We managed to eke 310 gallons out of the Strafford bush this year. Still have a bit of cleaning and maintenance to do, but in general, the production season is closed and we’re ready to sell maple syrup.

We had lots of people come by to visit during the season. I wish we were able to show the operation sugaring more often, but such is the nature of farming and the weather. One set of visitors was the Audubon Society. They’ve been studying the area, and this sugarbush in particular. This month they ran a small piece in their Audubon Magazine. It’s not on their site (although a funny little recipe that Elise contributed made it into another article here. Odd that we’ve been the object of such attention. A couple years back Yankee Magazine did a piece on us as well.

One additional joy this year in sugaring was seeing our little Lucy start to become more aware of what’s going on. She loves coming with us up the hill in the backpack, and – for better or worse – she appears to like maple syrup as much as I do. Here she is having her first taste of the year.