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Sugaring in Litchfield County

Here in New England real maple syrup is one of the joys in life. It's also an early harbinger of spring, since sap tends to flow best when the daytime temperatures get above freezing but the nights are still reliably below. Join us as we visit some of Litchfield County's sugar houses and take a peek — and, of course, a taste.

April 2, 2009 Blossoms. When they appear the flavor of the maple sap changes and the season is over. These are from an early tree, but the end is near.

March 13, 2009 Flanders Nature Center offers maple demos Saturday and Sunday 1-4 PM, and a maple celebration event 1-4 PM on Saturday March 21st.

March 6, 2009 After a week that's been way too cold for sap to flow, finally, a warm front. Now's the time to visit a sugarhouse.

March 3, 2009 The "other" ingredient — wood to fire the evaporator.

February 26, 2009 Peeks of sun following snow marked the passage of a warm front. It prompted some to finally tap their maples — a sure sign that spring is on the way.

More pictures from the 2008 season archive.

April 11, 2008 The budding of maple trees signals the end of usable sap for syrup. It's time to collect the buckets and enjoy the fruit of this Spring's labor. Most sugar houses continue to welcome visitors, so you can still bring home some of this year's syrup. Call ahead.

Maple bud.

March 9, 2008 A fine row of old maples, with traditional metal sap pails, near the Brookside Farm Sugar House in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Maple trees in Litchfield, CT

Mark Harran grew up making maple syrup on a farm in upstate New York. Today he continues with a sugarbush of 500 trees.

Maple syrup maker Mark Harran.

The hot glow of the high-efficiency, oil fired burner.

Burner for boiling maple sap.

Mark reports good quality and quantity this year.

Steam flows from boiling maple sap.

Visitors are welcome. Call ahead at 860-354-0047.

March 9, 2008 Lou Berecz uses a hydrometer to test the sugar content of the syrup at the Woodbury Sugar Shed.

Testing the sugar content of boiling maple syrup.

It's ready to be filtered.

Filtering maple syrup.

Lou tapped at his usual time, around Valentines day, this year and reports good quality sap.

The Woodbury Sugar Shed.

He'll be boiling sap from some 3,500 trees every Saturday and Sunday afternoon through the first week of April. You can check ahead at 203-263-4550.

March 6, 2008 As the steam heads up and out...

Evaporator at Flanders Sugarhouse.

Bill Akins mans the evaporator at the Flanders Sugarhouse in Woodbury, CT.

Steam rises above the evaporator.

The folks at Flanders tap about 150 maples, all of them the traditional way with hanging pails.

Pails collect sap.

The sugarhouse, part of the Flanders Nature Center, offers free demonstrations through mid-March (no reservations required on weekends.) 203-263-3711

Maple syrup sugarhouse at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury, CT.

March 4, 2008 The Great Brook Sugar House at Sullivan Farm in New Milford.

Sugar House in New Milford, CT

The wood-fired maple syrup evaporator works on sap from a sugar bush (a forest stand of primarily sugar maple) of over 1,000 trees.

maple syrup evaporator

Sap — bubbling away. It takes over 30 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Boiling sap.

The Sullivan Farm offers programs on the history, facts, and folklore of maple syrup — showing how syrup was made in colonial times and the Civil War period as well as today. 860-354-0047

 

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Connecticut Maple Syrup "open" sign.

Sugar Houses
in Litchfield County

BROOKSIDE FARM II, Kay Carroll and Mark Harran,79 East Chestnut Hill Rd., Litchfield, CT 06759. 860-567-3805 or 860-567-3890

BROTHERS AND SONS SUGARHOUSE, The Schoonmaker Family, 998 Saw Mill Hill Rd., Torrington, CT 06790. 860-489-2719

DUTTON'S SUGARHOUSE, The Dutton Family, 28 Sunny Ridge Rd., Washington, CT 06793. 860-868-0345

FLANDERS SUGARHOUSE, Flanders Nature Center, Flanders & Church Hill Roads, Woodbury, CT. 203-263-3711

GREAT BROOK SUGARHOUSE at Sullivan Farm, Mark Mankin, 140 Park Lane, Route 202, New Milford, CT 06776. 860-354-0047

KASULAITIS FARM AND SUGARHOUSE, Ray Kasulaitis and June Pennell, 69 Goose Green Rd., Barkhamsted, CT 06063. 860-379-8787 or 860-738-2294

WEST HILL SUGARHOUSE, Tim Mandel, Dick Selinga, Jack Trumbull, 525 West Hill Rd., New Hartford, CT 06057. 860-379-9672 or 860-379-7312

WOODBURY SUGARSHED, Lou and Carol Berecz & Sons, 41 Washington Rd., Route 47, Woodbury, CT. 06798 203-263-4550

printable list >

Boiling maple sap.