The weather this weekend was interesting.  Snow in many places caught people dashing out to rescue plants late on Saturday night that seemed to be safe from any freezes.     Fortunately it didn’t get this far south so our annuals and veggies made out just fine.  The garden is shaping up – tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, garlic, carrots, bok choy, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, onions and a few assorted lettuces.

June will bring a few more Farmer’s Markets into our schedule.  Derry and Epping both will start in a few more weeks so look for us there.  Derry is Wednesdays 3-7 and Epping is Friday’s 3-6.

Spring is moving along nicely.  The weather’s been a pretty good mix of moderate days and moderate rains now and then.  Other parts of the country would give their eye teeth for the balance we are having.  We just got back from vacationing in Utah and Colorado.  Beautiful, magnificent country but not so much in the water department.  Everywhere we drove in Colorado they had fields rigged with long runs of walking watering systems to keep the grass growing for the hundreds and thousands of beef cattle being raised.  We visited the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah which are very different form one another but both spectacular in scope.  Mesa Verde in Colorado was interesting too as a point of origin for the Pueblo Indian culture.  And we learned something new.  There were American Indian groups way, way back that used spears to hunt buffalo.  The spears were named after the area where they were found (Folsom, New Mexico) and called “Folsom Tips” and they were used to hunt a larger species of buffalo called the “Folsom Buffalo” that was hunted to extinction.

The Farmers markets are starting up already for the year.  We will be at Newburyport every other Sunday 9-1 pm through the fall.  Thursdays we will be set up at the Northwood Farmers Market from 3 -6:30pm.  We are on tap for Epping and Derry again too which will be Fridays  and Wednesdays respectively starting next month.  More details on those times soon.

Fin!  C’est tout.  Yes, the season is over.  We never got the last run that might have come on Monday or Tuesday if the temperatures had been warmer and wind hadn’t been so cold.  So the buckets are 3/4 down and the rest will be down tomorrow.  Overall it was a good season for us.  We had the best year ever for Light Amber production and made lots of syrup throughout the season.

Hours Saturday April 6th 10 am  to 2 pm

We’ve signed up to attend the Newburyport Farmers Market again this year every other week and their new season starts Sunday April 14th.  It’s a very nice market and runs Sunday mornings from 9am thru 1pm.

Many thanks to all of you who make it possible for us to share our love of making maple syrup with you.  We are always thrilled to share our knowledge and encourage folks to give it a try.  And of course who can complain about the finished product!  Syrup, cream and candy to savor whether on pancakes and waffles or just to satisfy the sweet tooth when the need arises.

Best wishes ’til we se you next year (or maybe sooner) 

Sue and Brian

At this same time last year we had been eating on our deck for 3 nights because it was so warm.  It was like summer really and the season came to an abrupt halt pretty much throughout the state on about March 15, 2012.  This year everyone we have spoken to is having a pretty good year so far.  More light amber made than ever by many.  We just made our first dark amber syrup this year from the run on Wednesday.  It got really cold last night and the trees took until about 4 o’clock to warm up enough to run.  But that late in the day, they won’t put out much before they are chilled back down.  We’ll see what happens this coming week.  Sounds like some cooler weather.

Hours this weekend will be  12- 5 pm Saturday and Sunday

Don’t forget Maple Weekend March 23rd and 24th.  We’ve already ordered our ice cream for those ever popular maple sundaes!

More info and hours will be posted this coming week.

What a beautiful weekend we had.  So nice to see so many folks come out and learn about maple sugaring.  It’s amazing what you hear from the uninitiated.  We had someone this weekend tell us someone they knew wanted to know how we get the maple syrup out of the trees after we cut them down!  YIKES!   That’s a new one on us.

Hours this weekend 3/16 & 3/17 will be 12- 5pm both days.

Don’t forget we have Maple Cones and Maple Taffy (la Tire) too!

This morning while out collecting Brian happened upon this happy little guy right on Rte 102 in Chester heading towards Raymond.  He was rolling around and wriggling in the snow having a grand old time with the day.

Happy Otter

Saint’s preserve us!  We had sap coming fast and furious today.  Just like the faucet was turned on.  So we have plenty to boil today through the beginning of the week.  An FYI to those who might be coming to visit – appropriate footwear is recommended for mud, snow and/or slush.  The driveway and parking area are dirt and if you want to walk out to the buckets on the trees we have close by, you will need boots.  We’ll be open Sunday March 10th from 12 to 5 pm.

NH Maple Weekend is just a few weeks away – March 23rd & 24th.  Next week we will have an updated post about that weekends activities.