maple happenings at hhf ~ Season Wrap Up

It took us a bit to pull our thoughts together for a season wrap up. To be honest, we’re disappointed with our final maple production numbers after a short season.

Going into the 2021, we felt a lot of emotions. First came the excitement to expand into another maple orchard and double our taps. February brought some frequent snow showers and cold weather. We tapped out our woods in snowshoes and felt the anticipation for a good season. The extra cold weather allowed us to finish up lots of projects inside the sugarhouse - retail shop, shelving, railings, bathroom, and more.

We were thrilled to share our finished sugarhouse with the community, but also nervous to open our doors under COVID-19 precautions. After a lot of planning and hard work, we kicked off the season on March 1st. The first boil also happened to coincide with Tyler’s birthday and a family dinner in our finished retail shop. It was a great start followed by our first open sugarhouse weekend on March 6th and 7th. Our customers were amazing - selling us out of steaks and all the maple syrup we could make in those first two weekends.

After an extended period of nights above freezing, we got worried. It was still March. The trees showed signs of pushing buds and the sugar content of the sap was decreasing. Fortunately we then had a couple below freezing nights. It helped extend the season by a few days, but we finished with a short boil on April 4th. The maple season lasted just under five weeks. We like to see at least six weeks or more. The good news is we made more than we did in 2020, and it was a Harding Hill season best total. The bad news is we accomplished that goal on double the taps.

Now why was the season so fleeting? In our woods, we observed a deep frost due to a cold January/February and decent snow pack. On warm days in the early half of March, we experienced some really poor sap runs when we expected otherwise. Many speculate the drought caused low sap volume. Most importantly the sap’s sugar content was low - leading to a poor conversion from sap to syrup. It took much more than the standard forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup this year. Others may blame climate change and unseasonably warm temperatures. We’ll let the researchers figure that one out. Meanwhile, we move to the next season on the farm and dream up some big maple plans for 2022. “The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer” - Will Rodgers.

2021 maple season Stats

IMG_0155[1].JPG — 2021 Maple tap count
2500

**First Boil - March 1, 2021**
**March 22, 2021 - 88 Gallons**
New HHF Record Daily Total!
**Last Boil - April 4, 2021**
**Season Total - 768 Gallons**
We collected 42,650 gallons of maple sap.
Average Sugar Content - 1.55%

Did you miss out on a visit to the sugarhouse this season? Take a few minutes to view this great video that our local YCN news put together. Tyler does a great job explaining the process and some history. Enjoy!

YCN takes a sugarhouse tour

After 60+ years of sugaring tradition and dreaming up future plans, we’re proud to make our new sugarhouse a reality. We can’t thank our community enough for their continued support as we pursue our passions. So many people are renewing their love for local businesses and local food. These businesses help our communities thrive despite a global pandemic. For us - we’ve seen more demand than ever for our high quality maple syrup and homegrown grass fed beef. Thank you to the Intertown Record, Lake Sunapee Region Chamber of Commerce, NH Maple Producers Association, Kearsarge Shopper, WNTK Daytrip Destinations, YCN News, and any others that got the news out about our local maple producers.

Many have asked - will you have open hours year round? We have lots of ideas and plans. However, we don’t expect to offer regular hours at the sugarhouse shop this year. In other exciting news, we are participating in the inaugural Sunapee Farmers Market every Saturday morning from Memorial Day weekend till Labor Day weekend. The Farmers Market will be held right in the heart of historic Sunapee Harbor. It’s your chance to know your local farmers and purchase high quality produce, fruit, meat, dairy, and maple syrup. Mark your calendar to check out this fun addition to our town.