The New Hampshire Maple Producers Open House Weekend will be this Saturday and Sunday, March 19 and 20. The NH maple industry produces almost 90,000 gallons of syrup from mid-February through mid-April, with taps running full time for up to 6 weeks every spring. This year there will be public events at four local sugar houses.
Maple Butternut Farm, off Rt. 136 on Pine Echo Road (487-5508), will be open on Saturday 9-4:30, and on Sunday from 9-4. Jim Dane started sugaring back in the 1980s with a small rig and a bucket. “I helped my father do some sugaring back when I was a teenager- must be 70 years ago!” Butternut Farm produces 90 gallons on a good year. Dane explains that a good year is one with an abundance of snow, and temperatures in the 20ºs at night and bright sunny days in the mid 30ºs. For Open House, Butternut Farm will have free maple syrup samples, coffee & doughnuts, and a demonstration of making syrup with wood burning evaporator. Open weekends through the whole season, visitors are always welcome when you see steam!
Also in New Boston, Mt. Crumpit Farm, 207 Lull Rd off Rt. 77 (325-5900), will be open both Saturday and Sunday, 8-5. Dale Smith is the proud winner of the 2010 Carlisle Trophy, the state’s top prize for excellence in maple syrup production. Smith has been sugaring commercially for 13 years, and remembers when, “A neighbor would give us 2¢ a gallon for the sap we collected in the garbage cans in our little red wagon!” Mt. Crumpit has 500 taps and produces between 100 and 200 gallons of syrup a year. Free coffee and donuts will be available to all who would like to see maple syrup made the old fashioned way over a wood fired evaporator with steam rolling off the pans.
Grant Family Pond View Maples will be open from 10-4 pm both Saturday and Sunday. Located at 224 Dearborn Road in Weare (529-6445), Dave Richards will make sure you and your family receive a warm welcome. Free maple hot dogs, chili, maple popcorn, maple cotton candy, coffee and hot chocolate will be available. There will be tractor drawn hay rides, and on Saturday come and listen to the live music trio. Facebook Grant Family Pond View Maples!
Easily accessible at 41 Tirrell Hill Road in Goffstown (361-3156), Nature’s Sweet Secret Sugar House is owned by Eddy, Denis and Dan Caron and will be open from 9-4 on Saturday and Sunday. The picturesque location hosts a modern sugar house where sap boiling, tapping demonstrations, and walks in the sugarbush will be accompanied by free coffee and cookies and a coloring contest for the kids. Nature’s Sweet Secret has a well-marked trail and visitors should bring sturdy shoes to follow the tap lines. Facebook Nature's Sweet Secret Sugar House!
Maple Butternut Farm, Pine Echo Road, New Boston NH
