Maple Sugar'n

Well I might have finally succumbed, we're going to see how this works with me blogging.

We had some fun this past weekend with a visit from some NC friends who joined us for a Maple Syrup adventure. I stumbled upon the fact that the first two weekends in March are the annual Maple Festival in the neighboring county. I'd always thought of Vermont when I thought of maple syrup but come to find out it's also right here in my backyard. So we went to Highland Co. in search of Maple Sugar'n. On the way we traveled some steep and winding mountain roads with beautiful scenes of babbling streams, trickling brooks, wild turkeys and rocky mountain pastures dotted with sheep, dairy and Maple farms. We also found a mountain stream trout farm and a Civil War battle site.

The seat of the Festival was in the county's largest town, Monterey, population 200! Here is the general store we stopped in. It was an old fashioned store, with wood floors, and shelves full of crafts and maple syrup products and the aroma of homemade Maple doughnuts and Brunswick stew.

The Maple Sugar Farms were tucked up in the mountains. We got to see traditional tapping with the pails hanging from the trees and then collecting and cooking in old Sugar Houses over an open fire.

This was a 200 year old Maple Tree that was tapped for viewing purposes only, but was still making sap. It tastes and looks like water.

We also saw more modern ways of collecting sap, through tubing and giant collection sites, where the sap is heated in large tanks over open fire. The tubing is impressive dancing between the trees as it comes down the mountain.

Just some pictures of the scenery. We saw many signs of the beginnings of spring in the mountains. A really fun day spent with friends.