Valentine's Day Roses at Clamber Hill Inn

History can be a little sketchy; it seems that there were three St. Valentines in the early Roman Catholic Church.  Most historians agree that the important one lived in the 3^rd Century AD when Claudius was the Roman Emperor, and the Roman Empire was suffering a decline.  Claudius observed that single men made better soldiers than married men, and banned marriage in an effort to improve his army.  Of course that did not go over well with the general population.  One lowly priest named Valentine proved to be both heroic and romantic by continuing to perform marriages in secret.  Eventually he was discovered and thrown in jail.  From this point on there are different versions of what happened next, but it seems that the jailer, Asterius, had a blind daughter that would visit Valentine.   It is reputed that he cured her with his tremendous Christian faith.  His final note to her said….you guessed it….”From your Valentine”.   He was put to death, supposedly on February 14^th, 270 AD.  His farewell letter was the first Valentine’s Day Card!

In reality though, it is thought that Valentine’s love for the jailer’s daughter was simple Christian love (Agape) not romantic love (Eros).   Historian, Henry Ansgar Kelly, credits the British author, Chaucer, with creating the romantic angle to Valentine’s Day in the middle ages.   While there were many different customs and traditions such as the Welsh tradition of exchanging wooden love spoons that were carved with images of hearts, keys and keyholes which meant “You unlock my heart!”

Roses, the modern way to unlock the heart!

It is not known when the tradition of exchanging cards started, but it is certain that Valentine’s Day Cards were being used as early as 1415 AD as Charles, Duke of Orleans sent one to his wife while she was imprisoned in the Tower of London.  This card is now on display at the British Museum.  By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes in England.

While England played a major role in establishing Valentine’s Day as a holiday, so did Worcester, Massachusetts.  Modern Day Valentine’s Day Cards were pioneered by Esther Allen Howland, of Summer St, Worcester.  Shortly after graduation from Mount Holyoke College in 1847, she received a Valentine’s Day Card from England.  Intrigued by the idea, she started making them for friends.  The idea was so popular that she placed the first advertisement for them in a newspaper on February 5, 1850.  She grew the card making into a $100,000 annual business that thrived until her retirement in 1881.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries & Champagne

Valentine’s day is now the second largest card giving holiday in the world with over 1 billion cards being exchanged.   But other traditions have developed since 1800’s also.  It is now customary to announce your love by giving flowers (especially roses), chocolates, champagne, jewelry and other nice presents to your Valentine.  Couples also celebrate romantically by going out to eat in a nice restaurant or going away together for the night or the weekend.

Romantic Dining at Clamber Hill

If you’re looking for something special this year, try celebrating at Clamber Hill where we offer romantic overnight accommodations and a special 5-course menu with wine pairing options.  However, there is no right or wrong way to celebrate,  just find some way to let your Valentine know how special they are.   And if you can’t do something special on February 14^th, just pick another day and celebrate!

In reality, there are only 150 wine grapes which are commercially important in the industry. How many of these 150 wine grapes can you name?  Try it.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t come up with a long list.  Many wine drinkers often can’t name more than 10 different wine grapes including both red and white varietals.

The two most popular varietals in the US are Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, in that order, surprisingly enough in that order.   Although red wines are becoming more popular again, due to the press about the health benefits of red wine.

So focusing on red varietals, the other well known ones in the US include Merlot, followed by Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Zinfandel.  And for many of us is where the list stops.  If you’d like to learn about and taste more red wine varietals, sign yourself up for some of the upcoming Clamber Hill Wine Tastings.  The next three wine tastings on January 19^th, March 15^th and April 19^{th .} will all focus on red wines.

At Clamber Hill, we’re exploring the world of wine through a series of wine tastings in a fun relaxed setting.  In 2011 we held two wine tastings featuring red wine varietals.  The first explored the nuances of difference in Cabernet Sauvignon from different regions of the world.  The second explored the other “classic reds” including a Merlot, a Pinot Noir, a Shiraz and a Zinfandel as well as wines produced from Gamay and  Sangiovese wine grapes.  In this upcoming wine tasting we will be adding some lesser known reds to our knowledge base.

The United States is the fourth largest wine consuming nation in the world, so why do so many Americans know so little about wine?  There are several factors affecting American’s lack of wine knowledge.

The first has to be Prohibition.   Wine has a history in the US going all the way back to the founding fathers and the early 1860’s the wine industry in California was flourishing with an annual production of 2.3 million gallons.  But Prohibition (the Volstead Act passed in 1920 and revoked in 1933) almost killed the entire US wine industry.  Ironically enough it survived by growing Mission Grapes used to make communion wine!  It wasn’t until 19XX that the level of wine production reached the pre-prohibition levels.  And when it did, there was a perception of poor quality that took a long time to overcome.

The second is that 75% of the wine consumed in the US is produced in the US and 90% of that is grown in California with the major red varietals being Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Syrah (Shiraz) in that order.  Is it any surprise that those are the only red wine grapes that we can name?  It can be hard to find other wine varietals in your local wine shop!

And then we get back to the fact that many varieties of grapes have two or more names –so it all gets very confusing.  This is one reason why many books focus on just a few locations when they talk about wine.  France alone has over 56 different grape varietals important to wine making and Italy is reputed to have 900!  Italy and France make over 60% of the worlds wine and the wine making techniques of these two countries are often imitated by the New World Countries.

To further complicate matters, once you get to know your grapes, then you have to learn geography.  It’s important to the whole wine naming game.  In the US wine is simply named after the grape, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir etc and the AVA is also placed on the label.  In other places, such as France the wines are named after geographic locations such as Bordeaux, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone and the varietals are not listed on the labels, making it harder for Americans to chose.

As you see by now, there is a lot to learn about wine.  Learning about wine is especially enjoyable when you connect with other wine enthusiasts who share your interests.  And you have to taste wine to learn about it.  Develop your palette.  Learn which of the 150 wine grapes you like and which you don’t.   The more you know about wine, the more you’ll be aware of the common myths and misconceptions.

Many folks suffer under the misconception that blending is used only to produce cheap wines when in fact, the most expensive wines in the world are blends.  The renowned French Bordeaux are always blends and have been since 1855 when they first became famous!  So you see blending is an ancient art.  And when I say art, I mean art.  There are many steps involved in wine making: planting, pruning, growing, harvesting, crushing, filtering, fermentation, and aging and bottling.  Each and every one of these steps in important and has an impact on the flavor of the wine.  The blending step, however, is where the wine maker’s personal taste and expertise comes into play.  It is the opportunity for the winemaker to be creative as opposed to scientific.

“Blending is a way of creating a whole wine that is more than the sum of its parts” –Karen MacNeil

It is also a misconception that “good wine = expensive wine”.  Some low cost wines are excellent and some expensive wines are not so hot.

The next Clamber Hill Wine Tasting, scheduled for January 19^th will focus on Red Blends from Around the World.  And all of the wines featured are quite affordable and available locally.  So if you like Red Wine and want to learn more about it and meet some other wine enthusiasts, reserve your spot at any or all of the upcoming wine tastings.

Santa Claus is coming to Clamber Hill

So Clamber Hill decided to make your holiday shopping a little bit easier.  Any night in December, up to and including the 24th (as the 25th would be a little too late), ask for our Shop & Wrap Special and turn the wrapping part of holiday shopping from stress into fun!

Instead of sneaking unwrapped presents into the house and trying to hide them for weeks, check into Clamber Hill on the way home and wrap your presents fireside in our spacious library, complete with Christmas decorations and holiday music.  Clamber Hill even provides a nice cup of Gluhwein or Hot Cider to help you relax.  And best of all, Clamber Hill provide the wrapping paper, ribbon, tape and name tags—-all you have to worry about is getting here with the presents!

Fireside in the Clamber Hill Library

So if you are fining yourself overwhelmed by the holidays, take some stress out of December by finding a little quiet time for yourselves as a couple at Clamber Hill.   Multi-tasking at its best.  Folks that took advantage of this special package last year really loved it.  And if you happen to shop on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night you can even dine at Clamber Hill before you sit down to wrap.

Dining at Clamber Hill

The only catch is you need a set of grandparents, friends or aunts and uncles to watch the kids for the night.  They are welcome at Clamber Hill, but that would kind of defeat the purpose of the shop and wrap special.  Maybe you can even find a set of friends also interested in the special and swap off different nights.

Our Holiday Open House is coming up this Sunday December 11th from 1 to 4 pm.  Another chance to relax for a little bit.  Clamber Hill will be offering refreshments, live music by Barca & Tinus of Martha’s Vineyard and tours of the Inn.  And it’s a great chance to see our rooms and find out about our Special Packages.  Even if you don’t make it to Clamber Hill this year, keep us in mind for next, we’ll be doing it again.

If you choose the later option, it helps if you happen to be the daughter of a florist who grew up helping her Daddy out each Christmas season.  It also helps if your are a hoarder who loves Christmas.   For example, when people know that you love Nutcrackers, they start giving you Nutcrackers as Christmas presents.   Or if you set out a couple of snowmen that you just happen to have, people start giving you snowmen and then before you know it you have a collection to work with!

The Clamber Hill Snowmen Collection, Christmas 2004

But you also have to be smart about it.  Once you have the start of a collection, you can add to it and mix in less expensive items with the more expensive ones.  Many of the Clamber Hill Nutcrackers come from Seiffen Germany where the Nutcracker tradition originated, but other smaller ones come from the local dollar store and my father found me two really great large ones at a church fair in South Athol MA!

Old and New Nutcrackers

I used to decorate the Christmas Tree with personal ornaments that special people had given me, but to my dismay I found that guests at Holiday Parties rearranged things ….so continuing on the lines of smart decorating I decided to do themes for the trees with inexpensive ornaments.  Cruise the after Christmas sales and plan ahead for the next year!  Sometimes I do the same theme two years in a row, but often I mix things up.  Reindeer on the trees, stars in the Wintergarden……or perhaps Reindeer and stars together in the Living Room!

Stars & Reindeers decorate the Clamber Hill Mantelplace

And you cannot decorate without ribbon!  That’s just a simple fact.  But you have to be smart about ribbon purchases.  I purchase only double wired ribbon because it is easy to work with.  And I buy ribbon in quantities of 50 or 100 yds at a time.  A) because it is less expensive in quantity and B) because I need that much to do a room.  Many stores sell small rolls of ribbon at extravagant prices.  But you can often buy 50 yds for $7 or $8, which is a deal!   Pick a color theme and go with it!  There is so much you can do with ribbon.  Lay it on a mantel, weave it through a garland or make a holiday bow!

And save your ribbon.  Take your bows and garlands apart and re-roll the ribbon and you will have it again for the next year!

Speaking of bows and garlands….don’t forget to use wreathes and garlands in your holiday decorating.  You can use a mix or fresh and artificial.  The fresh are not hard to make…just time consuming.  And I have gotten away from fresh since we’ve had the Inn as the decorations need to last for five or six weeks now.  But I do work fresh greens into some of my garlands and make fresh arrangements for each of the rooms using a mixture of evergreens and holly picked right off the Clamber Hill trees.

Garlands, lights and wreathes make the holidays festive at Clamber Hill

You can also, not decorate without lights.  But again be smart about it.  Christmas lights go on sale, after Christmas.  Stock up while they are inexpensive and store them away for next year.  And you have so many choices….white, red, green, blue or multi-colored.  And don’t forget about candles or tea lights.  Like ribbon, tealights are often sold in small packs that are expensive, but you can purchase bags of 150 or 200 for $3 or $4.  Stock up since the tea lights tend to disappear after Valentine’s Day and don’t reappear until Thanksgiving time.  Work those in too…just be safe and smart about it.  I don’t light any candles unless they are in goblets to keep them safe.  The Dollar Store is a great place for finding small goblets for tea lights and anything with etching or carving helps throw the light.

Candlelight adds a festive glow to holiday decorations at Clamber Hill

And then there are the behind the scenes necessities for Holiday Decorating.  My two main tools are pipe cleaners and fishing line!  Pipe cleaners are great for everything from making wreathes, hanging garlands, attaching lights to wreathes and garlands, making bows and even attaching bows to candlesticks!  Fishing line is great for hanging things in windows.

So by now, Clamber Hill has a Nutcracker Collection, a Snowman Collection, a Reindeer Collection, a Star Collection, a Snowflake Collections, a Santa Collection and probably a few more.  Each year I use the collections in different ways to decorate different rooms.  I do it in the week between Thanksgiving and our Open House or between Thanksgiving and our first Holiday Party.   Our December guests, to the Inn and to the Restaurant, always enjoy coming in the month of December to see how Clamber Hill is decked out!  Each year I say I am going to cheat and just decorate the same as last year, but each year once I get started I do everything differently from the year before.  Don’t get me wrong, I do recycle….the ribbon, the collections, the lights, the garlands, the wreathes…I just use them in different ways in different places….and add a few new things each year.

If you’re are intrigued and want to see the results of the 2011 Holiday Decorating, you are invited to the Clamber Hill Holiday Open House on December 11th from 1 to 4 pm.  We are centrally located in Central Massachusetts just 5 miles off of Rt 2 at Exit 17 in Petersham MA.  Please note:  All photos are from past years!  This year’s photos will not be published until after our Holiday Open House!

And if you can’t make that, Clamber Hill is running three different Special Packages during the month of December…. maybe one of them will be just perfect for you!  Choose between our Romantic Getaway Package, our Shop & Wrap Package or this year’s new package “I’ll Bring a Cheesecake Home for Christmas”.

Happy Holidays from Clamber Hill

As an alternative to Black Friday, the three lovely inns in Petersham Massachusetts, the very heart of Central New England are offering you a low stress, fun filled Holiday Shopping Extravaganza on Sunday November 20th.

The Petersham Town Common, decked out for the holidays!

Colonial Hill Alpaca Farm and B&B, Clamber Hill Inn & Restaurant and Winterwood at Petersham are all located within a two mile stretch of Rt 32 in Petersham, MA.  The addresses for those who travel by GPS are 19, 111 and 235 North Main St in Petersham MA 01366.  Each of the inns has a very different character but all three are lovely.  This relaxed shopping extravaganza allows shoppers to tour the inns as well as giving them the opportunity to buy some unique, high quality gifts, many of which are hand made or local, in a fun, relaxed atmosphere.

The Inns will host 16 different vendors with a wide range of products.  Jewelry will be featured at all three inns this year.  Paul Nugent at Colonial Hill, Pearson’s Pagoda at Clamber Hill and Tina White with Silpada Jewelry at Winterwood.

Hand made by jewelry designer Laurie Pearson

There will be some food and beverage offerings.  Ann Lewis will be selling Rose 32 bread and pastries and Donna Byron of Grace Note Farm will be on hand with honey and spices at Colonial Hill.  Patrick Draper will be selling high quality 100% pure cacao from Guatemala, perfect for baking and Ross Condit will be representing Green River Ambrosia with some unique beverages such at Ginger Libation, Liquid Sunshine Traditional Mead, Winter Warmer Spiced Mead and Bourban Barrel Cyzer award winning Mead, both at Clamber Hill.  And last but not at all least, Natalie Reynolds will be selling Co-Co-A-Nu fine Belgian Chocolates at Winterwood.

Artisans will also be well represented.  Sylvia Brown of Petersham Leather will have hand made leather items, jewelry pouches, handbags and more at Colonial Hill.  Jane Hein, also a local Petersham artist will be selling her Early American Decorative one of a kind pieces at Winterwood along with Jean Day’s Fredeez Flip Flops, totally fun and totally unique.  At Clamber Hill,  Kirby Lecy of North Quabbin Woods will have a wide selection of hand crafted pieces from a variety of different local artists.

Hand made leather purses by Sylvia Brown

Clamber Hill will also have Michelle Simmington representing Scentsy — a wonderful way to make your home smell lovely for the holidays.

Scentsy Frangrance Warmers

And for those of you who want to stay warm this winter (yes it is predicted to be a cold one), Terry Emmerich has a wide selection of lovely Alpaca products including hats that she felts herself and Deb Bachrach Jones will be at Winterwood with her special wool active wear from Jonesware.

Colonial Hill Alpaca Farm sells Alpaca Teddy Bears and Hand Felted Hats

And Clamber Hill will be offering cheesecake samples and taking orders for Holiday Cheesecakes.  We will also have Gift Certificates to our Restaurant (or Inn) on sale as well as a limited selection of Holiday Wreaths hand crafted by Deni Ellis who does the Inn’s fabulous holiday decorations each year.

Clamber Hill Amaretto Cheesecake a little slice of heaven!

So if you’re tired of Black Friday and want to spend a lovely day in the country side, mark your calendars for Sunday November 20th and head to Petersham.  Who knows, you may even decide you want to stay awhile and if you do, there are three inns offering overnight accommodations!

We wish you Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday Shopping!

You can count on me,

Please just let me know,

Which flavor tickles your fan–cy!

Two cold December nights– will find me,

At Clamber Hill –where the firelight gleams,

And I’ll leave there with a Cheesecake,

And it won’t be just in my dreams!

* to the tune of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”

Clamber Hill's Strawberry Cheesecake -- strawberry flavor through and through

The Clamber Hill innkeepers in Petersham, MA have a long history with Cheesecake, and it goes all the way back to the first Christmas after we married.

When giving the gift of clothes at Christmas time, one always gambles that they will fit, and often they do not.   So when my family made the annual pilgrimage to the local shopping mall to exchange  sizes, my husband Mark, not interested in women’s apparel disappeared.  After shopping was complete, a search of the mall turned up the missing newlywed in a bookstore where he was purchasing “The Joy of Cheesecake”.  All things considered, not a bad place to find a missing husband.

Clamber Hill's White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake -- a holiday favorite!

Why the interest in cheesecakes?  Mark’s mother baked fabulous cheesecakes, but she refused to share her recipe with her daughters or her sons, even as a Christmas or Wedding presents.   So one upsmanship being what it is, my husband Mark set out to develop his own cheesecake recipe that would be better than his Mom’s and the book, the “Joy of Cheesecake” by Dana Bovbjerg & Jeremy Iggers was a perfect place to start.

The authors claim that cheesecakes are the most sensuous of all desserts.  And OK all you chocoholics out there, maybe it takes a Chocolate Cheesecake to stake the claim to the most sensuous of all desserts, but not to worry that recipe is in this book too!

They even claim that the struggle to make the perfect cheesecake is the most noble struggle in the human race.  Well, Ok, maybe they are exaggerating but then again maybe not.  My husband certainly bought in.

That January, he baked 10 cheesecakes.  Yes 10 cheesecakes in one month, experimenting with different recipes to get it “perfect”.  Heavy, light, New York style, with cream cheese versus  Neufchatel, Ricotta or cottage cheese (yuck!), different crusts, different toppings….in typical USMC fashion (did I mention he was an active duty Marine Lieutenant at the time) he marched through the various recipes and succeeded in creating a better cheesecake than his Mom’s by the end of the month.  What a delicious month that was but I gained at least 20 lbs and needed to go shopping again!

A variety of Clamber Hill Cheesecakes with Triple Chocolate Cheesecake upfront

When Clamber Hill started our small restaurant in Central Massachusetts, Cheesecakes became a favorite dessert, especially for holiday parties.  So when Clamber Hill stated doing Holiday Shopping Extravaganzas, it was natural to take cheesecake orders for the holidays.   We now have eleven different flavors of cheesecakes.  And this year, as a holiday special, we are offering a free cheesecake to anyone that books two nights at the inn between December 5th and December 25th.  Let us know, which flavor tickles your fancy when you check in and you will leave taking a fresh 8″ diameter Clamber Hill Cheesecake home for the Christmas holidays!

Merry Christmas from Clamber Hill!

P.S.  Clamber Hill Cheesecakes freeze well!

A little slice of heaven --Clamber Hill White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake!

Chocolate covered strawberries and champagne, elements of romance

So let’s explore the concept.  First intimate inn.  A small inn or at least an inn that feels small like Clamber Hill.  Even though Clamber Hill was build as an historic summer mansion with 9600 sq ft, the inn operates with only five spacious guestrooms.  That means that even when the inn is full, guests often feel like they are the only ones there.  Intimate.

Intimate can also mean cozy or comfortable.  As opposed to hotel rooms, even high priced ones, the guest rooms at Clamber Hill are furnished with original artwork, a blend of comfortable and antique furniture and CD players with light jazz and classical music.  Each room was uniquely created with guest comfort in mind.

The Oriental Room, a popular choice for Romantic Get-aways!

A lot of hotels advertise romantic getaway packages, but when you see pictures of the rooms, there is nothing there to spark the emotions.  At Clamber Hill, the working fireplaces in the guest rooms add that emotional spark!  There is nothing like falling asleep with the fire glowing comfortably warm at the foot of the bed.

The Nautical Room, cozy and intimate

Next let’s explore “long walks”.   Along a beach or through the woods, long walks in solitude with your sweetheart enjoying the quiet, beautiful backdrop nature provides, are romantic.  At Clamber Hill, the only problem is deciding where to walk.  Out the back door into Harvard Forest, through one of the 50 Gates to the Quabbin Reservoir, or even up Mt. Monadnock for a sunrise spectacular!  The options for scenic beauty are boundless in the North Quabbin are of Central Massachusetts.  And you can walk for hours without running in to anyone else.

The perfect place for long walks

Then the third component is “personal talks”.  How often do you really talk with  your loved one?  You spend time together but usually with the kids or with friends or racing around doing things or watching TV.  The list of interferences is endless.

Relax by the fire with a Clamber Hill cocktail

At Clamber Hill the interferences are reduced to a minimum.  There are no phones ( your cell phone may or may not work), there are no TVs.  There is space and time and beautiful surroundings to enjoy with your loved one.  Enjoy a romantic candlelit dinner or a cocktail in front of the fireplace.

Enjoy a romantic dinner at Clamber Hill

To make it easy for our guests, Clamber Hill offers a Romantic Getaway Package. It is a two night, one dinner special allowing you to escape for a few days and enjoy a little time alone.  And it fits most folks budgets.  You don’t have to spring for airfare to some exotic foreign country to find a beautiful place to spend the weekend.  Clamber Hill has had guests come from as close as 5 miles away yet say they felt like they were in a world apart.  A romantic world apart!

Nights are special at Clamber Hill

At Clamber Hill Apple Pie is served with your choice of cheddar cheese or vanilla ice cream!

Apples themselves are ancient, possibly originating in Asia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea as far back as 6500 BC.  The Greeks and Romans brought apples into Europe and Apple Pies were a favorite English food.  In fact they were banned by the puritanical Oliver Cromwell because they gave people too much pleasure!

The first apple orchard in America was right here in Massachusetts, established by William Blackstone on Beacon Hill.  And Massachusetts also lays claim to Johnny Appleseed, born in Leominster MA in 1774 as John Chapman.  He migrated west during his life time and died in Ft. Wayne Indiana, after having established many apple orchards along the way.  Although originally only crab apples were native to North America, the colonists propagation by seeds instead of grafting led to the development of native American varieties.

An Apple Tree at Red Apple Farm

Although apples have a long history in America, and have been important to American history and agriculture, it wasn’t actually until the 19th Century that the saying as American as Apple Pie came to prominence.

The Clamber Hill Nipmuck Salad, a restaurant favorite!

Fall in New England is a great time for harvesting apples and baking pies!.   Clamber Hill Inn & Restaurant is a tourist destination in Petersham MA.  When staying at the Inn one can pick apples at the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston MA, or shop for apples with apple expert Bob Pease at Pease Orchards in Templeton MA.  Both places sell wonderful apple cider as well as apples.   Not quite as close but also worth a visit are New Salem Preserves and Hamilton Orchards over in New Salem.  And after apple shopping, dine at Clamber Hill and enjoy apples in just about any course…our famous Nipmuck Salad is topped with apple slices,  our Pork Medallions comes topped with an Apple-Onion Marmelade….very German and of course at this time of year we offer either Apple Oat Crumble or Apple Pie for dessert.  You can even top the evening off with “apfel eis”, an Apple Ice Wine from Still River Winery in Harvard MA…a very yummy way to top off a great meal!

Canoes come in different styles and shapes and are build of many different materials.  Originally built of wood, they are also built of wood and canvas, birch bark, aluminum, fiberglass, kevlar, polyehtylene and even concrete!   Most folks won’t believe the concrete but there is actually a concrete canoe race on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia and teams from top universities across the country build and race concrete canoes!

A concrete canoe in on the Schuylkill River

Here in Athol, Massachusetts there is also an annual canoe race, the River Rat Race on the Millers River.  Not as exotic as the one on the Schuylkill River but just as zany.  This 5 mile race is run by the Athol Lions Club and now draws people from all over as 250 to 300 canoes compete each year for the greatly coveted title of “River Rat”.

The River Rat Race in Athol MA

But sport is only one aspect of canoeing.  Recreation is another major draw.  Many nature and outdoor enthusiasts are interested in canoeing as a means of exploring the world around them, gaining access to otherwise inaccessible places.   Central Massachusetts is a great place for exploring in a canoe, on the abundant rivers and lakes that abound in this undeveloped area.

The Appalachian Mountain Club has a great book, the “Quiet Water Canoe Guide” talking about the best paddling lakes and ponds in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.  Clamber Hill Inn keeps a copy of the first edition of this canoe guide in our library, one of the many resources the inn keeps for our guests to use.  And of course, the innkeepers Mark & Deni check out many of these places personally so that they can give accurate recommendations to the inn guests.

An island in Tully Lake

Clamber Hill in Petersham MA is centrally located to seven of the paddling ponds recommended in this canoe guide: Paradise Pond in Princeton MA, Moosehorn Pond in Hubbardston MA, Tully Lake and Long Pond in Royalston MA, Lake Dennison in Winchendon MA, Lake Rohunta in Orange MA,  Quaboag Pond in EastBrookfield MA and East Brimfield Lake and Holland Pond in Sturbridge MA.

Tully Lake, a great spot for canoeing or kayaking

These seven ponds are just the tip of the iceberg as there are many other wonderful places to paddle including Connor’s Pond right here in Petersham MA, Queen Lake in Phillipston MA, Dunn Pond State Park in GardnerMA, Laurel Lake in the Erving State Forest and Barton’s Cove (actually part of the Connecticut River) in Gill, MA.

Canoing in Barton's Cove on the Connecticut River

So if you like to canoe, as a means of recreation not as a sport, load up your canoe and come to Clamber Hill in Central Massachusetts.   We are blessed with acres and acres of conservation land and state parks.  In fact, there is so much to explore in this area, you will find that you may never want to leave.

Lake Dennison on a September Afternoon

An early spring visitor at the Clamber Hill bird bath

Each year at Clamber Hill we are visited by a host of avian guests as well as human guests.  Robins, Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, Wrens, Vireos, Woodpeckers, Morning Doves, Blackbirds  and Crows are all regular visitors at various times of the year.  And then we have the more colorful characters, which also visit us often, such as Blue Jays, Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Cardinals, Grosbeaks.  Occasionally we even see a Scarlet Tanager, an Eastern Bluebird or a Baltimore Oriole.  Our larger guests include Wild Turkeys, Red-Tailed Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers and Barred Owls.

A winter visitor to Clamber Hill, the Barred Owl

But our most fascinating guests are the tiniest, the Hummers.  Not humans arriving in the monster SUVs, but the tiny little Hummingbirds which arrive each year in mid-April and stay until the end of August or even some years mid-September.

The first year we were here, my husband was up on a ladder washing windows and thought he was being buzzed by bees or hornets.  It turns out he was being buzzed by Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds.  Luckily, he did not fall off the ladder!

From that point on, my husband set out to take care of them and in return they flock to Clamber Hill each year.  So how do you care for a hummingbird?  Well like any other creature, you observe them to determine what they like and what they don’t like.

I used to buy my husband fancy hummingbird feeders but the birds avoided them, it seems they like the plan ones the best.  Now we have have seven or eight of the small plain feeders in addition to lots of flowers that they like.  But you need to spread the feeders out.  The hummingbirds fight over them.  We move them around until we find spots that they like.  Once you find the right spots, they’ll come back year after year.

A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird at the feeder

And like everything else at Clamber Hill, we make our Hummingbird Nectar from scratch, it is amazingly simple and they love it.  Don’t be fooled into thinking it has to be red — the important thing is the sugar content which has to be above 10%.  But when you make it strong enough, it won’t be clear but a deep golden color and they love it.   Be careful where you place the feeders, if they are out in the hot sun, the nectar ferments and then the birds don’t like it.

We have cats and dogs, and neither bother the birds and the birds aren’t bothered by them.  Oh sure, once in a blue moon one of the  cats comes back with a bird in it’s mouth,  (most of the time the birds are still alive and can be rescued)  but in six years of having cats, it has never been a hummingbird.  It turns out that adult hummingbirds are very seldom bothered by predators.  That might have something to do with the fact that they can fly away at escape speeds of up to 50 miles per hour!

The most dangerous thing to our hummingbirds seems to be our screen porch.  We used to leave the door open but they would fly into the dark area and not be able to find the door again, eventually getting their beaks stuck in the screen and we’d have to rescue them.  Their hearts which beat at 250 beats per minute at rest would be in flight mode of 1200 beats per minute and you can feel it when you hold them in your hand.  So we have modified our porch door to protect the birds.

The hummingbirds are tremendously entertaining.  The bird feeders are placed so that my husband can watch them while he cooks, I can watch them while working at the computer or doing dishes and out inn guests can watch them while having breakfast.  Hummingbirds actually spend only 10-15% of their time feeding and 75 to 80% of their time resting or resting and digesting.  You would never know that except from a book — it seems that they are always busy buzzing the feeders.   I have actually had some supposed bird experts tell me that hummingbirds never stop flying.  This is a myth and definitely not true.  Anyone who spends any time at all observing them knows that they like to perch on branches.

A hummingbird resting on a small branch

Another interesting tidbit about a hummingbird diet is that they can’t survive on nectar alone.  They also eat insects and spiders to add protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals to their diet.  This is something I’ve never seen them do, I guess you have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch them at that.

One of our favorite times to watch them is at dusk.  They are wonderful aeronautic acrobats.  We would sit on the back porch and watch them flit from tree to tree and fight over the feeders.  While watching them we noticed that the males were flying in these big U’s.  It was very curious, so we looked it up and found that this is part of the hummingbird mating ritual.  Apparently it works because we are loaded with young hummingbirds right now.

And speaking of curiosities?  Did you ever wonder why the birds are iridescent?  It turns out that hummingbirds have an unusual feather structure with microscopic ridges so light is refracted as well as reflected giving the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, especially the females their iridescence.

The Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, especially the females are iridescent

But like most of our other avian guests, the Hummers are fickle — they come and go as they please, moving on to “greener pastures” as the weather gets cold.   In point of fact it’s the decreasing sunlit hours that tells our tiny guests it’s time to go,  not the change in temperature.

So we’ll enjoy watching them for a few more weeks and then say “Auf Widersehen” until we see you again, hopefully next April at Clamber Hill.

Note:  All photos taken at Clamber Hill in summer of 2011