Sweet Taste of Maple Season: The Where

The 2011 Guide to Connecticut Maple Sugar Houses is now available. To visit a sugarhouse near you, tap into the resources of the people at The Maple Syrup Producers Association of Connecticut site.

Here Comes Annual Hebron Maple Festival

The Hebron Maple Festival is held annually the second weekend in March in Connecticut.  This year that means March 12 and March 13 throughout the town.

In the center of Hebron, activities include tours, maple demonstrations, gifts and craft sales, delicious food of all kinds, and more, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For details and a map, visit www.hebronmaplefest.com.

The (Maple) Sap Is Running

The earth knows the seasons are about to turn - and maple sugaring time is in full swing. The 20th Annual Hebron Maple Festival is March 13 and 14. Where to see sugaring, open house at farms and deails at Moo Dog Press.

The Great Pumpkin Fest . . . and Winter Plans

Coventry Regional Farmers' Market's Great Pumpkin Festival is Sunday, Oct. 25.

Children in costume are invited to join the Costume Parade at 11:15 a.m. (Don't forget to bring goodie bags to use in collecting treats at the market's trick-or-treating time at the end of the parade.)

At 11:30 a.m., kids can join in a gourd hunt.

From 12:30 to 1:30, a Lutz Children's Museum presentation that includes several different animals.

1:30to 2 p.m., Judy Stoughton from the Mansfield Public Library will present a seasonal storytelling session.

While supplies last, kids can select a free sugar pumpkin to decorate and take home. There will be face painting offered all day, and animals to visit.

The market is at the Nathan Hale Homestead located in Coventry at 2299 South St.

This market is sponsored by Dime Bank of Norwich. For complete details about vendors and what will be offered, see www.coventryfarmersmarket.com.

WinterFresh Market

The farmers' market encore for winter begins Nov. 22 and continues every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., indoors at Coventry High School.

"Our focus will be locally-grown and produced foods," according to Winter Caplanson, market volunteer and creator of the newsletter. "You'll have ready access to 30-plus vendors offering seafood, hothouse tomatoes, lettuce, and cukes, winter veggies, fresh milk, yogurt, granola, grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, rustic breads, farmstead cheeses, salsa, pesto, fruit pies, dressings and marinades, chocolate fudge, honey, maple syrup, and more - plus steaming bowls of hot soup and flatbread pizza to go."

Mark your calendars, Nov. 22 kicks it all off with an annual Harvest Market.

(These giant pumpkins made a patch of their own at the recent Durham Fair.)

Creating Art, Inside The Golden Egg

The Golden Egg Studio is housed inside a light-filled space that is a former chicken coop, situated on 10 acres of the original farm.

Ray and Deb Pierce's talents intertwine and are reflected in their home in Amston, part of Hebron. The farmhouse is circa 1771, home to the Pierces since 1976.

"It might be older," said Deb Pierce, who runs the studio along with her daughter, Cait. "That's the date we found on a stone lintel."

"We've been sugaring about 1990," said Ray, who taps the sugar maples on the farm plus neighbors' trees. Ray owns Pierce's Carpentry & Remodeling, and his work restoring and rebuilding (plus his art created from found objects) can be seen throughout the farm.

At the recent Hebron Maple Festival, the front pasture was full of vehicles, visitors exploring the sugar-making, drawn to the sugarhouse with billowing plumes of steam pluming skyward. "Troy," the miniature horse cropped grass just greening up, and families delighted in the plump chickens they could hold (with care and gentleness).


The Pierces' farm is welcoming and delightful, including the quirky art - a row of windows march out from the studio, framing pasture views; a display of horseshoes artfully occupy a stone niche. The farm is only open during the annual maple festival. Take heart though, the studio is open Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. (or by appointment).

Offerings include Easter egg decorating (small classes, one for adults, another for children); and children's morning art classes in April and May. There's a Mother's Day gift workshop on May 2, and in April, a Fiber Arts Show and Tea (date to be announced). Space is limited (to keep classes small) and fees vary ($15 to $30 for workshops).

"The most important thing is that people are comfortable in a place," said Deb. "Then they can let their guard down to create."



Her partners in art are her daughter, Cait Pierce, and neighbor, Ellen Ludwig. Scout meetings and birthday parties can be scheduled. For more information call (860) 228-0273 or e-mail goldeneggstudio@gmail.com; located at 325 West Main St. (Route 66).

Hebron Maple Festival, The Real McCoy

The weather could not have been more beautiful for the Hebron Maple Festival. Visitors enjoyed good food from fried dough to chili, could sample maple goodies from pure syrup to maple candy and maple drizzled over popcorn. (Note for next year - arrive early to snag the maple muffins or try out the pancake breakfast.)

Blacksmiths crafted hand-forged items in the village blacksmith shop, and the handmade quilts exhibit was just dazzling.

Just along Route 66 was a street full of activities - woodcrafting demonstrations, Girl Scouts with cookies, firefighters to talk with, the Friends of Douglas Library book sale. This is a great community event that happened March 14 and 15 this year. Bookmark for next year, www.hebronmaplefest.com.

Note: More about a sugar house and some hidden gems, coming up this week.