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Maine Maple Sunday is March 22

March 11, 2009 - SIDNEY -- The sweet smell of hard work rose up to the rafters as boiling hot maple syrup poured down into a bucket at Bacon Farm Maple Products on the Pond Road on Monday.

The Bacon family has been producing maple syrup for six generations, since 1881. This week the Bacons are boiling down 1,000 gallons of sap collected in the first run during the warm days last weekend, according to Bob Bacon.

Bacon, his face red from filling a wood fire evaporator, said the farm will have 2,250 taps this year.

The Bacon farm and 70 other maple producers will participate in the statewide Maine Maple Sunday event on March 22. That day, the public can visit farms to see how syrup is produced and sample and purchase products. The Bacons will also open their operation to visitors on March 21.

Bacon said the season is off to a good start and that he hopes the cold nights and warm daytime weather continue to force the sap to run. "We hope the sap run will get even better," Bacon said.

Outside, his daughter-in-law Shelley Bacon, who now owns the business, emptied buckets from large trees beside the farmhouse. The buckets contained both liquid and frozen sap. "We'll have fresh maple syrup, ice cream, maple whoopie pies and more for Maine Maple Sunday," she said.

BY DAVID LEAMING, Kennebec Journal, 03/10/2009


Lakes:
Regions: Sebago, Belgrade, Mid Coast


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