Maple Sugaring in the Litchfield Hills

Visit local sugarhouses and taste the sweetness of locally made products during the annual two-day celebration of all things maple. Many sugarhouses across the state will be open for tours and demonstrations in addition to selling their wonderful products. It’s a great opportunity to learn about the age old process of collecting maple sap and turning it into delicious syrup, candy, fudge, confections and more!

Don’t miss the Annual Pancake Breakfast and Maple Sugaring Demonstration at Indian Rock Nature Preserve in Bristol on Saturday, March 9th from 8 am-noon (pre-registration is preferred). Be sure to visit the animals indoors and see outdoor maple sugaring demonstrations. Learn how to identify a Sugar Maple and try your hand at tapping a tree. See the different methods that Native Americans and colonists used to collect and boil sap to make maple syrup and sugar – even learn how you can make maple syrup in your own backyard! Bottles of homemade maple syrup and maple sugar candies will be available for sale during the Maple Sugaring Demonstration.

“Let the Good Times Boil” at Sweet Wind Farm in East Hartland, as they tap trees and collect sap in time to celebrate the gift of maple during the 18th Annual Maple Festival on Saturday, March 9, from 10am-4pm and Connecticut Maple Weekend on March 16-17, from noon-4pm. Pancakes and maple syrup, sausage, maple baked beans, coffee and more will be served. Jack will be back with his guitar, singing classic tunes everybody loves, plus educational programming and demonstrations.

Brookside Farm II in Litchfield is a relatively small but very high-quality maple syrup operation, owned by Mark Harran and Kay Carroll since 1999. Each year, they produce about 250 gallons of maple syrup, with a production process that yields 100% pure and basically 100% organic maple syrup. Visitors are welcome (just call ahead). Mark and Kay enjoy teaching folks of all ages how maple syrup is made and the differences in the four grades of syrup. A tour includes a tasting and recipe suggestions.

Nestled in the woods, just 100 yards from the entrance to the Fleming Preserve at the Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust in Woodbury stands The Old Sap House, where the Flanders maple syrup tradition began, today drawing about 1,000 visitors each spring. As the demands on the Sap House grew and the aging equipment sagged under the weight of time and use, a new Sugar House was built on the Van Vleck Farm and Nature Sanctuary and this is where all current maple syrup making takes place. Flanders welcomes small groups to reserve a time to visit the Sugar House as staff and volunteers demonstrate turning sap into syrup with an entertaining mix of science, stories and humor. The entire family will be fascinated by the maple sugar-making process. Saturdays, February 24 & March 2 & 9 and Sundays, February 25 and March 3 & 10, from 1-4pm. Annual Pancake Breakfast is on Sunday, March 3, from 8am-noon. 

“Making the world a sweeter place, one drip at a time,” the Woodbury Sugar Shed started up in 1982 as a backyard maple syrup-making hobby. Since then, they have grown to produce hundreds of gallons of fine quality maple syrup every year, in addition to many other NON-GMO agricultural products cultivated using old fashioned values and cutting edge technology, providing a new farm experience like no other. Let their young farming family provide your family with the very same products they grow and serve in their own homes. Open weekends only through March from 1-4:30pm.

Family-owned Lamothe’s Sugar House in Burlington is Connecticut’s largest maple sugar house, with an incredible 6,000 taps and 26 miles of tubing to collect the sap. Learn how maple syrup is made and then pick some up from their country store that also sells maple sugar, jams, honey and more. And don't forget to visit with the rabbits.

Come to MapleFest & Maple Bake Sale at the Sharon Audubon Center on Saturday, March 16 from 11am-4pm for a fun-filled day of Maple-ishiousness! Enjoy guided, 45-minute tours of the center’s sugaring operation, including a working sugarhouse and a re-creation of Native American and early colonial sugaring methods. Watch as pure sugar maple sap is collected from the trees and turned into delicious maple syrup. Wear warm clothes and boots, as much of the tour is outdoors. Sharon Audubon Center's maple syrup will be available for purchase after the tour, while supplies last. Preregistration is required for up to 8 individuals plus one guide.

The Maple Festival at the Plymouth Historical Society on March 9, from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. gives visitors the chance to watch maple syrup boiling on an outdoor fire and learn how to do their own backyard sugaring. “Sugar on Snow,” a New England tradition, will be available for tasting around 11am. Maple baked beans, maple hot dogs, maple sugar, and maple syrup can be purchased in the Plymouth Congregational Church while listening to fiddle music played by Down Home Frolic. At 11:30, take a tour of the secret passageways of the Underground Railroad in the Henry Terry House.