“Weekends with Yankee” Episode 602: New England Makers

In this episode of Weekends with Yankee, co-host Richard Wiese is in Shaftsbury, Vermont, to meet Tammy White and her flock of sheep at Wing & A Prayer Farm and learn how she turns wool into stunningly beautiful yarn. What started as a fun project for Tammy is now a lifestyle, as she tends dozens of heritage-breed sheep plus alpacas, ducks, goats, and horses. Tammy and her daughter Char show us every step of their process, from shearing a sheep to dying yarn with flowers grown in their dye garden, for a full farm-to-fashion story. Then we head north to the small town of Goshen, Vermont, where a young couple are keeping alive the tradition of making maple syrup the old-fashioned way through their Republic of Vermont label. As they check on taps and boiling sap, we learn what it means to carry on the region’s maple syrup legacy in uncertain times. Finally, co-host Amy Traverso pays a visit to baker Ahmad Aissa, who is bringing the sweet flavors of his native Syria to the home he’s made in Concord, New Hampshire. What started as a hobby became a business when Ahmad and his American-born wife, Evelyn, were forced to flee Syria during the civil war. They settled in Evelyn’s home state, and today Ahmad’s business is thriving, with Aissa Sweets cookies selling in stores all over the country. Ahmad shows Amy how to make filo dough at his bakery, then they head back to the Aissas’ home to bake his signature mamoul cookies.