THE WARREN FARM & SUGARHOUSE

31 Warren St., North Brookfield, MA 01535 (508) 867-0174 www.thewarrenfarm.com

Dear Scout Leader,

While you are planning field trips for this year, we would like to invite your troop to tour our maple sugaring operation. The tour, approximately 50 minutes long, takes children on a guided and narrated walk through the history of maple sugaring. We will share stories about the Native Americans’ role in the early history of sugaring, and continue by demonstrating colonial methods and tools for collecting and boiling. Along the way scouts will explore two different systems used today, and will have an opportunity to see new technology. Aspects of science, meteorology, global warming, and math will be woven into the presentation. At the sugarhouse a large evaporator stands ready to receive sap from collection tanks outside. Here, you will learn how sap is boiled into syrup, and see the equipment and gauges needed for this process. The tour will end at the picnic table area so that everyone can sample fresh sap and pure maple syrup. The level of discussion is adapted to the age of the group, and questions are encouraged. Older scouts will focus on issues of ecology and economics as well as more sophisticated aspects of technology. It is certainly a tradition that has something of interest to all ages!

The admission fee is $7.00 per scout and $4.00 for adults. Each scout will receive a gift bag from our farm containing a 100 ml mini-jug of syrup, a honey stick, a kid’s recipe/activity booklet, and a maple coloring book. We have a gift shop filled with maple syrup, maple confections and other products we produce here on the farm. The most inexpensive items, varying in prices from $1.25 to $10.00, are arranged in the center of the shop just for the scouts. This is an optional stop added to the end of the tour (approx. 20 min), and only the scout leader will decide if it is to be part of the troop’s experience. This has been a very popular field trip and we encourage you to invite as many parents and siblings as you wish!

There is ample parking for cars and vans. We strongly suggest that everyone attending be dressed for an outdoor hike during cold, and sometimes muddy, weather. Many of our March days are sunny but windy. The actual walk is about 1/8 of a mile total, and is easy enough for even the youngest scouts to handle. Once inside the sugarhouse children will be close enough to touch the evaporator. For safety reasons, we will not be fired up during the tour, but there will be sap and syrup in it from the last boil for everyone to view. We recommend a chaperone ratio of one adult for every 6 scouts.

You will be mailed free age-appropriate learning activities along with your reservation confirmation and a map to the farm. Call us if you would like to arrange a preliminary visit. Tour slots for scout troops are scheduled Mon. thru Thurs. after 2:30 during the month of March, or on weekends at 9:30 a.m. Please call as soon as possible to reserve your date and time. Also, let us know in advance if we can help fulfill a badge requirement as a result of your visit.

We look forward to meeting your scouts and sharing our love for sugaring,

Janice and Dale Wentworth
The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse