Maine – HodgePodge Maple

Maine Maple Saturday, March 22, 2025

One thing I love about Maple is that it makes that long New England mud season between winter and spring much shorter. I also love Maine Maple weekend because it is also the first outing of the Maine Entomological Association (the Bug Folks) combining the best of both worlds. So I like to plan my Maine Maple Weekend to spend at least some time with MES at the Donahue residence in Whitefield.

The first visit for the day was Jillson’s Farm in Sabattus.

They were not yet boiling for the day but the sugarmaker was still enthusiastic about telling people how things work.

Someone thinks they have pretty good product!

They certainly had quite the variety!

Pep’s was not far.

I get rather frustrated when the line to purchase product goes out the door with no other way to see the actual process.

So I went to the next on my list, Maple Rush Sugar House. This has quite a picturesque building but it was hard to get a good picture as there was so much other stuff too close.

The red line on the hydrometer is above the syrup – over sweet! Easily adjusted.

The main purpose for choosing Maine on Saturday was because the Maine Entomological Association was also having their Syrup Making/Bucket Checking bug day, the first of our monthly outings for 2025.

A number of neighbors get together to collect sap and keep the furnace stoked.

There are a number of old farm maples along the back of the yard.

Charlene is a great teacher with learners of all skill levels.

On the way home I started with Poulin’s Maple in Windsor.

Many of the sugarhouses had boardwalks that would have been very helpful but there was very little mud.

Watching the syrup finally flow.

And my last farm for the day, Marcoux’s Maine Maple in Wiscasset.

Very picturesque sugarhouse.

And a sweet large evaporator with a steamaway.

Sweet Celebrations!

Kendra asked me how she could celebrate Maple Weekend in the Rochester area by eating pancakes. This is what I came up with:

Barrington, NH Fire & Rescue, in conjunction with Spring Harvest Maple Farm across the street on Route 9 will be having a pancake breakfast both Saturday and Sunday, March 24 & 25 from 8 am until 11:30.

One of my favorite Maple Weekend Activities for families with Young Kids is the Remick Museum Maple Sugaring Day Open House on Saturday, March 24 from 11 am until 3 pm (no charge for this part). This year they are also recommend people “Eat Local for Breakfast” at the Preserve at Chocorua, 88 Philbrook Neighborhood Rd., Tamworth from 9:30-12:30. They are serving pancakes or Belgian waffles at $10 for adults, $5 children 12 and under, and free for age 4 and under. The proceeds from this will benefit the Museum to help children attend programs.

Harris Farm (or here) in Dayton, Maine is having a pancake breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, $8 for adults, $4 kids 11and under (cash only). 8 am until 2 pm.

Triple C Farm & Boilers in Lyman, Maine is having an all you can eat pancake breakfast with our own farm raised sausage. Saturday and Sunday from 7 am until 12 pm. $8 for adults, $4 for kids.

Morin’s Sugar House in Limerick, Maine will have their pancakes Sunday only from 8 am until 4 pm. (I will bring Dad & Mom here after church on Sunday). (Cost not listed)

Clark Cole Family Farm is having their open house pancake breakfast Saturday only from 8 am until 12 pm in Dayton, Maine. $5 per person.

There is an East Canterbury Maple Festival with a pancake Breakfast on Saturday for $5 per person. The maple stuff looks like it could be great but I am attending the Kearsarge Maple Festival this year. Their pancake breakfast, sponsored by the Warner Historical Society will be at the United Church of Warner from 7:30 until 11:00 am. It is $8 per person with under 5 free.

If you need more ideas for this sweet weekend, check out my post, “So much Maple, so little time!”

Early-Maple-Season Adventures 2018

(Header photo from Rochester Library Photo Contest 2015)

In November of 2017, the friends of the Rochester Library contacted me about doing a presentation for the Library on Maple Sugaring. Shortly afterward, Nick Kosko, VP of the New Hampshire Maple Producers contacted them offering to do a presentation. The friends asked us to do it together. Nick and his wife Cindy are the proprietors of Meadow View Sugarhouse in Union, a relatively local farm that I have visited several times. Nick sent me an outline of how he thought the presentation should go and I created the PowerPoint slideshow. We worked the presentation together and I had a fun time. This was the beginning of my Maple Season and it’s been rolling along since.

The Southern Maine Maple Sugarmakers Association is an organization founded to address the needs and interests of maple farmers. They are a wonderful resource for beginners and experienced sugarers alike and reach out with education such as their Sap House at the Cumberland Fair. They regularly hold a pre-season workshop for maple newbies. I’ve attended this workshop for two years now – it’s a fun place to hang out and refresh myself on Maple Basics. This year it was held at The Little Meetinghouse in Windham, ME. One of the members told me that one goal of this meeting is to lessen the amount of poor quality syrup reaching the public. They stress the importance of cleanliness and using food grade containers in the whole sugarmaking process. I’d love to join this group but they limit their membership to Maine residents.

Weather has not been my friend when planning Maple Excursions this year but it did cooperate on Sunday, February 18 when I headed out to Moose Mountain to view the Meadow View Sugarbush. On Saturday the 17th the ground was clear but Saturday night brought about 18″ of fresh powder to the mountain. Cindy and Nick were already up on the mountain but I could head in the right direction by following their snowshoe tracks. The Spring Harvest Sugarbush in Barrington where I have documented Josh Bouchard tapping is an old New England farm and fairly level. The Meadow View sugarbush covered the side of the mountain and had slopes of 40 – 60%. I got my work out in the woods in snowshoes but the views were spectacular. This mountainside had been sugared many years before by previous owners who appeared to have just left it with taps still in the trees. The Koskos are looking to be much better stewards.

The first Maple Open House of the year that I saw posted (on Facebook) was Maple Moon Farm in Lebanon, Maine. Frank had been at the SMMSA workshop in January. Maple Moon is also an old farm and most of their Sugarbush is on practically level ground. Some of these trees are on tubing and some are on buckets. I’ve never had the pleasure of watching farmers collect – I enjoyed getting photos of women working in the woods. Frank and Jen produce many of the usual maple products as well as other products and produce from their farm. They are regulars at several local farmers’ markets and I am particularly fond of Frank’s wood turnings. I love Maple but I also love photography and Maple Moon provides a particularly picturesque setting.

On March 4th I went on what was originally billed as a Snowshoe and Sugaring hike of the Leary Farm & Forest but there was not much, if any snow on that day. We were given a short tour of the sugarhouse at Forty to One Farm in Farmington, NH by the owners, Bob & Debbie Leary, and received an explanation of tapping by forester Wendy Scribner. Moose Mountain Regional Greenways is almost finished with the process of putting 60 plus acres of this field and woodland into conservation, a memorial to the three generations of Learys who have farmed, sugared and forested this land on the Farmington Ridge.

March 11 will begin New Hampshire Maple Month and a whole new set of adventures!

So much Maple, so little time!

It’s here! Time for Maple Adventures!

Want to plan your own?

New Hampshire Maple Producers Association celebrates Maple Month for four weekends beginning March 10, 2018. You can find their list and maps here. Pay attention to the dates each farm is open. Some are only open the official NH Maple Weekend of March 24 & 25, some are open all or some combination of the four weeks.

Massachusetts Maple Producers Association celebrates their Maple Weekend on March 17 & 18. Find their directory of participating sugar houses here.

Maine Maple Producers Association and Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association will both celebrate on March 24 & 25 with New Hampshire’s focus weekend. Maine’s information is here, while Vermont’s is here (click on the links).

A couple of organizations have maple teaching programs:

Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center in Laconia, NH is celebrating Maple Sugar Madness every Saturday in March.

Remick Country Doctor Museum and Farm in Tamworth Village, NH will celebrate Maple Sugaring Day Open House on Saturday, March 21 from 11 am – 3 pm. I have enjoyed this even on a couple of occasions.

The 100 Acre Wood Sugar Shack, part of the Believe in Books Literacy Foundation in Intervale, NH, has it’s Maple Storybook Trail open anytime (self-guided), but says that an inside peek at the Sugar Shack can only be done when they are open.

Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA is celebrating Maple Days each weekend in March.

The NH Maple Experience is located at The Rocks in Bethlehem, NH, the North Country Conservation & Education Center for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. The dates for this event in 2018 are March 17, 24, 25, 31, April 1 and 7.

Then there are a couple of Maple Festivals that I am aware of in 2018:

East Canterbury Maple Festival, Canterbury, NH, March 24 & 25

Kearsarge Maple Festival, Warner & Webster, NH, March 24 & 25

A personal favorite is the Lunenburg (VT) Maple Festival on Saturday, March 24 from 8 am – 4 pm

Skowhegan, ME will have their Maple Festival as part of Maine Maple Weekend on March 23 – 25, 2018

The Annual Official Vermont Maple Festival is April 27 – April 29 is primarily in St. Albans, VT

The St. Johnsbury World Maple Festival is April 28.

None of my plans are set in stone – so much Maple, so little time!

Planning your Sweet Maple Road Trip!

Maple Season is short and the time of open sugarhouses is even shorter, so I’ve come up with a means of hitting as many as I can as quickly as I can. Having a GPS helps but is not necessary if your goal farms are on main roads.

Farmers who belong to the state associations (see link here) let the association know when they will be open and often provide a “news release” listing specialty items or unusual activities they may have available. I decide on an area I want to conquer on a particular day and create an excel spreadsheet transferring the data from the website. I then use MapQuest’s Route Planner option to create a tour that includes all the sites. This site includes an option to upload a spreadsheet.

The Map this creates for me may or may not be reasonable. It gives a time estimate, but of course that does not include any time for the stop itself. And the Map is only labeled with the addresses, not the names of the farms, so I have to keep my Excel Spreadsheet handy. I compare it to thethe map and the list and may pull stops off of my map if there are too many or they are too far away. Eventually I’ve worked it down to a “do-able” list and I’ve taken farms off of the spreadsheet to match. I put the “pin numbers” from Mapquest on the spreadsheet and reorder the list keeping in mind if a farm has listed that it will open late or close early.

I save both the original long list and the final draft as pdfs and open them on my tablet. The day of my adventure I use the short list to feed my GPS and add in stops from the long list if I find I have recommendations from farmers or extra time. I will often direct my tours so I end up far from home so that this drive can take place after a day full of adventures when the farms are closed.

(Cover photo: Ridgeland Farm, Loudon, NH)

Sugarhouses I’ve entered so far

1	Harris Farm	Dayton, ME	4/2/09
2	Giles Family Farm	Alfred, ME	3/28/10
3	Thurston and Peters	Newfield, ME	3/26/11
4	Maple Hill Sugarhouse	Newfield, ME	3/26/11
5	Hilltop Boilers	Newfield, ME	3/24/12
6	Remick Farm Museum	Tamworth, NH	3/24/14
7	Meadowview Sugarhouse	Union, NH	3/23/13
8	Spring Harvest Maple Farm	Barrington, NH	3/20/11
9	Meaders Heritage Farm	Rochester, NH	3/23/13
10	Sanborn Hope Farm	Rochester	3/23/14
11	Price Farm	Gilmanton, NH	3/29/14
12	Fillion Maple Farm	Gilmanton, NH	3/29/14
13	Still Seeking Farm	Gilmanton, NH	3/29/14
14	Pearl & Sons Farm	Loudon, NH	3/29/14
15	Maple Ridge Sugar House	Loudon, NH	3/29/14
16	Bascom Family Farm	Alstead, NH	3/21/15
17	Clarks’ Sugar House	Langdon, NH	3/21/15
18	Belgian Meadows Farm	Lebanon, ME	3/22/15
19	Chase Farms	Wells, ME	3/22/15
20	Young Maple Ridge	N Sandwich, NH	3/28/15
21	Booty Family Farm	Center Sandwich, NH	3/28/15
22	SP’s Sugar Shack	Center Ossipee, NH	3/28/15
23	Ten Rod Farm	Rochester, NH	3/29/15
24	Good Olde Boys Maple Syrup	Strafford, NH	3/29/15
25	The Root Sellar	Nottingham, NH	3/12/16
26	Folsom’s Sugar House	Chester, NH	3/12/16
27	Rising Sweetness Sugar Shack	New Durham, NH	3/19/16
28	Shepherd’s Hut Market	Gilford, NH	3/19/16
29	Windswept Maples Farm	Loudon, NH	3/19/16
30	Ridgeland Farm	Loudon, NH	3/19/16
31	Journey’s End Maple Farm	Pittsfield, NH	3/19/16
32	Matras Family Farm	Pittsfield, NH	3/19/16
33	Sap Hound Maple Company	Brownfield, ME	3/20/16
34	Turkey Street Maples	Chocorua, NH	3/20/16
35	Triple C Farm	Lyman, ME	3/26/16
36	Coopers Maple Products	Windham, ME	3/26/16
37	Nash Valley Farm	Windham, ME	3/26/16
38	Merrifield Farm	Gorham, ME	3/26/16
39	Pingree Maple Products	Cornish, ME	3/26/16
40	Rocky M Farm	Porter, ME	3/26/16
41	Willette’s Maple Syrup	Porter, ME	3/26/16
42	Lost Cabin Sugar Bush	Limington, ME	3/26/16
43	Morin’s Maple Syrup	Limerick, ME	3/27/16
44	Maple House Farm	Waterboro, ME	3/27/16
45	Maple Moon Farm	Lebanon, ME	3/27/16
46	LaBounty Sugar House	Lunenburg, VT	4/2/16
47	Gram-Vue Farm	Lunenburg, VT	4/2/16
48	Maple Memories Sugarhouse	Lunenburg, VT	4/2/16
49	East View Farm	Lunenburg, VT	4/2/16
50	Macie Sugarhouse	Lunenburg, VT	4/2/16
51	Goodrich’s Maple Farm	Cabot, VT	4/2/16
52	Silloway Maple Farm	Randolph Center, VT	4/2/16
53	Seabrisket Sugarbush	Brookfield, NH	3/18/17
54	Eldridge Family Sugar House	Tamworth, NH	3/18/17
55	Bridgewater Mountain Maple	Plymouth, NH	3/19/17
56	Huckins Maple Farm	Tilton, NH	3/19/17
57	Mapletree Farm	Concord, NH	3/25/17
58	LedgeTop Sugar House	Boscawen, NH	3/25/17
59	Kimball’s Sugar House	Webster, NH	3/25/17
60	Courser Farm	Warner, NH	3/25/17
61	Sammy’s Sugar Shack	Milford, NH	3/25/17
62	Brookview Sugarhouse	Wilton, NH	3/25/17
63	Connolly’s Sugar House	Temple, NH	3/25/17
64	Ben’s Sugar Shack	Temple, NH	3/25/17
	Harris Family Farm	Dayton, ME	3/26/17
65	Douston Maple and Honey	Arundel, ME	3/26/17
66	Brookridge Boilers	Lyman, ME	3/26/17
	Giles Family’s New Sugarhouse	Alfred, ME	3/26/17
67	Benton’s Sugar Shack	Thornton, NH	4/1/17
68	Fadden’s Sugar House	N Woodstock, NH	4/1/17
	Meadowview View Sugarhouse	Union, NH	4/2/17
69	Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm	Northwood, NH	4/2/17
70	Dill Family Farm	Deerfield, NH	4/2/17
71	Forty to One	Farmington, NH	3/4/18
72	Hunt’s Sugar House	Hillsboro, NH	3/10/18
73	Atkins Family Sugarhouse	Washington, NH	3/10/18
	Bascom Family Farm	Alstead, NH	3/10/18
	Clarks’ Sugar House	Langdon, NH	3/10/18
74	Woodard’s Sugar House	Surry, NH	3/10/18
75	Crescendo Farm	Surry, NH	3/10/18
76	Dufresne’s Sugar House	Williamsburg, MA	3/17/18
77	Paul’s Sugarhouse	Williamsburg, MA	3/17/18
78	Hanging Mountain Farm	Westhampton, MA	3/17/18
79	Clapp Sugarhouse	Westhampton, MA	3/17/18
80	Steve’s Sugar Shack	Westhampton, MA	3/17/18
81	Zawalick’s Sugarhouse	Florence, MA	3/17/18
82	Brookledge Sugarhouse	Whately, MA	3/17/18
83	Boyden Brothers Maple	Conway, MA	3/17/18
84	Hutchinson’s Family Sugarhouse	Canterbury, NH	3/18/18
85	Baker’s Syrup	Warner, NH	3/24/18
86	Bate’s Maple Syrup	Warner, NH	3/24/18
87	Beaver Meadowbrook Farm	Warner, NH	3/24/18
88	Turyn’s Tap’n & Sap’n	Webster, NH	3/24/18
89	Rogers Maple Syrup	Warner, NH	3/24/18
90	Kearsarge Gore Farm	Warner, NH	3/24/18
91	Sweet’s Maple/Ben’s Sugar Shack	Newbury, NH	3/24/18
92	Meetinghouse Hill Tree Farm	Sutton, NH	3/24/18
93	Hidden Roots Maple Farm	Limerick, ME	3/25/18
94	Alderwood Farm	Limerick, ME	3/25/18
95	Sunnyside Maples	Loudon, NH	3/31/18
96	Trailside Sugar House	Andover, NH	3/31/18
97	5 Saplings Sugar House	Wilmot, NH	3/31/18
98	4-A Sugar Shack	Andover, NH	3/31/18
99	Grampa’s Sugar Barn	Danbury, NH	3/31/18

Spring Harvest Maple Farm is my local guy – I haven’t kept track of every time I’ve visited them. There may be others that I have visited a couple of time. I will try to keep better track.

There are also some that I have photographed off season or from the road.

Sweet Adventures 2017

It’s here! Well, at least kinda sorta. After a week of nights in the 20’s and days in the 40’s some New Hampshire Maple Farms are already tapping (Laconia Daily Sun). Then again, last year Maine Maple farmers were also tapping this weekend (Bangor Daily News). In 2016, two weeks later, during traditional tapping time, temps were below 0 over night rising to 20’s during the day. It’s a risk to tap early as frozen equipment can create more work, but tapping too late can mean missing sap that might mean the difference between breaking even and losing after last summer’s drought.

But anyway, here we come. Like most of the items in the supermarket, most consumers are totally ignorant of the amount of work it takes to get Maple from the tree to the shelf. My quest, started slowly in 2009 is to appreciate Maple by exploring and sharing my findings with others via (mostly) photojournalism. I have now visited at least 52 Maple Farms, including at least 27 in 2016. That year I lucked out – the traditional Northern New England Maple Weekend of the last weekend in March fell on Easter. New Hampshire decided to have their festival the week before, Maine kept their regular date, and Vermont celebrated the weekend after. This year, since Easter is April 16, all of the northern New England states will be having their open houses on the weekend of March 25th and 26th. I don’t see when Massachusetts will be having a weekend though there is a “Maple Month Kickoff” on March 6th with the Governor in Fitchburg. Maybe I need to head south this year.

In the meantime, before I can get out and shoot (photographs), I am determined to finish the blog posts that I didn’t get up last year. I have a series of photos explaining the tapping process and more Sugarhouse 2016 photos from Vermont. I need to find a new place where I can put my book “Sweet Adventures” up for sale as Blurb requires it to be updated too often. I also plan to make maple photos available on Fine Art America. These photos are also also available as items such as phone cases, shower curtains and tote bags. If you see a photo you like and want an item not listed, let me know and I can make it available. May this sweet season be more productive than anticipated!

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