NH Maple Weekend Open House

March 24th 10am to 5pm & 25th 10am to 4pm

Once again we look forward to welcoming visitors to our sugarhouse for NH Maple Weekend.  The “tours” we offer are in the sugarhouse and FREE!  Brian goes over the maple production process from start to finish over and over all day long.  So if you come in part way through just wait a bit and he’ll come back to the beginning.  Questions are always welcome anytime.  There are trees tapped close by to check out too, both in the yard and down a short path.  (Boots encouraged for this.) And be sure to check out the Maple Leafs with Maple Trivia questions to test your maple knowledge.

In the store we’ll have a variety of samples of maple products to taste and buy.  And it would not be Maple Weekend without Maple Ice Cream Sundaes.  Those will be on sale too  ($2.00 ea) with your choice of maple walnut ice cream from Blake’s Creamery (made with real maple syrup) or vanilla ice cream for those who’d prefer that, topped with our own fresh maple syrup and real whipped cream.

As always we’ll have a special table set up with some handouts for the adults and kids in the crowd as take-aways from your visit (while supplies last).

PARKING: Crowds can be expected so please park only on the right hand, even numbered side (our side) of Candia Road or on Sheepwash Drive a short walk before you get to our place.  No parking will be allowed on the hill beyond our driveway for safety reasons.  The driveway and parking area are dirt and can be muddy so proper footwear is encouraged.

We accept Visa, Master Card, Discover, American Express and Apple Pay.

For your convenience we do have a Porta-potty on site.

This season is another one to keep us guessing.  The weather in February will go on record as the warmest February ever in NH.  So let’s hope March brings some of the more seasonal winter back for us.  The snow is a good thing for us sugarmakers.  It insulates the tree roots from warming up too soon and can help with radiational cooling so we get the right freezing temperatures at night to keep the sap running when it warms back up in the day.

Maple Month starts up this coming weekend and we will have our “tours” in the sugarhouse as always.  Brian does a great job explaining the whole process from sap to syrup and more.  He also explains what equipment we use during each phase as we collect, boil and package our syrup.  There is also a Maple Trivia quiz for you to try.  Twelve Maple leafs hang on the wall, each asking a maple question.  Answers are on the back for you to see how many you get right.

There is lots of fresh syrup on hand to buy.  We have Golden, Amber and Dark to sample along with maple cream and always another maple related product.  It could be Maple BBQ Sauce, Maple Mustard, Maple Fudge or even Maple Popcorn.  There is also Maple Pepper in 4  flavors: Original, Garlic, Rosemary and Habanero (our fav).

There was plenty of sap on hand this week to boil so we have already made quite a bit of maple syrup.  Today brought out a fair number of visitors to the sugarhouse.  Lots of new faces too which is nice.  A couple of folks even picked up the DIY maple kit to try out making their own syrup.  Hope they have as much fun as we did.  Tomorrow looks like the weather will be just miserable.  Snow and sleet and maybe rain.  Oh well.  We’ll be open anyway.

Once again we have signed up to be part of Maple Month with the NH Maple Producers Assn.  But as always we will be open each weekend 12-4pm now through early April for visitors, offering tours and tastings of some maple sweets.  Maple Weekend we’ll be open too with samples and tours.  Hours will be 10-5 Sat & 10-4 Sun.  But remember that’s the only weekend we do those to-die-for Maple Ice Cream Sundaes for just 2.00.  Your choice of either vanilla ice cream or Blakes yummy maple walnut ice cream that they make with real maple syrup.  Each sundae is topped with fresh maple syrup and whipped cream.  Don’t miss it!

For your convenience we do have a Porta-Potty on site.

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.