Sap’s Running!

It’s Maple Weekend in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.  For the folks who run maple farms, this time of year means long, long days (and nights) at work.  For the rest of us, it means gorging on pancakes and maple candy and getting a chance to see the whole process up close.

If you’ve never been to visit a maple farm, you might not realize that when trees are tapped, the stuff that comes out isn’t thick and sweet — it’s more like ice water than syrup.

It has to be boiled down to make the sticky syrup we love on our pancakes.  Stepping into the sugar shack, where they do that boiling, is like being covered in a big maple blanket on a March morning.

Here at the Parker Family Maple Farm in West Chazy, workers will put up about 6,000 gallons of syrup before the season ends.   Spring is always slow to arrive in Northern New York, but this is one of the sure signs that it’s finally on the way.

8 Replies on “Sap’s Running!

  1. Kate, thanks for these images. This is one event that I’ve never had the opportunity to see, but it’s high on my list of things to do. Someday…

  2. Sugar On Snow parties aren’t far behind!! Some farms in Vermont still collect the sap the old fashioned way


    Collecting Sap-Fairfield-Don Lockhart

  3. What a great blog! Thanks for entering my book giveaway contest. I was so afraid no one would enter:)

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