farm tour #1: maple syrup

Guest columnist is my friend Gayle.

Angel and I share many philosophies about food. One is that people should know where their food comes from.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a big fan of the factory tour. And the farm tour. I love to see how things are made. We always did factory/farm tours on vacation. I thought it was the educational component. It was much later in life that I realized we did them because they were free.

Hopefully this will be a series of guest columns on farms, farmers markets and food tours. 

A few weeks ago I received an email from the Easton Farmers Market  and one item was about the Open House at Dutch Hill Preserves in Canadensis. You could see how maple syrup was made. Cool. I emailed Angel and asked if we could take Bug.  She said maybe. Depended on her work schedule.

So today we went. 

When we arrived, there was a crock pot of maple baked beans to taste (yummy!) and maple chowder. It tasted like chicken soup. Some maple syrup bread and a wonderful spread with walnuts. Actually I think it was walnuts soaked in maple syrup, warmed, and  poured over cream cheese. Devine on the bread. There was also lollipops. Mom said no. Bug asked the wrong adult!

After an intro on syrup making, the group marched down to the woods. And I was shocked. As we approached the woods it looked like it was strung with blue plastic tubing. I was expecting the traditional bucket and spout.

The season is brief. Using the trees and the bucket technique you might have to empty the bucket several times a day. There would be 22 acres of bucket. Yikes!The tubing eliminates that problem. However, animals, especially squirrels eat the tubes. That's a big problem..

The blue tubes were attached to the trees and dripped the syrup into a black collection tube. The collection tube sent it to the collection barrel, which was suctioned into the sugar house for processing.

Sixty gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup. It makes you wonder how the original syrup makers thought of tapping a tree for sweetener. They really didn't need another labor intensive activity!

Children were given the opportunity to do it the old-fashioned way. But the sap wasn't running. It was too cold.

On the way back from the collection site we pasted the chicken coop. Bug loves chickens. When she's on her own, I fully expect to see a chicken coop in her yard.

Bug asked on the way home if they were having pancakes for breakfast. It's a school day so mom had to say no.

All and all it was a fun educational day. If you can ever see the process, do. If you just want some fresh, local maple syrup (or preserves), then stop by their stand at the Easton Farmers Market. It opens May 7th!

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