly the entire campground to get the blood flowing and to check out the various campsites for future reference (Ilex is the best lean-to site with direct access to the pond). Once back I made coffee and we cooked up some bacon and eggs for breakfast. It does not get much better than that.
After we cleaned up, we drove the boats over to the boat launch to drop the kayaks. I returned the car to the site and walked back to paddle around with Mrs. This is a small pond and paddling is quite easy and stress free. We beached them at the access below our site and I secured them with ropes.
We decided to walk to Beaver Meadow Pond and a bonus for this walk is a Geocache placed near the pond. The walk was three miles round-trip. We saw several critters including garter snake, frogs, toads and red eft.
Red efts were quite numerous and I am so happy to have seen them again.The cache at the pond was fairly easy and after some searching I was able to come up with it. Here it is in it's hidden state with only a little bit of the top exposed. I will say I tried to be extra careful in this area. This region of Vermont is home to a population of Eastern Timber Rattlesnake that, unfortunately, we did not get to see.
Mrs. snacked on tuna and rice cakes and I had granola mixed with bits of dried fruit that I made at home in the dehydrator. We hung out for a little bit, cooled off and headed back just as some other folks were arriving. Aside from them we saw no one else the entire walk.Later in the day we took a ride to Fair Haven, VT and while we were in the area, hopped the boarder into New York so I at least could say I was in New York this year. We turned around and stopped at a market in Hydeville, VT for a few things for supper, that I think we ultimately did not need.
Once back at the campground we found the rangers walking around warning the campers of a sever thunderstorm warning for the area. I had brought my portable weather radio so we were able to keep on top of the warning if needed. Really, it was not that bad in our area, but we secured things a little better.
For supper we had steak tips and summer squash done on skewers and potatoes. We had another fire at Bryan & Kristin's site until we got into some rain which eventually became heavy and we went to sleep with a thunderstorm.
Sunday July 27, 2008
We slept in a little bit today. Up at 8 am. Overcast and cool; slightly breezy. Coffee!!! Steak, sausage, potatoes and eggs for breakfast.
We walked to High Pond from camp which was only two miles round trip. Nice walk. We saw more red eft, and a garter snake that was able to elude capture. There were more deer flies today as well as mosquitoes. At High Pond we watched dragon and damselflies, and got a good show from a group of whirligig beetles.
We returned to another thunderstorm watch until 8 pm. We got cleaned up and prepared for a great supper over at Elm with Bryan & Kristin. Bryan had a rip-roaring fire going. He made some great veggies and I grilled potatoes and summer squash. Bryan also grilled up a fantastic turkey tenderloin. The wine and beer was a great treat on this summer night. By 8 pm we had a brief rain shower that did not deter us at all. The park was a bit more empty this night which is probably a good thing as I think we were probably a little bit loud.
An odd addition to the night sounds was the roar of race cars somewhere nearby. Apparently there is a raceway not far from the park. This didn't last too long. We also had a bat or bats flying through helping to keep the bugs down.
After supper, we sat in front of the fire which had now grown to a two-story fire. Bryan had set several logs on top of the steel grate which eventually caught fire as well. A fantastic fire.
Mrs and I headed up to the recreation field to check out the stars which is always great on these trips. The Cape is so polluted with light now we don't get to see the stars that well anymore. We heard more barred owls and raccoons chattering.
Out before midnight.
Monday July 28, 2008
Up at 6:30. Made coffee and we started to break camp. What a drag! The weather was mostly overcast, cool but started clearing by 7 am. I made eggs in bread. I loved these things growing up. I'm sure most of you remember them. You cut a hole in a piece of bread using the mouth of a glass or a round cookie cutter and then while it's cooking on a pan or griddle in butter you break and egg into the hole. Really great.
After packing the car and stopping to drop our recyclables and trash we headed out just after 9 am. We stopped in Quechee on the way home on Rt 4 to go into Laro's New England Specialties and Antiques for some shopping.
The ride home was largely uneventful. At home, we unpacked, and began cleaning up the gear and doing laundry. I also picked several squashes and numerous cucumbers. We also found that the bluebird babies had left the nest. We could hear them in the area but never saw them. We had a nice fire and hamburgers (from Vermont Natural Beef) and hot dogs along with garden veggies. A good ending to a wonderful, but all too short getaway.
1 comment:
Sounds great and there is just never enough days when you are having a good time.
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