Current Boiling Schedule

Updated: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 2:01pm

***LAST SECOND UPDATE*** We have about 200 gallons of sap that we have to boil or it will go bad by tonight. So we are having a little impromptu boil for a few hours (3pm - 7pm) this afternoon. This is a special invitation to our online friends. Come join us and hang out. Not really official tours, but we will have lots of samples ;-)

Check out the nice article in the Boston Herald yesterday http://bit.ly/93z2m9

The sap run has been terrible to put it mildly.  It has been too warm at night, and the 10 day forecast doesn't look much better.  We are hoping something changes and we get some cold nights, otherwise we might not have much of a season.

We don't have any scheduled boils until Saturday, which is good because we don't have any sap either.  Cross your fingers that by Saturday morning we get some sap so that we can boil this weekend. 

Saturday, March 13:  9:00am - 4:00pm (tentative), drop in visitors are welcome.

Sunday, March 14:  9:00am - 4:00pm (tentative), drop in visitors are welcome.

If tentative is stated, it means provided that Mother Nature cooperates and provides some weather in the 40's during the day and overnight temps below freeazing.  We update our voice mail at home as well, so if you are ever wondering if it's a good time to stop by, check back to our website or give us a call.

Feel free to swing by, reservations are not necessary. Park on the street not in the driveway (and please don't block any of our neighbor's driveways). You can walk up the driveway and go around the left side of the house (follow the path). You will see the lights of the sugar house. You may want to bring your boots as there will be mud on the way back to the sugar house. If the sign is up at the end of the street, we are boiling because the first and last thing we do is put up and take down the sign.

We will update this schedule every couple of days, so check back often for the latest!

Also check us out at: www.facebook.com/turtlelanemaplefarm and at:www.twitter.com/turtlelanemaple

Preparing for the 2009 season

February 7th, 2009 at 10:27 am (News)

Sorry to everyone that has come to the site so far this year and found terribly outdated content.  We have been busy with life as well as getting ready for the season.  Sometimes it seems we are stretched a bit too thin.  But we are very excited for the upcoming season!

We are in the process of cleaning the sugarhouse, repairing the equipment, and getting ready to run tubing (we are always looking for volunteers).  We expect to run tubing during the last two weeks of February. Most likely in the last week of February we will be tapping the trees in expectation that the beginning of March will kickoff the beginning of the season.  The perfect weather for set flow is daytime temperatures in the 40’s and overnight below freezing.  Although the groundhog says that there is many more weeks of winter we believe that the beginning of spring is right around the corner.

We are hoping for a plentiful season of sap flow, because all indications are that we are sure to have a successful season in terms of visitors. We have already booked 28 groups for tours, not to mention all of the drop-in visitors we are expecting.  Last year we had 1,750 visitors for free tours (a new record), not sure if we will beat that this year.  We’re getting antsy for the season to begin, and look forward to the upcoming weeks in March!

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2008 Maple Month Kick-off

February 11th, 2008 at 10:43 am (events)

March 7, 2008
10:30 amto12:30 pm

Hello Everyone!!

We have a very unique and exciting opportunity this year that will most-likely never happen again, and we would like to extend you an invitation to join us at this special occasion.

Each year the Mass. Department of Agriculture along with the Mass. Maple Association select a sugar house to host the Maple Month Kick-off. This is a festive event where state and local politicians as well as members of the Association and other invitees come for a ceremonial, old-fashioned tree tapping and the signing of a proclamation by the governor that “March is Mass. Maple Month.”

We are excited to announce that this year our sugar house was selected to host this unique event! We are hopeful that the governor or the lieutenant governor will be attending. Many of North Andover’s selectman and town officers will be there, as well as several state representatives and officials. We have also invited many third grade students to represent the five elementary schools in North Andover.

This should be a relatively big event considering we are the closest fully operating sugar house to Boston. We are about 15 minutes off of 95, 93 and 495, so we are conveniently located from almost everywhere.

There will be a variety of maple related foods and snacks, donated by various businesses (hopefully more to come):

As always, the public is welcome to come anytime when we are boiling (posted on our website) for a free tour; to learn, to taste and to have fun.

Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested, we would like to share this with as many people as possible.

Here is a link to the official invitation, we would appreciate if you could RSVP so we can get an approximate headcount for the event and food.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Paul and Kathy
info@turtlelanemaplefarm.com

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Preparing for 2008!

January 21st, 2008 at 9:55 pm (News)

We attended the Mass Maple Association’s annual meeting in January and are getting so anxious for the start of the 2008 maple season! We are working with all of the elementary schools in North Andover to schedule field trips for each of their fifteen third grade classes. We already have five other tour groups scheduled and have seven other groups we are in the final planning stages with. If you have a group and are interested in scheduling a tour, please send us an email at info@turtlelanemaplefarm.com.

We are also planning for a big event – the Mass Maple/Mass Department of Agriculture Maple Kickoff Event. This event will be held on Friday, March 7 at our sugarhouse from 10:30am until about 12:30pm. We are working with several local businesses like Mad Maggie’s Ice Cream, Butcher Boy Marketplace, Perfecto’s Caffe, Eatz Restaurant, The Loft… to provide maple treats. We will also be making mini pancakes, sugar on snow and other confections on site. We are working with the North Andover elementary schools to arrange to have a variety of 3rd grade students come to represent the school children we provide tours for during each maple season. This event is sure to be festive and informative, and we’re expecting upwards of 200 visitors, including friends and family as well as local and state governmental officials. All are welcome to join us for this special day!

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