Homesteading in the North Country (Colebrook Chronicle article)

[KBCraig]

http://www.colebrookchronicle.com/April9.PDF

Homesteading Is A Way Of Life At Tilton's Sugar House In Lost Nation
By Charlotte Sheltry

Lost Nation has long arched to a different kind of drummer when compared to the rest of the Town of Northumberland; the Town was industrial while the Nation was agricultural and forestry. Now, Lost Nation is revitalizing itself through families who are "homesteading."

Tucked up in the hills off Rte. 110 as one leaves the Village of Groveton are several families of homesteaders, which are not only growing their own food, and practicing selfsufficiency, but are developing small businesses.

One of these businesses is the Tilton Sugar House, owned by Stephen and Brenda Tilton; another is Nancy and Michael Phillips' business, who have anorganic apple farm and cultivate healing herbs and medicinal plants at their Heartsong Farm; a third is Linda and Allen Holmes, who raise stock, sell eggs, produce whole milk, and make cheese, butter and yogurt.

"More people need to do for themselves," Holmes said. "Things are changing, and inthe next two or three years, we will see food shortages in our nation."

More people are now turning to homesteading in order to meet their needs, and prepare for the future, he said.

Steve Tilton owns 40 acres of land, and he is holding down two jobs—working in the electrical business by day and working his farm in the evenings and on weekends. He said he knew from the time he was a child that he wanted to make maple syrup. He started tapping trees in the year 2000 and what started out as a hobby has now grown into a small business. He and his wife Brenda also maintain three gardens and blueberry and raspberry bushes, as well as apple trees, which he hopes will bear enough fruit to sell. Plus, Steve hunts in the autumn and traps for his family.

The sugar shack business produces four different kinds of syrup: light amber, Grade A medium and Grade A dark amber, and Grade B maple syrup. Tilton taps between 600-800 maple trees in the Nation. He said that a tree must be at least 30 years old before it can be tapped. A 40-year-old tree produces about 10 gallons of sap per season, which last four to six weeks. And temperature is the most important factor when gathering sap, he said. The daytime temperature has to be in the 40s, and night time temperature needs to drop below freezing in order to get the sap to run. It takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup, which weighs about 11 pounds.

Once he has gathered the sap, he hauls it to the sugar shack and boils it in a woodfired evaporator. He burns between 12-15 cords of wood in two months time. He said it took him about seven hours a day for three to four days a week for two months to produce 93 gallons of syrup this year.

He normally makes more, but he had trouble with his pumping system this year. He also makes maple butter and his wife Brenda makes sugar candy. Tilton said he gets people from Quebec to Massachusetts, as well as individuals on the Internet who purchase his products.

"All we do is work here," Tilton said. "It's a way of life, and life is busy."

And Tilton's wife is a school teacher at Groveton Elementary School, and he has two sons, ages 18 and 16 years old.

He said his wife works day and night also. But working on the land is a pleasure. It may be a lot of work, but he loves it, he said.

Look for a continuing stories in this series about the homesteaders in the coming weeks.

[Pat K]

From the front page of that same paper.

Young Moose Wandered Into
Downtown Groveton Tuesday 

Also this tale of criminal outrage

NORTHUMBERLAND
POLICE
On April 1, Northumberland
Police were called to the Groveton
Elementary School, where
they were told that the playground
in the back had been
vandalized. Upon investigation,
an officer found words in permanent
marker written on the
swings. This is under investigation

[KBCraig]

From the front page of that same paper.

Young Moose Wandered Into
Downtown Groveton Tuesday 

Also this tale of criminal outrage

NORTHUMBERLAND
POLICE
On April 1, Northumberland
Police were called to the Groveton
Elementary School, where
they were told that the playground
in the back had been
vandalized. Upon investigation,
an officer found words in permanent
marker written on the
swings. This is under investigation

The newspapers up there mostly print their "police reports" by cutting and pasting the local police blotter. They tell everything the police did. And most of it is just like this nefarious "vandalism".

That is pretty typical. Most police reports are along the line of, "Police responded to a report of a moose-vehicle collision. Vehicle was declared totalled and towed from the scene. Moose last seen trotting off into the woods."

Or, just got to this link, go to Page 6, and read the typical blotter.

[Russell Kanning]

also for incoming free staters .... the houses are cheap in places like groveton