The Orebed Sugar Shack - Part 2

I was attending the open house at the Orebed Sugar Shack in Dekalb Junction (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). This was part of St. Lawrence County's "Maple Weekend." I was in the evaporation room, where this young couple was spinning maple candy to be sold to visitors:

I walked back into the main sales room, where they were selling light amber syrup, displayed along with family photos and various awards:

And medium amber syrup, displayed with tee shirts for sale below a maple sugaring quilt:

Dark amber syrup and more family photos:

And natural, handmade soaps (and more tee shirts):

I went back outside, where I saw chainsaw art on display:

And horse-drawn wagon rides, one of which was just beginning. But the day had turned cold, it had begun snowing heavily and there was a waiting line for wagon rides, so I continued on toward my car:

Along the way, I passed this chainsaw artist demonstrating his talent. I particularly liked the clever name he gave his studio, "Constance Carvings," a clever twist on the title of a K.D. Lang song:

The snow began coming down even harder as I neared my car and looked back toward the sugar house:

I passed the family's residence:

The whole place overlooked a valley, filled with farm fields:

I pulled back out onto Orebed Road, for which the sugar house had been named, a narrow dirt lane, and took one final look back at the Sugar Shack. It had been an enjoyable visit, and an insight into one of St. Lawrence County's important agricultural crops:

The Orebed Sugar Shack - Part 1

On the very first day of St. Lawrence County's "Maple Weekend," I drove 40 miles southwest to the tiny farming community of Dekalb Junction, where I attended an open house at the Orebed Sugar Shack, a maple sugar house. I parked way back off the road and walked to the sugar house, passing this lovely old barn on the way:

The sugar house was straight ahead and, judging by the number of parked cars, would be crowded:

Indeed, it was crowded inside, but I got to photograph the evaporator, where the St. Lawrence County Maple Queen was explaining the operation:

Young people were offering tours, so I accepted this young woman's offer and she led me outside for a demonstration of the old fashioned way of tapping trees - a method still widely used around here:

I noticed that chickens (or turkeys - they were awfully big) were roasting. I saw plates of hotdogs being carried around, but didn't see them for sale and never figured out who, if anyone, was eating all that food:

The next stop on my tour was at this demonstration of how it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. I asked if there were 40 jugs there and she said, "Oh, more or less." I counted them in the picture and got a total of only 27 - some of them only half full. But it was still a good thing to learn that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. Hey, I remembered it, didn't I?:

Then we came to an illustration of the old fashioned way of boiling down sap to make syrup:

The sap was heated over a wood fire and progressed from one channel to the next as it thickened. The last channel had a thermometer so that it could be the final determiner of when the syrup was ready:

Outside, she showed me the modern sap collection technique. The blue lines were gravity fed transportation from the trees to the vacuum powered, larger, black lines:

All of the pipelines carried the sap to this modern collection hub, where it was then pumped into the evaporation room:

Back in the evaporation room, Bill, who appeared to be the patriarch of the operation, was explaining the process. But there was still more to see at the Orebed Sugar Shack and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Dekalb Junction, New York - Part 2

I was driving through Dekalb Junction, New York on my way home from a driving tour to Gouverneur. I stopped along the way to photograph something else when I noticed two Amish men stopped along the road talking. It seemed to me that one of them had brought the other there to wait for the bus. Notice the luggage alongside the road:

And right in the town center was a small Whatnot Shop. I now wish I'd have gone in to take a look:

And this was possibly the smallest restaurant I've ever seen. Rick and I ate lunch there once when he was up remodeling the farm house. It was extremely tiny and cramped inside, but filled with farmers talking about haying equipment and the price of feed:

This old home needed a paint job, but it was quite lovely nonetheless:

An active Methodist church:

Another older home, painted the green color of so many old barns in the area:

A giant old barn in good repair, still in active use:

Another Amish farm. The clothesline full of laundry was my first hint:

And then I saw another pair of Amish men, also apparently waiting for a bus. Again there was luggage at the roadside:

I stopped to say "Howdy" to these friendly horses and pony:

And nearby, apparently a bit of a loner, was a mule:

And my final shot of Dekalb Junction was this combination convenience store, liquor store and general store. They seemed to sell everything one could need but gasoline:

Dekalb Junction, New York - Part 1

My driving tour of the north country had taken me through the towns of Gouverneur and Richville, New York and I then returned to Route 11. I passed this sign directing folks to Canada which reinforced in my mind just how far north I was:

And I passed this lovely Amish farm. This is a very common look for Amish farms along Route 11. Those near me are less fancy, less pretty, more hardscrabble. Nevertheless, these farms are beautiful:

This old barn may not look used, but the hay bale indicated to me that there were cattle to feed nearby:

And then I entered the town of Dekalb Junction. I recognized this town from my Internet realty searches as having the absolute best bargains in old homes and farms. This is probably the reason so many Amish have settled there. I decided to drive slowly and take pictures:

This very oddly shaped roadside barn (or was it not a barn?) had a curious indentation in its side. I wondered what it might have been used for until I noticed the faded image of a hamburger on the sign. This must have been a roadside hamburger joint once upon a time:

There were some newer homes along the road:

And some older homes, this one with a carriage house out back:

This exquisite brick home looked to have been lovingly restored:

The Dekalb Junction Volunteer Fire Department:

And this little convenience store was selling gas at $3.75 per gallon. That seemed awfully high at the time. Who knew it would soon go even higher?:

The Dekalb Junction Post Office:

This looked like it might be a feed store but I didn't see any sign. Dekalb Junction was proving to be an interesting place. I'll post more pictures tomorrow: