Check out this adorable sign from the maple farm! There are four within our region, some offering pancake breakfasts and horse-drawn sleigh rides through the maple trail. Mom asked if I wanted to go out when I arrived home from spring break, and I thought all I want to do is lay around and do nothing. But the maple farm is only open to the public twice a year, or so she said, and I have a total of 8 other days to sit around and watch t.v. When I called my job at the VA, they reported back about a hiring freeze. Freeze? Hiring? VA? They seemed to know little about it other than the fact I couldn’t come back. So here I sit- slouch rather- twiddling my thumbs over spring break. I’ve been outside a few times already. I even cracked a book. Best of all, I’ve blogged.
Looking at this map, it looks like Canada and the Northeastern part of the States are the only places cold enough to have sugar maple. How lucky! For those like me who are clueless about maple, it’s pretty simple. 1. Maple is drawn out of the trees through tubes with a small vacuum pump 2. Sap runs through a reverse-osmosis machine that essentially removes the extra water 3. Maple is brought to a near boil to condense it further and make it sweeter.
Maple Syrup map from National Geographic Blog.
Maple syrup starts light and gets darker later in the season. The farm we went to had all sorts of products, from maple mustard to maple cotton candy, maple cream, coffee, and sweets. They were also growing hops in the backyard. But it was a bad season, the owner said, because it’s been too warm. There has to be a balance between freezing nights and warmer days for sap to flow. Better luck next year. More on growing your own maple here.
Glad to see that taking care of our veterans means putting a hiring freeze on the VA. On a less political note, the Parks system I used to work for had it’s own maple sugaring program. It’s quite a fascinating process, and the end product is delicious!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha. It’s awesome that trees generally don’t mind when we use them for maple syrup! Did you guys get to take home the maple? :O
LikeLiked by 2 people
Us park employees didn’t get to take home any maple syrup, but the visitors might have been able to. Our maple sugaring station didn’t actually produce much syrup: it was mainly for demonstration. But it was still cool to see how the process unfolds.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maple cotton candy and maple sweets, those sounds are great😋.
Well narrated about the process. Simple and quick !!
LikeLiked by 2 people
mouthwatering! many thanks for visiting my blog – especially as its led me to your lovely site 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It truly is adorable, but instead of saying Spring brake it was more of a SPRING FUNNY
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right about the northeast and also Canada, where I live. In fact, the biggest maple syrup festival in Ontario takes place next weekend — even though spring has fully arrived and the temperatures are warm enough for light coats and no gloves. Nice post. Enjoyed it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the input 🙂 That festival sounds delicious, if only I didn’t have finals I would go!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person