2023 North American Maple Conference: Tours
Quality from Tree to Table
Tours: Thursday, October 26
NOTE: TOUR #1 IS FULL
Tour #1 will visit four sugarhouses, each of which have creative diversified operations.
Maple Corner Farm in Granville is an eighth generation sugarhouse, making syrup since the early 1800’s. Their new sugarhouse is just a few years old, and they have a seasonal restaurant and cross country skiing in the winter.
Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock is a fourth generation farm that began as a dairy farm in 1936. The family began diversifying in 1986 with Christmas trees and sold the dairy operation in 1996. The maple operation began in 1992 with 13 taps and has grown to 18,000 taps and a seasonal restaurant that has been in operation since1997.
Snowshoe Farm, a fifth generation organic maple producers in Worthington will show off their brand new timber frame sugarhouse with a restaurant overlooking the evaporator below.
Hickory Hill Farm in Worthington is a third generation farm started in 1946. Today they are a 6,000 tap operation and recently installed a new high efficiency 5×14 arch. They do Hot air balloon rides in the summer and have further diversified with Christmas trees and operate a craft beer brewery as well as a Lapierre equipment dealership.
Tour #2 will feature visits to a range of diversified farming operations around the state.
Swazlowski Potato Farm in Hatfield was founded in 1910 and today is one of the largest potato Farms in New England, growing on 5,000 acres and operating a state of the art packing plant. They distribute to stores and distributors throughout the Eastern US.
North Hadley Sugar Shack opened in 1996, along with a restaurant serving breakfast during the sugaring season. Today they also grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, tobacco and other products. They operate a year-round farm market with a deli and bakery. Lunch will be provided in their restaurant.
Mapleline Farm is a Jersey cow dairy farm with an on-farm bottling plant. They have been in operation since 1904.
Stone Cow Farm/Brewery is a 5th generation farm, stewarding a 1,300 acre farm. They produce milk, meat and vegetables and operate a craft brewery which compliments the entire operation.
Companion Tour: Friday, October 27
Friday’s tour will feature some of the highlights of Worcester, New England’s second largest city. We’ll take a tour and learn the history of historic Mechanics Hall, a downtown concert hall, including an organ recital. We’ll have lunch at the Worcester Regional Food Hub and learn about how this nonprofit organization helps incubate food business entrepreneurs and support them in using locally grown ingredients. We’ll have a tour of the Worcester Art Museum, and it’s exceptional collection of 38,000 objects from the ancient Near East and Asia, to European and American paintings and sculptures, dating from 3,000 BC to the present. We’ll end the afternoon stopping off at one of the many local craft breweries.