Our primitive “tasting room” which was nestled between the boat, skid steer implements and maple syrup buckets is now closed. We made it work through the summer, but now the autumn chill is here. But fear not, we will reopen as soon as we have a warm space in our spacious, brand new building. Construction is moving along just fine, and we plan to reopen before the end of the year. Stay tuned!
Awe shucks, that’s us. We are so honored to be the 2015 Kanabec County Farm Family of the Year. When we moved up here to Mora in 2000, we never dreamed we would have started a farm from scratch and build it up to the farm it is today. It couldn’t have been done without the love and support we have received from this amazing community of Mora.
The highlight of all of the events was being in the Mora parade which is the grand finale for the Kanabec County fair.
This was our float – an antique hay wagon pulled by a 1955 John Deere 70LP
Queued up for the parade
Jim’s sister Meridith joined us on the float too!
Our delightful chauffeur, Lloyd Erickson, owner of the tractor and wagon.
And the parade begins.
And ends at the fair grounds, home of the famous Dala Horse.
A super fun day!
This goofy guy is the person who got us started making maple syrup nearly 15 years ago. He grew up in Vermont and spent his childhood and young adult years making maple syrup every spring. On his first visit to our farm, he walked through our woods, saw lots of sugar maple trees and asked “have you ever thought about making maple syrup?”
On Thursday June 4, 2015, he was tragically killed in an airplane accident in Alaska.
Our hearts are broken. We are only one of the few people he has touched throughout his lifetime. Anyone who has met Jay has a story to tell.
Jay, we love you and miss you so much.
Today was a big day. The 600 gallon cider tank was installed in the small room that will soon be the place where we will be making Sapsucker Farms Hard Cider (more on this soon). Meanwhile, before we can get started with making hard apple cider, we have to get all of the equipment set up and ready to go. The biggest piece of all is this huge tank. So this is what we did.
Removed the exterior wall to the cider room.
Hoisted the tank off the trailer.
Guided it into the very small cider room.
Carefully set it upright.
Secured it into place.
Then posed next to the tank that has been successfully put into place without any disasters. Whew.
Oh yeah, that’s right… the wall was put back into place.
More equipment to come, stay tuned for the progress of our new hard apple cider venture!
