Sweet Times are Here Again

Yes, it's that time of year again. Some people refer to it as "mud season" but for us it's maple sugaring season. Usually the weather favors February to begin sugaring here in CT. We need to have freezing nights and thawing days for the sap to flow inside the trunk of a maple tree. It's only during these temperature conditions that we can collect sap from all the trees we tap. Arlow taps over 3,000 taps during February and March. The only time we can actually get sap to collect is when the trees freeze at night, and sufficiently thaw out during the daytime. This creates pressure inside the tree, which forces the sap to flow. If the conditions aren't right, there is no movement of sap, therefore no sap comes out of the tap holes. Last season didn't give us very many of these sap runs, hence it was a horrible crop. We certainly hope this year is better. A lot of people ask us "how do you think this season will be?" to which we reply, "we don't know until it's all over". It could possibly last into April, which we remember well the year we had a bumper crop (2007) and it lasted until the second week of April. As soon as warmer temperatures either force the leaf buds to pop on the trees, or we don't get any more freezing nights, maple sugaring season will be over.
Arlow is still busy tapping trees, as this endeavor takes up much of his time. He taps all over the area, including trees in the towns of Hartland (where we are), Barkhamsted, Granby, East Granby, Simsbury, and also Granville and Blandford,MA. Even though we have made some syrup already, he still goes out and taps almost until the end of the season. Tapping does not hurt a tree! It would be akin to you pricking your finger tip with a pin, and a few drops come out, and then it heals over. The same goes for a tree. The small hole will yield a tiny bit of sap which we collect, then when warmer weather comes and the sap flow stops, the tree will heal over the hole. Each year a new tap hole must be drilled, it cannot be drilled in the same spot. The tremendous amount of snow that fell on us this winter gave a thick deep snow pack, which made it harder to get out to the trees and tap. Arlow had to actually wear snow shoes much of the time!
We are getting ready for our 5th Annual Maple Festival which will be held here on Saturday March 12 from 10-4. New this year will be pony rides brought to you by Fiddlehead Farm in Granby. Bring the kids for this fun filled day. Weather permitting we will also have a bouncy house. There will be all kinds of classes, tours, and demonstrations throughout the day. Check out our schedule of events at our website http://www.sweetwindfarm.net/ I have been very busy making all kinds of maple products like sugar candy, maple jelly, maple cream, maple lollipops, and more to supply the sales counter. Friends and family will be helping us out to put on this event, which is the biggest happening at our farm all year. (Actually, considering the small size of Hartland, it's probably one of the biggest events in this town). If you can't make it to the festival this year, you can always come to one of our open house days on Saturdays in March. You can come smell the steam and watch us produce syrup. I give classes and tours to groups also. I have several scheduled for homeschoolers, scouts, schools and more. We are probably one of the few sugarhouses in the area that offers classes on maple sugaring. I honestly didn't know much of anything about sugaring at all until I met Arlow. After years of helping out, I now give the classes! The only thing I can remember about maple sugaring before I met Arlow was when I went on a field trip with my Girl Scout troop to some sugarhouse, where we drank sap out of the sap buckets, and had pancakes and sugar-on-snow. Now we offer the same type of experience to kids all around. As a kid growing up, we didn't get to eat real maple syrup, it was Aunt Jemima or something. Now I have it all the time and the thought of using thickened gooey corn syrup with artificial flavorings on my pancakes is gross.
I have to say though, I AM looking forward to warmer weather soon. It has been one looooonnnng winter. I want to see GREEN, not white and brown anymore. While I don't want Spring to rush in and land another horrible sugaring season in our laps, I DO want to see coats left inside, feel sun on my face, and not have to warm up the car before I get in. If you live around here, you KNOW what I mean. Happy Spring to all!