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It seems like maple is visible all over the place this time of year, but the trees themselves remain hidden to the untrained eye without their summer leaves. Learn to identifying sugar maples during the off-season for growing (but on-season for tapping) by looking closely at leaf buds and bark, and create your own March nature table filled with leaf buds of all kinds.
Sugaring season has been a New England tradition since practically forever. It was written about by English settlers as early as the mid-1600’s, and was a Native American harvest long before any Europeans set foot in North America. The history of this annual sap-harvesting tradition can’t really be boiled down to any specific time period or group of people, but it has nevertheless been done year after year for countless generations.
A popular sugar season tradition for families in western Massachusetts is visiting a nearby sugar shack. There are sugar shacks to visit all over the region, and a great many of these can pair the experience of watching fresh maple sap be boiled down into a thick syrup with a homemade stack of maple syrup-covered pancakes. Many sugarhouses offer informative tours of their facilities, demonstrating their process of tapping, collecting, boiling, and bottling their syrup. In addition to learning about the sugaring process, a visit to a sugar shack can also be a lesson in local history and community resilience – many local sugar houses have been owned and operated by the same families for a few generations, making sugaring an important part of the local economy as well as a strong link between local families and their physical surrounding.
The maple tree and sugar season have been a source of inspiration for artists and poets in New England. Here we take a look at Western Massachusetts landscape painter, Robert Strong Woodward (1885-1957), and contemporary poet, Hannah Fries. In the early 1900’s, Woodward captures a typical New England scene that one can still witness driving along the same road in the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. And Fries takes the seasonality of New England living and rural life to describe a shared sentiment felt by two people in love in her poetry. See and read the influences of the maple tree and seasonal living in art and literature in the region.
If sugaring is something that your family is particularly interested in trying and you’ve got a yard full of maples, try it out for yourself at home! With the right supplies, sugaring can be a fun and fairly easy family activity. Kids will get to practice math and science skills while selecting trees to tap – first, they’ll need to identify the proper species, and then they’ll need to determine the diameter of the tree at a specific height. Lots of careful observation, use of tools, and recording of data will need to be done! Then, while you wait for the sap to collect, kids can track the amount that fills the bucket each day. Older students might even be able to figure out the percentage by which the volume of the sap decreases after it has been boiled down into syrup!
Traditionally, March is the busiest time for syrup producers in New England. As the days begin to warm, sugar-rich sap starts to flow upward from its winter storage in the trees’ roots to the twigs and buds; it is this sap that has been harvested for generations to produce maple products throughout the region. Sugaring has been going on in Hopkins Forest since the mid-80s when Williams College students constructed a sugar house in an existing maple grove.
Sugar season is upon up with sugar shacks opening up and excitement growing for all things maple! From tree identification to tapping to boiling, there is much to learn in the process of sugaring. Maple sugar season is very much a part of our local history and New England culture. Participating in maple events strengthens our sense of place while building community and making connections. Find out what’s happening in our region and all the various entry points to learning through maple syrup!
As the winter days become warmer, plants and animals begin to prepare for springtime to come. And what’s one of the first (and possibly the most delicious) signs of spring here in western Massachusetts? Maple sugaring season, of course!
Maple Syrup Season The moment that we have been waiting for all winter is here: Maple Syrup Time! The ground is thawing, and the sap is running… maple sugaring is everywhere, giving great reason to get out with your family to learn about the maple sugaring process while enjoying the first harvest of the year! Below, I have listed several sugar shacks where there is a restaurant, and the sap run is… Read More
Listen to Podcast: SHEEP SHEARING & MAPLE SYRUP EPISODE Saturday from 9-10am & Sunday from 7-8am March 9th & 10th, 2013 WXOJ LP – 103.3 FM – Valley Free Radio Northampton, MA Archived Podcasts ♦Radio ♦ Facebook ♦ Twitter Lunch Money – “Wake Up, World” – Dizzy Pete Seeger – “Maple Syrup Time” – Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger Kitty Donohoe – “Maple Syrup” – Bunyan and Banjoes Phil Rosenthal – “Buffalo… Read More
Celebrate MapleFest to Maple Harvest Day, from the Berkshires to the Pioneer Valley It’s maple season in Western MA for certain! Taps, buckets, and sap-carrying tubes have been put up in the woods all over the area, the weather is just right, and sap is running. This weekend, celebrate the return of the state’s sweetest season at MapleFest, Hopkins State Forest’s annual celebration of the tradition of maple sugaring in Williamstown. Taking… Read More
Maple Sugar Season 2012 Maple syrup is the first harvest of the year, and this year it’s arrived a couple of weeks early. Trees being tapped, sap is being boiled and sugar shacks are serving up their sweet harvest. Read our post, Q&A: Where’s Your Favorite Sugar Shack in Western MA? to discover a sugar shack nearest you, and take the family to check out these events below happening in March:
Discover fun and educational events happening this week in Western Mass, along with announcements, upcoming events, links, resources and the HFVS podcast. SUGGEST AN EVENT If you have a family friendly event or educational program happening in Western Massachusetts that you’d like to let us know about, post your event on our “Suggest An Event” page. The events below are “suggested.” Please take the time to confirm that these events are happening,… Read More
Discover fun and educational events happening this week in Western Mass, along with announcements, upcoming events, links, resources and the HFVS podcast. SUGGEST AN EVENT If you have a family friendly event or educational program happening in Western Massachusetts that you’d like to let us know about, post your event on our “Suggest An Event” page. The events below are “suggested.” Please take the time to confirm that these events are happening,… Read More
Discover fun and educational events happening this week in Western Mass, along with announcements, upcoming events, links, resources and the HFVS podcast. SUGGEST AN EVENT If you have a family friendly event or educational program happening in Western Massachusetts that you’d like to let us know about, post your event on our “Suggest An Event” page. The events below are “suggested.” Please take the time to confirm that these events are happening,… Read More
Maple Harvest Day Returns to Storrowton Village Storrowton Village Museum will present its sixth annual Maple Harvest Day, Sunday, March 13th from 11am-3pm on the grounds of Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA. (FREE) The history and lore of maple sugaring, a practice in Massachusetts since before the Pilgrims arrived, will be showcased through ongoing sap gathering and boiling demonstrations in the Gilbert Farmstead’s front yard with Dennis Picard, director of… Read More
Question and Answer Sugar season is fast approaching! Where’s your favorite sugar bush or sugar shack to take the family during Maple sugar season? Anita Morehouse recommends: “Growing up we always went to Gould’s in Shelburne… or was it Charlemont?” Jenny Giering recommends: High Hopes Farm in South Worthington on Rt. 112! Open every Saturday & Sunday from 2/26 to Easter 7 AM – 2 PM. Awesome breakfast & great syrup!” Maryellen… Read More
Cultural Itineraries
- Season: January & February
- Season: March & April
- Season: May & June
- Season: July & August
- Season: September & October
- Season: November & December
