april 2019
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the hop hustle Spring is the time hopeful hops growers prep their fields.
finding mama If she smells like a hot cider donut, you’re getting close.
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restoring relics Ted started with a buggy, then a caboose. Most recently, he’s completed a cider press.
inside
basic necessities ................. 9 cover story...........................10 ask the dr. ......................... 22 at home with marlo ......... 23 brain builders ..................... 30
on the cover Photo credit: Stephanie Gross Stan Driver helps harvest hops grown at Blue Mountain Barrel House last year. A co-op of local growers are trying to make hops a viable crop. Story starts on page 10.
fromthepigs We heard you lard and clear. The crossword puzzles are back! We will spare rib you the details and excuses but the fun pages temporarily went away because of a nasty thing called a Canadian paper tariff, not to be confused with the great thing called Canadian bacon in Eggs Benedict. The testy tariff forced many publishers to reshuffle the deck, so to speak. It took an act of Congress and some good old fashioned pork barrel politicking, but we’ve found a way to bring back the puzzles. We, the pastured pigs of Maple Brook Farm, are sponsoring those pages. We assign some of that blame to gazillionaire and part time media mogul Warren Buffet, who has been gobbling up newspapers and print shops. Needless to say, the Oracle of Omaha’s appetite is minuscule compared to that of the Hogs of Roseland. Did someone say Buffet? Let us tell ya, we miss our nuts. Now, get your mind out of the dirty water trough. Part of our pre-retirement plan is to gorge on local chestnuts which we are proudly doing in this picture. Our young chestnut orchard isn’t producing these yet but we hope to be gobbling them up in a
few years. Plus, we’ve got more trees on the way this spring. Let’s talk about skunks for a minute. Right around feeding time, this black and white thing appeared in our paddock. We ignored it for a while until it started acting all big and mighty. Well, the farmer took care of it and unlike the crosswords, that skunk won’t be back. How can you be so sure that we’re not bacon it up? These Boston butts don’t lie. Happy April Fools! Pig 1 and Pig 2 APRIL 2019
Blue Ridge LIFE
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