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:

North Country Harvest Festival - Part 2

I left the pony ride area and headed for a large barn, an arena for horse shows, to see what else the Harvest Festival had to offer. A new group of tourists had just been loaded on the wagon, ready to take the tour I had just finished:

As I entered the big show barn, a couple of old fashioned farm collies sat peacefully near the door. I thought that they must be exceedingly well socialized for the farm to leave them loose, unattended, with all those visitors and children. And indeed they were well socialized, calm and friendly:

Inside the arena were tables filled with local crafts for sale, games for the kids, a bouncy castle - and this, apparently was the hay maze. It was put together out of a single thickness of hay bales and covered with a blue plastic tarp. Only small children could use it and I saw two girls entering to give it a try:

There were lots of pumpkins, of course, and a booth for painting them. Another booth offered face painting for children:

There was a two stall petting zoo. The first enclosure had rabbits and ducks:

And the second one had a goat, a sheep and a pony:

There was a booth where kids threw eggs at pictures of monsters. I thought this was a marvelous idea and lots of fun for the kids. I was glad I didn't have to do the clean up, though:

It was a lovely autumn day and I slowly walked back toward the entrance:

I passed another wagon load of visitors as I walked back toward my parked car:

As I headed for my car, I passed a family whose kids had clearly been to the face painting booth and one of the calm, friendly farm collies. It had been a brief but enjoyable autumn excursion and given me the opportunity to learn more about my new home territory:

North Country Harvest Festival - Part 1

A very large horse farm, Honey Dew Acres in Crary Mills, New York, advertised a Harvest Festival on a recent weekend and of course I went to take a look. I parked in a hay field and walked toward the horse barns, paddocks and crowds of visitors:

There were large numbers of blanketed horses in many paddocks. Those people in the background were waiting for pony rides or watching the children already riding:

One of the horse barns, formerly a dairy barn:

A tractor pulling a wagon filled with tourists was parked on the main lane. When the driver asked if anyone else wanted on for this trip, I said I did and climbed aboard:

We sat on rough benches as the wagon bounced and lurched. The people were friendly and convivial, with quite a  number of youngsters. I was once again with the St. Lawrence County Maple Princess who, according her extra sash, was also the New York State Maple Princess:

We traveled around the barns and paddocks, and then headed into the woods, which apparently was also a sugar bush:

The sugar house was a classic structure and appeared to still be used:

Then we traveled back through the farm where friendly horses looked at us with inquisitive faces and sometimes followed us:

After the wagon ride, I stopped to watch the children being given pony rides:

I'd guess there were six to eight ponies, each with a young lady leading it and even younger children taking rides. But I still hadn't seen the hay maze or anything else, and it was time for me to go look for them. But I'll post about that in Part 2, tomorrow: