This weekend is maple-y

This is going to be a quick post, but I finally found information on maple syrup in Maine and Connecticut which I couldn't find before. Well, I had CT info, but it looks like they put up a new website just for Connecticut Maple Producers.

Apparently, Massachusetts is the most gung-ho about maple with their March is Massachusetts Maple Month celebration. Basically, this means that sugar houses all over the state are open to the public, many of them serving breakfast.

Also, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire are having some type of maple syrup festival this weekend, so if you want to O.D. on maple syrup, this weekend is your chance.

Vermont is having its 6th Annual Maple Open House Weekend. Apparently it placed in the top 10 winter events of Vermont, by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

Maine is having Maple Syrup Sunday,

New Hampshire is celebrating its New Hampshire Maple Weekend this weekend. Stonewall Farm (Keene, NH) is joining in the celebration with, among other maple-related events, a sap-gathering event where teams of people and draft horse run around the farm collecting sap from buckets. If I wasn't going to Western Mass this weekend, I'd be up in Keene watching the competition.

Nothing exciting appears to be happening in the states of CT or RI this weekend. It looks like maybe maple syrup isn't as big a deal in those states, but there's plenty to do in the others, so we won't be too sad about that.

On deck for this weekend, instead of Parker's Maple Barn (it's open year-round so I figured I'd better go somewhere that's only open for a few weeks before it's too late), is the North Hadley Sugar Shack in North Hadley, MA. I've never had their maple products, but I can personally attest to the fact that they have the best soft-serve ice cream (and waffle cones) in the Happy Valley. I went to UMass Amherst--twice--and the second time around, my friend Tim and I did extensive, unscientific research to find the best soft serve in the area. They have their own maple soft-serve and make the waffle cone right when you order your ice cream. And they also have a petting zoo with goats, sheep, bunnies, and chickens. Some of the chickens have feathers on their legs so when the run around they look like they're wearing pantaloons! They put in the petting zoo when I was in school and two of the goats, Rodeo and Licorice, were still little goatlets. I guess that would be "kid" if you want to be techincal. Anyway, they were adorable. They're all grown up but they're still there, as far as I know. You get to go in the pen and walk around with all the animals, which is very cool--as opposed to petting them behind a fence.

So, if you're in the Amherst area this weekend, stop by the Sugar Shack for pancakes and maybe I'll see you there.

I guess that wasn't such a quick post after all :)