Maine Maple Sunday

knapph

This past Sunday was Maine Maple Sunday. This is the day when some of the maple syrup operations across the state open their doors to the public. This year my wife and I went to Megquier Hill Farm in Poland, Maine to take a look (and take a few photos). After a pleasant (?) cross-country drive (I missed a turn and we played GPS roulette) across frost heaved roads we arrived at the farm. To get the full experience we rode down the hill to the sugar house on the horse drawn cart. Great looking horses. Following is the story:




Notice the lake is still frozen.



The rear view mirrors on the horse cart.


The sugar house with people in line to see the sap being boiled down and get some pancakes - with real maple syrup. This year the sap is very high in sugar and it is taking about 20 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. In a more normal year it will take about 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup. A large tree will give about 60 gallons of sap without damaging the tree.





Inside the sugar house with the evaporator.


Tending the fire. This is an around the clock operation when the sap begins to flow. Once the sap is collected it must be processed within a few hours.



Maple syrup is graded by color from light amber to very dark amber. The number of grades varies with some places using 4 steps and some using 7 steps.


Liquid gold.



A gator head; not something we see much around here. I especially liked the snowshoes in the background.


My wife cleaning syrup off her camera. Wonder where that came from?



Some farm visitors walking back to their car. On the left are a few maple trees and one of the stone walls that are all over this part of the state. The walls were made when the fields were cleared for farming.

That's all - Maine is a great place to take photos; come and see us some time. We love tourist dollars (or what ever currency you would like to use).

Knapp and Ella

lizzard_nyc

Lovely series.
This is a world I knew nothing about.
I like the sequence you used to tell the story, starting with the wagon and the bellringer.
I also liked the fun shot of the rearview mirrors--the top mirror makes you look like you are out in the tundra.
I also enjoyed your use of the detail shots from the smoke coming out of the windows and finally the people shots, specifically the worker infront of the firepit and the men in the cabin with the smoke.

Very nicely done series.

knapph

Thanks
Thanks Liz, We are glad you enjoyed the shots and story. I took a look at your website and liked what I saw of you photos. The world you photograph is very different than the world we live in up where in the woods. We are not really in the woods but we are most certainly not in the big city like you. My wife began her photo career working as a photojournalist after college and that is still the type of shooting she likes to do even though she no longer makes her living that way. I hope some of her skills have rubbed off on me. She is handy to have around when I am putting together something like this posting of our photos.

Knapp

jpope42

I really enjoyed the images and the story. I like the unusual capture of the mirros, a great way to look at things differently. Also, all the ones with steam really helped me feel the atmosphere there.

Maine is one of my favorite places, but I've never been there in the winter (or early spring). Looks like maybe I need to do that sometime.

knapph

Glad you enjoyed our shots. Maine can be interesting around the year. The only time we really do not like it here is in November after the leaves have and dropped and before the snows come - gray, yuck. This time of year the winter draws out a bit too long. We are now looking forward (?) to 8 inches of snow on Friday. Hopefully this will be one of the last storms and the snow will melt fast.

indiegirl

I LOVE THIS. Thanks for posting such rich photos and great narrative. 'You learn something new every day'

bdcolen

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Lovely series.
This is a world I knew nothing about.
I like the sequence you used to tell the story, starting with the wagon and the bellringer.
I also liked the fun shot of the rearview mirrors--the top mirror makes you look like you are out in the tundra.
I also enjoyed your use of the detail shots from the smoke coming out of the windows and finally the people shots, specifically the worker infront of the firepit and the men in the cabin with the smoke.

Very nicely done series.

Steam, Liz, steam - you urban dweller you.:-) That's the steam coming off the sap as it's reduced to syrup. Once in my childhood, I convinced my parents to let me tap the four huge old sugar maples around our front yard. The taping part was easy. But what none of us had counted on was how long it would take for the electric stove to cook down the sap - and what it would be like having that sticky-sweet steam filling the house for what seemed like forever.

And nice series, particularly the closer shots.

lizzard_nyc

bdcolen wrote: »

Steam, Liz, steam - you urban dweller you.:-) That's the steam coming off the sap as it's reduced to syrup. Once in my childhood, I convinced my parents to let me tap the four huge old sugar maples around our front yard. The taping part was easy. But what none of us had counted on was how long it would take for the electric stove to cook down the sap - and what it would be like having that sticky-sweet steam filling the house for what seemed like forever.

And nice series, particularly the closer shots.

At least I didn't say smog.

knapph

That's the kind of smog I could live with. Not much smog in this part of the world but we do like our fog fhotos. When we hear the fog horns we know it is time to take lighthouse pictures (lighthouse at work).

rainbow

Very enjoyable and educational for me. That is country living that city folk have never seen nor even imagined. Guess they don't tap the sap straight into the syrup bottles...

indiegirl

rainbow wrote: »

Very enjoyable and educational for me. That is country living that city folk have never seen nor even imagined. Guess they don't tap the sap straight into the syrup bottles...

Syrup comes from TREES?!rofl