Farm Market Report for Friday April 1, 2016 Keith Helmuth
The maple syrup season has been a roller coaster this year, but with enough good days to keep production flowing. The Farm Market Maple Fest will be in full swing on Saturday morning April 2, from 10 AM to noon with taffy-on-snow maple candy making.
The Farm Market kitchen will be serving pancakes and syrup, as well as full breakfast menu of bacon, eggs, and toast, and later a lunch menu of soup and sandwiches. The morning will include a scavenger hunt and colouring for the kids.
With the warm weather and rainfall, it looked like finding snow for making taffy would be a problem, but with the recent dip back to freezing and the new snowfall everything is in good shape for setting up this kind of traditional candy making.
Laurie McLellan always tells me not to worry; even if the snow disappears from the general landscape, they can always find what they need on a north slope in the deep woods.
So the wooden trough filled with snow will be ready, and the syrup well heated at the Market on Saturday morning. Kids, big and small (adults too), can take their place beside the trough while Laurie pours out the lines of fresh hot syrup, and then wait for just the right time of cooling to take a popsicle stick and roll up the best candy treat imaginable.
Even really little kids can do this with a real sense of participation and accomplishment. And what a taste treat! Nothing else like it in all the world. From the woods close to home right to the Woodstock Farm Market thanks to the hard working maple syrup producers. And all those who have done it know what kind of hard work this is.
The annual Farm Market Maple Fest is sponsored by Laurie and Roy McLellan, with good help from Market volunteers.