Watauga County Cooperative Extension Center

Maple Syrup House Tour

When I think of maple syrup, Canada and New England usually come to mind.  Did you know that maple syrup is being processed right here in the high county?  If you would like to learn more about Maple trees and the process of making maple syrup, we will host an event on Friday March 7^th to give you that opportunity.  We will meet at the Watauga Agriculture Conference center at 9:00, where we will have a brief lesson on the biology of the maple tree and other trees that are tapped for their sugar.  Next we will head to Ashe County to tour Sugartree’s Finest Maple Syrup House.  We will look at both traditional and modern methods of collecting and transporting sap.  Then we will see how it is processed into bottled maple syrup.  It will be worth the trip just to smell the syrup boiling.  There is limited space inside the syrup house so we will limit the trip to 15 people.  If more than 15 are interested we can make another trip at a later date.  Please RSVP by calling the Watauga Extension office at 828-264-3061 or email Paige Patterson at paige_patterson@ncsu.edu.  Transportation will be available for 6 people on a first come first serve basis, others will need to caravan to the site, which is approximately 25 miles from the Watauga Extension Office.  We should be done with our tour by 12:00.