Thursday, April 1, 2010

A "Sweet" Weekend



The four of us loaded in the van and followed the heavenly smell of steaming maple through the majestic north country of New Hampshire. This past weekend marked the traditional "maple weekend" in the state. Our family always enjoys a March visit to a sugar shack, but this was our first in New Hampshire.

Shortly into our drive we spotted the tin buckets hanging from maple trees on the roadside. One year, Ellie dipped her finger in one to taste and was surprised to find that the sap tastes much like water. There are a couple of sugar maples at our prospective new house and I hope for the girls and I to try out tapping them next season.




Our adventure brought us to Sugarmomma's Maple Farm (www.sugarmommasmaple.com), a small family home on a few acres with two Scottish Highlander bulls, a hen house, a pig and a sugar shack with a state of the art steamer. This amazing momma spends all of sugar season out in this shack loading wood for the steamer. In the off season she bottles, makes maple candy and even a maple hot sauce. This small family operation is the largest producer of pure maple syrup on the New Hampshire seacoast. Her story of producing one gallon out of her kitchen her first year to thousands just a few years later was inspiring to hear. This type of small family business pumps the true New England heart.

Believe it or not pure maple syrup, in moderation of course, has many health benefits. The sweet stuff is loaded with calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin B6. Swap it out for sugar or corn syrup in recipes and you'll end up with a healthier, more moist product. Sugarmommas site is loaded with tasty looking recipes. Just think of those strong beautiful maple trees. Doesn't it make sense that what they use for nutrients would benefit us too?

Thank you Sugarmomma for the great family adventure and a yummy pancake breakfast!

2 comments:

  1. What a fun trip. Maple syrup's minerals is the reason I spend the money on the real thing.

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  2. Hello...I am going to tell my fiance' that we need to head over to Sugarmomma's because we love visiting farms! I am obsessed with practically every farm animal out there & we wish we had a farm. We went to an alpaca farm a few years ago in Bethlehem, NH, and we were fascinated by those beautiful creatures! Did you know that alpaca's "meow"? It's true! So cute...
    Anyway, thanks so much for the support and interest in my Personalized Pet Portrait Giveaway! I hope you know that Sandy can put 2 pets in one painting so that should help you decide between all of your animals!
    You mentioned you were having a hard time finding inspiration for your blog so here's an idea or two ... 1) Why don't you introduce us to your ferret, your cats, and to Goldie, your head hen? Animals truly are helpful in making people feel tranquil which is your blog theme. You could feature them in a slide show thru www.imageloop.com or in stories throughout the blog. 2) I think your surrogacy is very interesting & I think a lot of people wonder how a surrogacy affects both parties. I think it's a brave and selfless and kind thing that you are doing and I'd love to hear more. Also, I don't see blogs about surrogacy out there so this subject could make your blog go VIRAL (as our teacher likes to say)....what do you think? April & Daisy

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Daisy

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