Hartland Maple Festival Is a Sweet Deal

EAST HARTLAND — Sweet Wind Farm will hold its second annual Maple Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 8.

Attendees will have the opportunity to sample the farm’s homemade syrup, watch sugar making demonstrations and videos, receive a tour of the facilities, participate in a children’s story time and get recipes for several maple products. Admission is free.

To get the most out of the maple syrup, try drizzling it on snow. The farm will offer this treat as well as maple candy.

Sweet Wind Farm, owned by Arlow and Susan Case, grew from a simple roadside stand, called Arlow’s Sugar Shack, in Granby.

"The whole reason we make maple syrup here is because of Arlow. When he was 8 years old, his uncle made maple syrup in Tolland, Mass., and his grandfather had a farm stand and would buy and sell maple syrup," said Susan Case.

"Arlow wanted to make maple syrup himself," she added. "He talked his dad into making a homemade evaporator and he started tapping trees in his yard and in the neighborhood. He would basically give people maple syrup in exchange for people letting him tap their trees. They built a little sugar shack in the back of his house and they called it Arlow’s Sugar Shack. By the time I met Arlow they were already full-blown sugar makers."

In 1997, Arlow and Susan bought their property in Hartland with the intention of building their own, larger, sugar house. In 2005 they began construction on their 40-foot by 40-foot, two-story sugar house and in 2006 the Cases began production in the new facilities, a huge step up from Arlow’s Sugar House. In addition to sugar products, Sweet Wind Farm grows and sells vegtables, fruits, flowers, herbs, jams and jellies.

Syrup making is a time-consuming process, in which 40 gallons of sap are needed to produce just 1 gallon of syrup. Because sap consists of mainly water, time is needed to remove the water from the sap to create syrup.

"Sap running from the trees is only about 2 percent sugar. The rest is water and minerals. Syrup is about 66 percent sugar," said Susan.

The sugaring season starts in mid-February and ends within the first few weeks of April, depending on the weather.

"You need freezing temperatures at night and above freezing temperatures during the day, otherwise the sap doesn’t run," said Susan. "When you get warm weather the tree will start to heal up its hole. If the buds start popping on the tree, it alters the sap. It’s not usable. It’s really off-flavored."

As of Tuesday, Sweet Wind Farm had already produced 94 gallons of maple syrup this season, with a goal of reaching 400. The farm has approximately 1,500 trees tapped in Hartland, Granby and Simsbury, and Blanford and Granville, Mass.

On Saturday, at the Maple Festival, visitors will have the opportunity to see how maple syrup is produced, and weather permitting, learn how to tap a tree for sap.

Sweet Wind Farm is located at 339 South Road (Route 179). For more information and a schedule of activities, visit sweetwindfarm.net or call 860-653-2038.