National Maple Syrup Festival

What happens the first two weekends in March in the tiny town of Medora, IN? The National Maple Syrup Festival! Last year, we didn't go due to the cold, rainy weather. This year, the second weekend was perfect weather. We spent the day taking in the beautiful scenery during the 2 hour drive and learning about all things Maple.
The festival starts out with a bus ride to the farm. They played a tape of the history of Indiana, the settlers, and the Burtons along with a brief introduction to syrup and sugar.

We pulled up to the farm and were surrounded by maple trees with buckets hanging all around. You see, not much has changed since the native americans processed the deliciously sweet sap hundreds of years ago. Now obviously they didn't have the metal buckets, but same principle.

Our first stop on the walking tour was the settler reenactment.

It was so neat to see how everything was prepared from sap to sugar. It was truly amazing to see how the clear sap turned into a product that was used for not only a sweetener, but also as a means of preservation in the days before refrigeration. We even got to sample the sugar they had worked so hard for the day before.

After the tour, we had certainly worked up an appetite. Off to the food tent!

Pancakes with lots of ooey gooey syrup and sausage, yum! Didn't want breakfast? No problem! They also have a pork chop dinner consisting of 2 barbecue/maple syrup chops, potatoes, maple ham and beans, and a roll. Amazing!!
There were tons of kids activities as well. If you haven't made it down before, be sure to check it out next year. It's always the first two weekends of March. A great time for the whole family to learn about a great Indiana product and see history in action.

Make sure to visit the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar, and of course, link up all your made from scratch recipes on my Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!



A Day at Hubers

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to take a tour of Huber's Orchard and Winery. Huber's is nestled in the town of Starlight, Indiana just miles from Kentucky. Over the last few generations, Huber's has evolved from the original German family farm settlement to a year round agritourism destination offering wines, fresh produce, Christmas trees, and even a petting zoo for the kids!

When we first arrived, we entered the main building that houses the cafe, gift shop and several banquet rooms which are perfectly suited for beautiful weddings.

After a tour of the facilities, we went downstairs to see where the wine is aged.

Next, we moved on to the ice cream shop. WARNING: If you think you like ice cream now, just wait until you try their pumpkin ice cream!! It is to die for. Their chocolate peanut butter isn't too shabby either :)

 

The cheese on site is from Fair Oaks, also located in Indiana. 

After checking out the ice cream and cheese, we moved on to produce. They still had tons of apples, jams, jellies and butters for sale. 

When we were there, they were setting out the Christmas trees they were getting ready to sell.

 

Then we moved on to the best part....wine tasting!

 

The tasting room is the original hay loft! Not only is the wine fantastic, but it really is one of the best atmospheres as well.  As the day was winding down, I picked up a few bottles of wine to take home. Some we drank at Thanksgiving, others will be Christmas presents. (Did you see the tree-shaped bottles in the picture above? How cool is that??)  If you get a chance, make sure you visit Huber's in Starlight, Indiana for some amazing Hoosier products. 

Can't wait to get down to Huber's? How about a $50 gift certificate to spend there?? Head on over to Indiana Family of Farmers for a chance to win and more information about Hubers!