Hope you all have had a great close to 2017 and are staying as well as possible in 2018 so far.  It’s a brutal cold and flu season out there for sure.

Last weekend we attended the NH Maple Producers Association annual business meeting which is always a great opportunity to see our fellow sugar makers and get an idea what everyone is thinking about the new season-to-come.  It also gets us all to thinking about the other events the association is involved with throughout the year.  Maple Month, Maple Weekend, the Governors Tree Tapping, many of the State fairs and even the Big E Exposition in Springfield Mass are just a few.

This year we have an extra special event to look forward to in October.  Each year each state and province that produces maple syrup takes turns hosting the annual North American Maple Syrup Council and International Maple Syrup Institute Annual meetings.  Along with the meetings there are workshops, technical sessions and a huge vendor trade show.  It’s a great opportunity for all sugar makers to learn the latest on research and development, best practices and much, much more.  It also gives the host state organization the chance to showcase some of our states unique features and historic locations through tours for the attendees at the conference.   Brian and I are on the organizing committee and we’ve been busy with our other committee members looking to make this a premier event.

Brian is monitoring the weather to keep an eye out for the forecast that will set the gears in motion for tapping this year.  It should be soon.  Tuesday we will have our maple hydrometer certified by the NH Department of Agriculture at a clinic so we know the calibration is spot on for making our syrup the perfect density.  Stay tuned for more about opening, hours and boiling times.  We look forward to seeing you all in the coming weeks.

Brian collected yesterday afternoon for the first time this year.  He was off again at 7 am collecting today and will hopefully finish collecting by noon.  We will be open from 12:30 to 4:30pm today and welcome anyone who wants to stop in for our first boil of the season.  Obviously we won’t have syrup yet but we can all enjoy some sugaring talk and get our fill of the sweet maple steam rising off the evaporator.

Opening up a field for tapping.

We’ve worked hard to get lots of products ready for the shop.  There are items for gift giving, yankee swaps, teacher appreciation, thank you gifts etc.  Here’s a list of some items:  Maple Syrup, Maple Cream, Maple Candy, Maple Sugar, Maple BBQ Sauce, Maple Mustard, Maple Caramel Popcorn, Maple Fudge, Maple Pepper and Pancake mixes.

Weekend Hours 10am to 4pm through Dec. 18th

Opening up a field for tapping.

Holy smokes!  The snow just keeps coming and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of sugaring temperatures coming in anytime soon.  Like everyone else there’s been plenty of plowing and roof shoveling going on the last month and more tomorrow.  Brian had to load his tractor up on a trailer and plow out a couple locations to make them accessible once the weather breaks.

Just a little snow…..

Shoveling off the Sugar House

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Our thanks to all who have served. 

Brian is off this morning too cut greens for the first time.  The Channel 9 weather said there had been some snow up in the Littleton area yesterday so hopefully it will have melted some and will be off the trees.  It’s really hard to cut good boughs when you can see them for the snow.  The wreath designs are coming along with my mom and I.  There are festive Christmas themed wreaths of course, and wintery wreaths and we always have a following for our forest friends wreaths.  It’s a very diverse group from glam to folk to just plain cute.

Brian heading out to cut boughs 2012

It’s so nice to have the weather we’ve been getting.  Last year beside no snow the temperatures were frighteningly warm.  We ate out on our deck 3 nights during mid-March last year.  No worries there this year thankfully!  So let us hope we have a few more visits from  the northern jet stream to keep things cool and make a decent sugar season for all.

As an added offering tomorrow and Sunday we’ll have a fresh batch of our maple cones on sale.  And we will once again have Maple Cupcakes from Chesters’ own E & D’s Cupcakery, LLC.   The cupcakes come in a 4 pk for 9.00.

Maple Cream Cones
1.50 ea