On the Road Again!!

 We are back on the Road!!

After a great visit in New Jersey with family and friends and attending Krystal’s wonderful Bridal shower, we are traveling once again.  

Our first stop was a Harvest Host in Fair Hope, PA, Hillegas Sugar Camp.  Rolling hills and lots of woods was the view, with mountains in the near distance.  Nice view and actually good enough weather to sit outside.  

Kyle, the owner of the sugar camp, is the 5th generation on the farm where the camp is located.  His father also lives on the farm and raises cattle.  His brother also helps with the Maple business.  Though the maple business is not Kyle’s primary full time job (due to the need for benefits) you could tell by his story that it is his passion.  

Full story

When Kyle was 9 he saw equipment in his grandfathers basement that is used for tapping.  He asked his grandfather to show him and the rest as they say is history.  At this time the maple business has 9,000 taps with 1-2 taps per tree.  This is over 140 acres.  They own a good majority of the property, but the local sports club lets them tap on their property as well.  Last year they produced 3,400 gallons of maple syrup.  The tapping and making of maple syrup is actually a short season, about 2 months.  They do make products all year and have maple soft serve ice cream in the summertime.  

We got to see some of the equipment, the reverse osmosis machine and the evaporator.  He has a new reverse osmosis machine on order to make the process more efficient.  There is a kitchen where he makes various products with the maple syrup.  We purchased maple popcorn and maple walnuts, both very tasty.  We also got BBQ sauce, which we have yet to try.  Kyle definitely has 2 full time jobs.  

When he was telling us about how the taps work, we realized that we saw them on the way in to the property.  The taps have tubes that go to a collection tank.  Then they bring the tank to the camp for processing.  When we were driving we saw this grid of green pipes in the woods and wondered what it was.  Turns out it was the tubes to the tank.  

The best thing about the Harvest Hosts is learning about all these different things that people do as a living or passion that you have no idea how it works until you go there.  For anyone who knows me, the other added bonus of this particular business is it leaves the woods in tact.  Love trees.  

We then traveled to Stow, OH, which is near Cuyahoga National Park.  The weather today is cold and dreary, so Dave is working at the local “satellite office” (aka Panera) and I am blogging and crafting.  

Til next time.