The Job
I work in the Dairy Industry as a milk tester. I have a circuit of about 35 dairy farms in Northern Vermont and parts of New Hampshire. I travel to each farm once a month, collect milk samples from each cow (from 30 cows to 1500 cows) and do data entry. The hours are not easy – chores start anywhere from 3am and on and I have to drive to get there. On the plus side – I drive to work on back roads through some of the prettiest countryside you ever will set your eyes on. And the people – oh those resilient farmers.
One Easter weekend years ago I was relief testing. I was sent to Sutton Vermont. To get there I drove by Crystal Lake took a right under an old train trestle and climbed up a hill. That’s Sutton – a series of tall rolling hills with old farms dotting the landscape. The village has streets leading here and there with houses tucked every which way. It reminds me of a rabbit warren with little nests tucked in.
The People
The farm I went to was an old old bank barn right next to the road in a narrow ravine with a brook running along the other side of the road. The oldest part of the barn opened towards the road, you walked through the milk room, past the stainless steel milk tank and up a set of stairs. The cow stalls were much like the town itself – tucked away here and there with walkways connecting them. They were a pleasant older couple, there was a teenage grand kid or two helping out now and again.
Conversation passed on where I lived, how the cows were doing, and of course the weather. I remember sharing a few of our favorite maple recipes with the Mrs. ( it was sugaring season). Her family favorite she said was Maple Biscuits. “start with a large baking dish, add a stick of butter and pour in the syrup, drop your biscuits and bake. Well you had me at butter and syrup!
We finished for the evening and I returned the next morning, as they checked both the evening and morning milking. The morning passed much the same as the night before. It was to be my one and only trip to this old hill farm as there regular tester was returning and they retired not too many years later.
The Memory
We finished in the early morning light. The sun just coming over the hill to the farm, the water tumbling over the rocks in the brook across the road. Daffodils surrounding the old barn and house. They were still in the barn finishing the last of the chores before breakfast. I loaded the back of my car with my supplies then opened the drivers door. There sat a glass quart jar filled with Maple Syrup and a yellow plastic Easter egg perched on top. Oh the quiet goodness of those old hill farmers.
Those were the best Maple Biscuits I’ve ever made.
