Andrew, Maelle and I visited some of our local maple producers this past weekend to celebrate maple season!
I was SHOCKED to see that Andrew and I haven’t been to a maple weekend since 2013! I would have sworn to you it was only five or six years ago… Time sure does fly.
Our first stop was Boxler Maple, a beautiful new building on 20A we’ve been watching go up for the last few years each time we drive by on our trips south. This year’s maple weekends were their ‘grand opening,’ and I believe the building officially opens full time this May. It was packed! While we wanted to try the crepes, the line was too long. Their evaporator (shown in the background, below) was new and shiny. We tasted some different flavors of syrup, got Maelle an ice cream cone, and decided we’d come back another time for one of their boozy ice cream flights!
Our next stop was Merle Maple, just a few miles away. While there, we got the full maple experience!
First, we hopped on a wagon ride up to the sugar bush (cluster of maple trees) to see the old sugar house and some of their tubing.
Then, we shopped at the store and checked out the tennis ball cannon!
Maelle did so well! I was so proud of her to wanting to try, especially when we walked up and there were only adult men gathered around the cannon. She even hit the target a couple times!
Lastly, we went on a short tour of the building, during which our guide talked about the process of making maple syrup, beginning with tapping the trees. I timed our ‘maple sugaring’ week of Treehouse Schoolhouse Nature Study (Winter) to be last week, so Maelle already knew a lot.
On the way home, we enjoyed some maple cotton candy, and later that day we each had one of the maple sugar candies we bought. Andrew and I both really like dark maple syrup, so we got a quart of that as well. We’ll definitely be back next year!
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