Maple Sugaring March 10 & 11 and March 17, 19

The Maple Calendar

How Sweet It Is – March 3 & 4 at Stamford Museum and Nature Center

This family favorite returns to the Stamford Museum & Nature Center with plenty to do for the whole family on Saturday, March 3 and Sunday March 4th from 11 am - 3 pm.  This year marks the 12th anniversary First County Bank has sponsored this family festival highlighting the New England tradition of maple sugaring.

This event offers a  multitude of activities sure to please everyone in the family! Visit the little red sugar house on Heckscher Farm and see firsthand how sap is turned into sweet maple syrup.  See how trees are tapped and sap is collected, make a maple-themed craft, enjoy the popular pancake brunch, go on a scavenger hunt, get your face painted and more.  A special treat is to watch  local chefs create delicious dishes using maple syrup in a winner-takes-all maple cook-off!

On Saturday, watch four local chefs create delicious dishes using SM&NC maple syrup and vote for your favorite in a winner-takes-all maple cook-off. Competing Chefs include David Cingari from David's Soundview Catering, Susan Kane from Susan Kane Catering, Jonathan Mathias, owner of A Dash of Salt and the Glekas owners of Eos Greek Cuisine.

On Sunday, enjoy the popular pancake brunch. Don’t forget to purchase a pint of your very own fresh maple syrup, made from our very own trees at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.
Daily Admission Fees: Members: $5; Non-Members: $10; Family Plus Members and above levels and all children 3 & under: FREE; Pancake Brunch (SUNDAY only, 11am – 2pm) Additional $5 fee. For more information, call 203.977.6521, or visit www.stamfordmuseum.org.

Additionally, people can help support the Maple Sugar Education Program at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center with their Sponsor-A-Bucket program! Your support will be acknowledged with a personalized name tag that will hang on your personal sap bucket throughout the season...with a "sweet" end result! At the end of the season each Sponsor will receive a pint of SM&NC's very own pure Connecticut Maple Syrup. Each sponsorship opportunity is $100. To sponsor a bucket, call Kristen at 203.977.6548 or order online at www.stamfordmuseum.org.

If you miss this event, take a trip to Lamothe's Sugar House, the state's largest sugar house in Burlington Connecticut. On weekends, through March, Lamothe’s offers free tours on their farm from 1 pm to 4:30 pm. Visitors will learn how maple syrup was discovered and how it developed over time and is made today. Delicious samples of maple syrup, complimentary coffee and hot cider is served.

Lamothe's Sugar House is located on 89 Stone Road, Burlington, CT (860-675-5043).  For more information visit their website at www.lamothesugarhouse.com.

Lamothe’s Sugar House Maple Sugaring Weekends Through March

If it seems as though this winter will never end, take heart, the sweet scents of maple syrup in the making clearly announces that spring is coming—and this is a good reason to plan a visit to Litchfield Hills. Although self-guided tours and samples of maple syrup products are available year round – one of the most exciting time to visit Lamothe's Sugar House in Burlington Connecticut is on any given weekend in February and March. The Lamothe family started farming in 1971 with a few pigs and a vegetable garden. They began making maple syrup for their own use with a modest 7 taps. As word got around, so did requests from far and wide to purchase the precious maple syrup they made. Lamothe's has come a long way since their first 7 taps; today, Lamothe's is Connecticut’s largest sugar house with more than 4,000 taps and a state-of-the-art sugar house.

On weekends, in February and March, Lamothe’s offers free tours on their farm from 1 pm to 4:30 pm. Visitors will learn how maple syrup was discovered and how it developed over time and is made today. Visitors will see how maple syrup and sugar are made and enjoy delicious samples. Complimentary coffee and hot cider is also served. Store hours are Mon. – Thurs. 10-6, Fri.-Sat. 10-5 and Sun. 12 – 5. Lamothe’s maple syrup is available in Grade A Light Amber, Grade A Medium Amber, Grade A Dark Amber, and Grade B. They suggest that you serve their maple syrup on ice cream and cereal, as well on pancakes or waffles. Lamothe’s also makes a full array of maple sugar based products from granulated make sugar to popcorn, spices, sauces, preserves and spreads to name a few. Some of the candy that Lamothe’s makes includes pure maple candy including Pure Maple Flavor Drops and Maple Walnut Caramels, Maple Salt Water Taffy and Peanut Clusters. For a wonderful snack try the Maple Sugar Coated Nuts and maple farmhouse kettle corn. Consistently innovative, Lamothe’s also makes spice rub for pork and chicken from maple sugar and spices, savory sugar and spice, maple barbeque sauce and a maple tinted marinara sauce. Lamothe’s even offers a line of unique New England bridal or shower favors such as a lovely 100ml plastic container of maple syrup, or several elegant imported glass containers in 40 or 50 ml sizes. They also offer pure maple candies in one, two, or four packs that are tied with a ribbon in the color of your choice.

On March 3, Lamothe’s is hosting Billy Steers the Connecticut Author of "Tractor Mac" at the sugarhouse from the 11am-3pm to do a book signing, reading, meet & greet visitors. Billy Steers illustrates all of his own books and will be bringing Tractor Mac for the children to take pictures with. Lamothe's Sugar House is located on 89 Stone Road, Burlington, CT (860-675-5043). For more information visit their website at www.lamothesugarhouse.com.

Maple Sugaring and the First Americans at The Institute for American Indian Studies

The Institute for American Indian Studies will present its Annual Maple Sugaring Festival on Saturday, March 20, 2010 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm.  What makes this Festival unique is Jim Dina who will present a full Native American Sugar-making demonstration in the Institute's outdoor Algonkian Village. 

Inside the Museum and Institute, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, staff members will serve pancakes with delicious local maple syrup.  Fun activities for the children will run from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. 

The Native American lore of sweet maple syrup is fascinating. The Mohegans believed that the melting snow caused the spring sap to run in the maples.  They considered the sap to be the dripping oil of the Great Celestial Bear, who had been wounded by the winter sky hunters – according to their own Pleiades story.  The bear, sometimes becoming the celestial bear and embodying the Big Dipper, repeats itself through many Indian origin stories.

Native People discovered in their woodlands the sources of seasoning and sweetening medicines and foods.  Long before recorded history, their investigations unlocked the secrets of extracting many dietary substances from their natural environments.  Lost in pre-history are the earliest experiences that led to “sugaring”.

It was usual for whole families to participate in the labor of sugaring, although in some tribes the women went first to the maple forests to make any necessary repairs to the camp and sugaring utensils.  Among the Iroquois and the Ojibwa Indians, the women owned the maple groves, which they inherited through their maternal line.  Seensibaukwut is the Ojibwa word for maple sugar, which means, “drawn from the wood.”

Tree sap is essentially water absorbed by the roots and mixed with some of the stored tree sugars.  Sap will begin to run upwards from the roots on warm late-winter days followed by freezing nights.  These conditions usually begin in late February in southern New England.

Once the sap had been collected, it needed to be boiled down (reduced).  The sap was then put into a hollowed out log where fiery hot stones were placed into it.  The purpose of the hot stones was to cause the sap to boil.  This may have needed to be done several times to obtain the correct consistency.

This was the traditional “Native” way.

Please call for tickets 860-868-0518. Advance tickets $8 Adults/ $6 Children; Tickets at the door $10 Adults/ $8 Children.