This past weekend was the first official open house for the sugar shack. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sky was clear, bright blue and the sun was strong and warm – it must have reached 50 degrees. I didn’t check the thermometer because I was too busy greeting people!
Usually the first open house of the season is my “make-sure-I have-my-stuff-together” day. The typical weather is cold and gray. Only the heartiest (or those with the greatest itch of cabin fever) make it to the farm.
This year was different.
The fantastic weather brought people from all over – Boston to the North Shore to locals here in town. The library was having an all-you-can-eat soup lunch, so many of the locals enjoyed some hot soup before meandering over to the farm.
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It was only the family working this weekend – Joe and I and the two kids. I’m so proud of my two children. They have become very comfortable educating the public about how to make maple syrup. Jon in particular has really grown into the role. He used to be a bit shy doing the public tours. He now greets people as they come down to the sugar house, asks them if they would like to know about the Asian Long-horned beetle (a very pesky bug threatening the New England sugar bush) and gives a bang-up history lesson of the different types of spouts used through the years to make maple syrup.
I thank Mother Nature for providing such a great day. And I also thank Kim of Chestnut Hills Farms here in Hardwick, MA. She sent an email to her CSA members telling them about the open house–and lots of them came. Thanks, Kim! It was great to meet some of your wonderful shareholders. I especially enjoyed chatting with the guy who smoked his own bacon in a homegrown smoker cobbled together with two cardboard boxes!
Jenn from the Hardwick Winery also connected with the farm. You can now get our maple syrup at her place. If you’ve never been there, it’s worth a trip out. With great vistas of the Quabbin hills, and local cheese and wine, it’s a great way to spend an afternoon.