Always the fourth Sunday in March, open house for Maine's Maple Syrup Producers is a rite of Spring in the Pine Tree State.

     As a kid, my Dad owned an 80 acre woodlot in Ludlow and we tramped up to hang the buckets on the spout taps on a variety of maple trees.  The woodlot was in the family primarily for a wood burning source of heat since the 1920's. Also had large maples on the farm driveways too that we tapped each late winter / early spring.  A lot of work to boil down the sap for the finished product but well worth it.  I think the ratio was 40 to 1 for raw product to finished product. Amber light, extra dark amber...and everything in between. Sounds like a micro beer brewery talk but we mean golden Maine maple syrup.  Always talked about adding a network of plastic piping to gravity feed the sap at the family woodlot to avoid the bucket brigade.  Having a pan cake supper and public tour of the facility was always a dream of my Dad. The piping network would allow the sap to run directly to the evaporator house and save the lugging of collector buckets thru the winter snows.  Vermont is a state that comes to mind when you think maple syrup.  But Maine has an network worth reading about. Plan to come to Maine the fourth Sunday of March to take part in an open house maple syrup operation.  In the meantime visit the Maine state maple syrup website page on the subject! Another site to see 179 Maine maple syrup recipes at and to learn more on this type of farming found at the Maine Maple Producers site!  How Maine maple syrup is made and the history of this age old early spring ritual is all in there! In the Smyrna Maine area, the Brannen's run a first class operation on US Rt 2 that is worth visiting during their open house. This operation also includes Maine made honey and maple baked beans and use of Houlton Farms Dairy ice cream.  Getting hungry?