The ins and outs of Maple Syrup

We all had a nice big sleep in, then we gathered the troops (ie, Lach, Jen, Al, Kat and me) and drove out to Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm (http://www.stanleysfarm.com/).



After having a look around at the animal shed, where there were cuties like these piggies:



We decided we were hungry so we had the all you can eat buffet: pancakes, french toast, waffles, ham (ahem), maple beans, sausages, egg fritata...yummooo!!!!!



We then had to walk off the food, so we trod through the swampland



...to say hi to the horsies:
(I forgot to mention Al...also a camera nerd. It was a full nikon-off - D40, D80 + D90)





and check out the sugar shack:


Here's a pic of the old guy telling us how they make the maple syrup...and now I'll tell you -
They collect the sap from the maple trees depending on the weather (there are roughly 2 weeks where this can be done...i think. I can't totally remember but it really wasn't a very long season!)
Then they pour it into the tank that you can sort of see in the pic, and the heat makes the maple sap reduce to a thicker liquid that's the maple syrup. That is the short version of the story.



Pretty nice place. Of course, we went to the shop to get some Maple Syrup, the good stuff.



Jen had been worded up by someone that No2 Maple syrup has a more smokey flavour, and just because it's labelled No1 doesn't mean it's the best. So we bought No2 Maple Syrup. They gotta come up with better names than No1 and No2...