by Deanna Nelson | May 27, 2014 | blog |
📷
It must be summer! The signs are here… We are having more dinners outside on the deck than inside at the table. The kids have moved all their bedding into tents near the woods. Ella has a kitten hanging from the screened windows and doors. Peepers have yielded the pond chorus to the bullfrogs. I saw a lightning bug. Certainly there will be more signs, but these establish a critical mass. It’s summer.
The most official of all summer signs is Memorial Day weekend. To celebrate the launch of the season, this year we took our syrup and visited Sharon Springs, New York, for their Garden Party–a two day festival. Tapatree was one of about 100-vendors of products ranging from hand-made tinsel to local honey, gourmet chocolate to moonshine. It was a great group! We set up a full line of our small-batch syrups–from the first of the season to the last draw on Earth Day–and invited the crowds to sample and taste the individual differences each batch presents. All I can say is–SO MUCH FUN!
📷📷
It was absolutely delightful to see people sampling from the 20 batches of spring syrup and identifying the flavors, seeing the changes in consistency as the season progressed, and selecting their absolute favorite to take home. Many old-time syrup makers also stopped to sample and share their tales of sugaring with Paul. We had a blast!
We also took our limited run of black walnut syrup which was a hot commodity and sold out on the first day. No black walnut samplings were made available, but a few festival-goers cracked right into their little bottles to taste and it was exciting to see their eyes widen with joy! All in all, a very fun two days, made even glossier by the Beekman Boys treating Ella to her very own Beekman t-shirt! We came home happy and looking forward to many more adventures. After all it’s summer, and no matter what is going on in life, the living is easy.