Maple in the County

It is once again that wonderful time of year when the days are getting longer, the snow is melting, the temperatures are rising, and the maple sap starts flowing. For the last 10 years we have enjoyed attending the Maple in the County festival to visit the local sugar shacks, farms, and local businesses, where we get our fill of maple syrup and pancakes. We also love the maple candy, maple cotton candy, and other maple flavoured treats we find, but the main take home prize is always a nice big bottle of pure maple syrup. I mean, growing up in Newfoundland, we thought maple syrup was made by Aunt Jemima, but now we are maple syrup snobs – although Dan still has a soft spot for the other stuff and we keep an emergency bottle on hand, just in case.

The Rain Can’t Stop Us

Saturday’s forecast was for a 100% chance of rain, including a rainfall warning for the area. Not the best weather to be out in, but we tried to look on the bright side – the rain meant less people at the sugar shacks and smaller line ups to wait for pancakes (we have had to wait up to an hour in the past) . As we’ve learned over the years, bad weather is sometimes the best weather when you want to avoid big crowds!

We always plan our visit to Maple in the County around breakfast, and this year’s destination was Loha Farms where the meal included pancakes, bacon, sausage, beans, hot drinks or juice, and of course all the maple syrup we could handle. The great thing about this spot was the money raised from the food sales goes back into the community to help out the local hospital.

By the time we got to the farm the rain had soaked the grounds which meant huge puddles of mud everywhere (and at least one stuck car – good thing we were on a farm where they had tractor to pull him out). But, like I said, we’ve done this many times before, so expected the mud and we were prepared with our Bogs, umbrellas, and newly purchased rain jackets!

Breakfast was served and there was very little talking as we enjoyed our meal. I think it would have been wrong to lick the plate, but I had thought about it! I didn’t want to waste any of the syrup!

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Once our bellies were happy from all the good eats, we headed outside into the rain to head to our next stop. But, as we exited the garage, there was a Search and Rescue truck parked with their wet tank and gear on display. At first we thought that the tank was for demos, but I overheard the guy asking the person just ahead of me if they wanted to try the gear. They had declined, so when I went outside he asked me. I was in!! Absolutely! Yes! Affirmative! After all, how often do you get the opportunity to try on rescue gear and float in a tank in the rain?

In no time I was all suited up and ready to go! The gentleman helping me out entered the tank to help me in, just in case I couldn’t get control, and I jumped right in behind. The suit was insulted, and air and water tight, which also meant it held a of air and meant I floated around like a bobber in the tank. It was hard work, but I had a lot of fun and laughs trying to turn over and maneuver in this little tank wearing all the gear. I know it all sounds like fun and games, but it gave me a new appreciation for what these fine men and women do to save our asses when we get in over our heads (pardon the pun).

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I didn’t quite escape the tank completely dry, as I fell backwards testing the suit and dunked my whole head under. Oh well. I didn’t care as I was having lots of fun, plus it’s only a little bit of wet hair!

Syrup and sheep and pigs, oh my!

Once I got the dry suit off, we hit the road for our next stop, Nyman Farms. Nyman’s is always one of our stops because they have farm animals that you can pet, syrup samples, maple treats, and a sugar shack where we get our maple syrup fill. Hayden was having a great time checking out all the different bottles of syrup, making him look like some expert in syrup pickings. We also got to meet the new lambs and said hello to the pigs and sheep.

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With our primary goals of eating pancakes and getting syrup accomplished, the rainy cold weather started to take it’s toll, so we decided we were ready to head home for the day (where we lazed around and watched a movie).

While filling out a survey about the festival – which had a prize of a year’s worth of syrup! – I was surprised to learn that it has been running for the past 17 years! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been going for the last 10 (and it won’t be our last), but it’s easy to see why it’s been such a successful event. If you have not been to the county for this festival, I highly recommend marking your calendar for next year. And if you can’t make it for the festival, many of these farms do sell their maple syrup all year, you just need to go check it out!