CLEVELAND — If the forthcoming 70-degree temperatures aren't enough indication that spring is on its way in Northeast Ohio, here's another sign: maple sugaring weekends are back.
Saturday and Sunday marked the return of maple sugaring at sugar shacks like Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland and Seldom Seen Farm in Montville. Both farms are open for tours the weekend of March 2 and 3, as well as March 9 and 10.
Maple sugaring is the process of collecting sap from maple trees to make maple syrup. The sap is boiled and processed into syrup and other sweet treats.
"It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce just one gallon of syrup," Andy McGovern, event manager for Lake Metroparks Farmpark, explained in a media release. "Sap is obtained in a brief window between winter and spring, as it runs out of the maple trees when the temperature is around 40 degrees following a night when the temperature drops below freezing."
At the Farmpark, tour participants will head to the woods for a guided hike of the sugarbush, where visitors will collect the sap and pour it into a horse-drawn sled, as well as witness the sap's journey through a vacuum tubing system. Of course, visitors can also sample the result of the maple sugaring process.
Seldom Seen's tour as part of the Maple Syrup Producers of NE Ohio's self-driving tour of sugarhouses across Northeast Ohio will also include samples, demonstrations and educational opportunities, plus a free pancake breakfast.
Here is a list of all the Northeast Ohio farms and sugarhouses participating in the Northeast Ohio Maple Tour:
Burton
- Burton Chamber Log Cabin & Sugar Camp
Chagrin Falls
- IQ Maple Syrup
- Mother Hen Farm
- Messenger Century Farm
- Sirna's Farm Fresh Kitchen
Chardon
Jefferson
- Bissell Maple Farm (Closed Sundays)
Leroy
- Sumner Farms - Hobbyist (Closed Sundays)
Middlefield
- Sugar Valley Maple
- Sugarbush Creek Farm
- Geauga Park District - Swine Creek
- White House Chocolates (Closed Sundays)
Montville
- Seldom Seen Farm
- Salo Maple
- Pleasant Valley View Farm
- KC Maple Syrup & Candy