It felt more like a traditional winter in New Hampshire for a change. Tapping started in Mid-January, but we took our time in the cold temperatures and didn’t finish until end of February. Our Wilmot woods received an addition of 700 taps last summer/fall, so we were set up for a possible record-breaking season at HHF. At the end of 2024 we received a grant that supported the purchase of a very shiny, new evaporator at the sugarhouse.

I’m not sure that we thrived at times, given the looooong season, but we survived! The 2024 maple season came to an end on April 9th with the last boil. Our first boil at the sugarhouse was January 29th… that means we were in operation for 71 days. When you add in the days spend tapping trees in January, we had a maple season that lasted 86 days! We do not boil every single day during the season, but that is still a long time to be riding the roller coaster of Mother Nature to yield a good crop.

While some of us are losing steam (get it?) as we near the end of our busiest season, we did just finish a four night stretch of boiling at the sugarhouse. It has certainly been a weird season and an even weirder two weeks. After spring-like weather and a total meltdown of our snow pack, Mother Nature roared back to life last Saturday. The spring snowstorm dropped over 20 inches of snow in the Sunapee area.

Maple Weekend was amazing once again! We’re guessing that we welcomed at least 700 visitors but most likely more over the course of two days. Saturday was our incredible breakfast/lunch with Scott Brothers Kitchen. They served up pancakes, sausage, eggs, and pulled pork sandwiches. They sold out for the second year in a row, and don’t worry - they’ll be back next year. Our crew of friends and family greeted folks and educated all on the maple process. We couldn’t do it without them!

We're back and excited to welcome folks for the 2024 maple season at Harding Hill Farm! Behind the scenes, it doesn't feel like the start of maple season - we've been at it for months already. We've been working hard in the woods since early January. Our earliest first boil in farm history was on January 29th, and we are now approaching a hopeful half crop.

We made the maple syrup, and people came…

A record Maple Weekend turnout is in the books! On Saturday alone, we can only guess that around 500 people passed through the sugarhouse on a stellar weather day. Maple cookies were devoured by noon, maple popcorn ran out shortly thereafter, and afternoon visitors enjoyed syrup drizzled over ice cream. On Sunday, mother nature didn’t cooperate quite as nicely, delivering 20 degree temperatures and windy conditions. We’ve got some die hard maple enthusiasts though! At 10am, we kicked off our first ever outdoor pancake breakfast… and it sold out by 11:15am. Yikes. Did you miss it? Stop in March 25th and 26th with continued Maple Month open hours at the sugarhouse.

We made the maple syrup, and people came…

A record Maple Weekend turnout is in the books! On Saturday alone, we can only guess that around 500 people passed through the sugarhouse on a stellar weather day. Maple cookies were devoured by noon, maple popcorn ran out shortly thereafter, and afternoon visitors enjoyed syrup drizzled over ice cream. On Sunday, mother nature didn’t cooperate quite as nicely, delivering 20 degree temperatures and windy conditions. We’ve got some die hard maple enthusiasts though! At 10am, we kicked off our first ever outdoor pancake breakfast… and it sold out by 11:15am. Yikes. Did you miss it? Stop in March 25th and 26th with continued Maple Month open hours at the sugarhouse.

March is roaring, but no big sap runs yet…

The first weekend of March brought us a foot of snow, but this week’s Nor’easter decided to really throw us for a loop. From Monday night through Wednesday morning, snow piled up around two feet on the farm, maybe upwards to 30 inches in some of our sugar woods. So off we went to clean up snow and check on any damage to our woods. Also - an overview of where our maple sap comes from. PLUS - March 18th and 19th is Maple Weekend in NH.

And so we wait not so patiently for the next big sap run…

February may have given us the opportunity for huge early season Maple Syrup production, but March seems to be playing some funny games. The first weekend of Maple Month brought us over a foot of snow on Saturday. Skiers and snowmobilers are thrilled! We are too - it brings folks to the area and keeps our woods blanketed, prolonging our season. There is a term called ‘sugar snow’ when snowstorms can lead to a decent sap run. Come visit March 11th and 12th.

"Maple Season has arrived in New Hampshire! I'll admit it snuck up on us earlier than we wanted it to, but when Mother Nature brings as sap… we make the liquid gold."  Above is an excerpt from our first newsletter of the 2022 Maple Season. It seems that we are repeating a similar thing this year! Heading into 2023, we've been working on a big maple expansion. Come visit us at the Sugarhouse starting March 4th and 5th for some fresh Maple Syrup.

Another successful NH Maple Month month is behind us, and March certainly went out like a lion as the weather changed last Sunday. Sunday’s weather brought wind, rain, sleet, snow while a front came through. We finished up boiling all the sap we could gather before the woods froze solid to start the week. On Monday, we barely made it into the 20s with wind chill feeling sub zero. This cold spell was a good thing - resetting the trees, giving us farmers a moment to catch our breath, and extending the maple season.

We survived Maple Weekend 2022! Thank you so much to all of you that joined us to celebrate all things maple - we hope you had fun. It’s definitely the point in the season where us farmers get tired. The weather cooperated this week with a few freezing nights and some nice sap runs. The downside is, we haven’t had a day of rest. It’s hard to believe we’ve only actually had 17 boiling days in the sugarhouse since February 12th when we started. It feels more like 170 days!

We took Monday as a fresh start, and, fingers crossed, we’ve gotten over the hump. The weather this week has been unseasonably warm. The sap ran hard through the weekend and into the first part of this week. The past couple nights, we have not seen a freeze… so the sap flow has slowed down. A freezing night is needed to reset the trees’ sap flow - which is why we only make syrup this time of year. Right now, it looks like we won’t see that much needed freeze until Monday night. This makes sugarmakers nervous.

Since my last post we’ve seen every possible weather change here in New Hampshire. We’ve had subzero nights. We’ve had 55 degree days. We’ve had a 40 degree temperature change in less than 24 hours. We’ve had wind, rain, freezing rain, and snow. It’s been a wild ride. Needless to say, our 2022 maple season arrived a bit earlier than we anticipated.