Day Trip: Goat-ing, Hiking + Sugaring!
As easy mix and match trip to Ossining
Is it winter? Is it spring? It’s hard to tell this crazy season. Here’s a simple little day trip to Ossining, perfect for any weather, any time of year. I have done it in freezing January, sweltering August and crisp October. One of the many reasons that makes this outing so easy is because it’s right off the Taconic. I don’t know about you, but I always feel like I am heading to something exciting when I get on the Taconic!
There are three spots to hit. Since they are close to each other, feel free to do them in any order that works for you!
Teatown Lake Reservation is a 1000-acre nature preserve with 15 miles of hiking trails and a two-acre island refuge where you can spot over 230 species of native wildflowers. The central visitor center is open seven days a week and hosts actually-interesting small exhibits about local wildlife.
They also offer free events throughout the year, such as “Eagles Out” (bald eagle spotting), “Stew Crew” (learning to identify and remove invasive species in the woods) and “Meet the Trees Hike” (learning how to tell sassafras from a sycamore on a stunning guided trek).
But even if you don’t sign up for one of these, the hiking trails are well worth your time. The simple-to-follow trail map looks more like one from a ski mountain, with everything clearly marked: Easy, Moderate and Strenuous. The most famous “Lake Side Loop” is one of the easier 1.5 mile trails that takes you around the tranquil lake.
On my recent visit, my husband and I signed up for the “Sugaring Tour'' where we learned from start to finish how maple syrup is made. They showed us how to identify and tap a “good” maple tree; it’s all based on age, size and bark. In order for a tree to produce sap, it has to be cold at night but warm during the day. And the trees must be healthy enough so they can afford to lose sap, which you can tell by the crinkliness of the bark and the direction of the branches. A healthy tree has Y-shaped branches!
Back at the Warren Sugar Shack, the sap gets transformed in a very simple process. A wood burning oven heats a combination of water and sap; the mixture is boiled down (and down and down) until it becomes what they refer to as “liquid gold.” I had no idea that it takes 40 gallons of tapped sap to produce one ONE gallon of maple syrup. Gulp.
Next up, a visit to Fable Farms, a sustainable farm with a fantastic year-round farmers market. The farm store acts as a food hub for local farms and small businesses. Some favorites include: Ronnybrook Farm, Damn Good English Muffins, Farmer Ground Flour, Hudson Harvest, , Churchtown Dairy and many more Hudson Valley finds.There are always chickens roaming the grounds, and if you get lucky, you can frolic with the goats. We’ve taken groups for tours and “goat play” is always a crowd pleaser.
Third stop on our outing was Thompsons Cider Mill. In 1975, Geoff Thompson joined one of Teatown’s educational programs to learn how to make fresh apple cider. A few years later, he moved to a mill across the street and started turning out some of the absolute best hard cider in the Hudson Valley. The mill now borders the preservation, so it feels very much like you are still at Teatown. In fact, it's an easy walk from one to the other.
In the fall, during apple season, you can take a tour of the orchard and see how the cider is made. You can’t go wrong with their classic apple hard cider, but they also offer some more interesting flavors, such as Apple Blueberry Semi-Dry (my personal favorite). Even if they are closed, (which they currently are) feel free to text them 914-409-3433 for a curbside cider pick up. In the off season,pick up a bottle or two, and find a nice spot in the preserve for a chill afternoon.
At the end of the day, just head back home on the Taconic thinking of goats!
Looks like fun!