The sap's flowing at Flying Mouse Farm on Fairfield Pike. (News archive photo by Suzanne Szempruch)
Sugar Shack Tour coming up March 4
- Published: February 6, 2018
One of the earliest signs of spring just got earlier.
Freezing nights and thawing days get the sap flowing in sugar maple trees. Collection buckets sprout on the trunks of sugar maples around town this time of year, with sap usually collected during February.
But Michele Burns and John DeWine of Flying Mouse Farms reported the first tapping of their sugar maples on Jan. 20 this year, earlier than ever. And while that’s not altogether good news — climate change is affecting syrup production and the health of sugar maples — it is a harbinger of a delicious local event.
On Sunday, March 4, Flying Mouse Farms is hosting a Sugar Shack Tour at its farm at 100 Fairfield Pike in Yellow Springs. It takes a lot of sap to make syrup — about 50 gallons of sap boils down into a single gallon of syrup. And the sugar shack, equipped with a wood boiler, is where all the sweet work is done.
The Sugar Shack Tour will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and is kid-friendly.
Flying Mouse Farms taps about 450 area trees to make its signature bottled syrup, available for sale at the Yellow Springs Farmers Market.
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