This past weekend was Maine Maple Sunday for the State of Maine. It was a chance for sugarmakers across the state to open up their sugarhouses and for people to sample some of the sweetest syrup in Maine.

Since it was Easter this year the board of directors at the sugarhouse (my wife and grandmother) decided it would be a good idea to be open on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we started off with an pancake and egg breakfast and a bbq for lunch. My father, Steven, made our famous homemade vanilla ice cream and maple syrup and each person could get a sample when they visited.

Sunday we had a bbq sponsored by the North Baldwin Fire Auxilary and they also sponsored a maple cooking contest. The Low Tide String Band played a few tunes and got people dancing a jig to keep warm on the windy March day. The Easter Bunny stopped by and left off some eggs for the kids to find.

Overall people had a great time. Luckily when I was giving tours of the evaporator room (when I gave my grandfather a break) not many people asked where we put the sugar in. We never add any sugar to the sap. Its all natural from the maple trees. Here is a link to our feature story on the show "207."

Here is the link: http://www.wcsh6.com/life/lifestyle/207/video/default.aspx. Go to the second one down under Maine Maple Sunday and you can see a pic of my daughter Emma Joy (she was the one yawning).

If you go to this site, it will have a list of all of the open sugarhouses: http://www.getrealmaine.com/visit/maine_maple_sunday.html.

Here is a link to the sugarmakers association that I helped establish in 2002, The Southern Maine Maple Sugarmakers Association.