Cedar Brook Sugar House, Malone New York

It was the last of the Maple Weekends and I went to visit the Cedar Brook sugar house near Malone, New York. It was obviously brand new and very large:

The cupola appeared to me to be purely decorative. It was lighted inside and was not used for escaping steam. As you can see, the steam was escaping from the vent right behind it:

Inside, they had set up free samples and coffee. A friendly man told me about the family's efforts to build this impressive structure:

In the next room, another man was boiling sap - and it was sure steamy:

I never figured out what was being collected in this bucket, if it was sap to be boiled again or waste. It was far too thin to be syrup:

A red light suddenly came on, but by then my camera lens was too fogged up to take any more photos, so I returned to the retail/office area:

They had many maple based items for sale in the showroom:

And everything was artfully displayed:

There was maple popcorn and maple cream:

Maple syrup and maple cotton candy:

They told me that they made maple peanut butter, which sounded great to me - but they didn't seem to have any for sale, possibly a good thing because I don't need the calories:

I had a second sugar house to visit, just a few miles away, so I left the Cedar Brook sugar house and tried driving to it. After many miles of twisting, mountainous gravel roads and dead ends, I gave up finding the second sugar house. Instead, I drove to Malone and got myself a sub for lunch, eating it on my way home:

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: