Monroes Sugar House

We visited Monroes Sugar House in Barton on Saturday afternoon. Our friends Steve and Terry Monroe own this sugar house, and they tap 6000 maple trees in the sugar bush that they own. This is a family run business. When we arrived on Saturday, Steve and Terry were both working, along with their daughter Josie (yup, the same Josie who is my new VT photography buddy!), and Terry's mom and dad were also working.
The smell.......oh the smell was insanely delicious!!
Steve gave us a tour of the sugar house, and all of the equipment used, as well as all of the steps taken to produce the maple syrup. It's a 24 hour a day job, and Steve has a bedroom in the sugarhouse where he spends his nights during the entire syrup season!
Here's the evaporator and steam hood with my reflection:

Day 363/365

Here's Steve working:

As I briefly touched on last night.......Steve told us that this is not a good season due to the warm temperatures. He is producing half the syrup that he produced last year. But, like all true Vermonters, he wasn't complaining or whining about it, he was just stating the fact that that's the way it is. That is what I love most about the Vermonters. This is another example of the resiliency and spirit of the Vermont people, just like I mentioned to you here after the floods from Hurricane Irene. They quietly dust themselves off and move forward.

The syrup prices will go higher this year due to the shortage......but to me, this liquid gold is priceless anyways. :-)