Maple Meadow Farm Sugar House by Chris Fastie

Nikkor P C 105mm f/2.5, Nikon...

On March 20 this sugar house is usually in full operation boiling sap into maple syrup. The sap runs on bright days after freezing nights, but this year, a week of hot days and warm nights ended the run three or four weeks early. Although this is one of the more authentic sugaring operations in Vermont, it felt strangely out of place, like a museum relic, on this dry, 80° day in mid March. This coming weekend is Maple Open House Weekend, an annual event sponsored by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association. Instead of demonstrating their craft, many sugar makers in lowland and southern parts of the state will be making do with free samples and tours of a dormant operation.

This forest has been managed as a sugarbush for many decades, and few of the trees in this 234° view are not sugar maples (Acer saccharum).