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My Custom Built Farmhouse Home Office Desk

August 25, 2012 By Laura 33 Comments

I know many of you have been waiting for this, with all of my teasing about it! And I have been dying to show you (show off…whatever) my custom-built farmhouse home office desk, that that my husband made for me! For this first post, I am simply sharing with you the build itself, and some of the story behind it. In upcoming posts, I will show you my work-space all set up and pretty. (When I get that far.)

So first, to put my appreciation and excitement in context here, you should know how I have been working.

In this large amoire in the photos below, is our TV, which we rarely use at all. But behind it was my work cubby. It was always amusing when someone who had been to our house a few times before, before they realized there was a work space behind there. They’d always react with such surprise and intrigue. So come around the amoire (following the numbered photos), and see my little space I have had . . . . .

It certainly was a workable idea for the past few years, in that it gave me a little privacy for editing client portrait work. It is rather organized and cleaned up here, but that is not how it has always appeared or felt. (I had already started cleaning out here, to empty this whole cubby.) To start, I hated the desk. The photo is deceiving I think, because this desk was mammoth, and yet not efficient at all; with shelves I couldn’t easily get to (dusting nightmare), and virtually no storage or room to work. With a modern design, fake wood laminate and black accents-ugh! I wanted it GONE. And what a dust magnet this cubby has been!

Anyway, imagine on the desk-top, on either side, a tall pile of papers, notebooks and dozens of folders. And not just here. When I worked on my laptop for school and blogging, I’d sit on the couch, where beside the couch was small table with another 2 piles of papers, notebooks and folders. Then there is the school room, where I’ve kept all of my teacher books. I can’t stand clutter or disorganization, so having everything everywhere has tended to make me cranky, and yelling when I couldn’t find something!

Between homeschooling my 4 kids, their work needing correcting or keeping, educational planning stuff, their activity schedules, forms needing to be filled out, home and life maintenance with mail, bills and records and the like that needs to be kept up with, and my work paraphernalia for the blog and it’s website, it has felt like unorganized madness to me! Like….losing my mind. I can’t manage and work my best like that.

What I needed and wanted was one organized management center to work from, with a style that said me, and reflected our farmhouse home decor. A Pottery Barn home office knock-off, of sorts. Yes please, Honey!

Whenever a new school year is about to turn over in the next 2-3 months, I always get into this nesting mode frenzy, wanting to get super organized and ready for the next year. So my chatter about my dream custom-built farmer’s table home office desk had picked up speed as of late! I completely cleaned out that cubby, moved the amoire, and just gave away that huge desk to a very grateful girl, who really needed it. It was going to be an all new space, that I could manage everything from. Open, bright, stylish and cheery.

As always, Michael and I first got some initial drawings down on paper, which Michael threw out by accident! ; ( , and a few revisions later, Michael got to making it a reality for me.

My design idea was simple; the base of a plain old farmer’s table, with cubbies and shelving for storage. But it needed to be BIG. The full length of the wall opposite the large window, to accommodate and organize all areas of my life and family I need to manage, as well the larger equipment I need to do it, such as my 2 computers, hard-drives, copier, etc.

So if you haven’t scrolled down and peeked already (uh-huh), the reveal is next. But I have to say, this was SO HARD to photograph with the lenses I have, as this desk is 7 feet long! But every inch was custom designed with a purpose for it’s space. Take a look . . . . . .

Is it not GORGEOUS?!
I can answer that.

While there were no initial plans for drawers at all, the craziest things happen to us, and we ended up with some beautiful ones! I’ll get to that story-bit in a minute, but as you can see, the general structure of the desk is very much a farmer’s table design.

Let’s talk about some of the details:

Simple table legs support the desk.

Now let me tell you about the drawers, which really have added such beauty to the piece as a whole. In the beginning, I had just planned on using lots of cubbies and little containers, for all of the little things, all built upon a farmers table, much like the one we eat at in our sunroom. But the craziest blessings happen to us all of the time, and this amazing happenstance is no different:

About the time the table was pretty much built, and yet still bare wood and unfinished (as seen above, minus the drawers), Michael had a job to go re-letter the back of one of his client account’s large moving trailer. While he was there on the job site, he went to throw some things in the dumpster. There, in the container, were 3 of these beautiful drawers and some big desk all broken apart! I can only imagine how beautiful the desk must have been, because the drawers are to me, breath-taking. Crazier, the slim design and depth of the drawers would fit and work perfectly within the table side of the desk he was building for me. So he grabbed the drawers, and all of the attachment trackings for them, and brought them home. I was astonished. I immediately fell in love with them, and he installed them.

Just look at the hardware!

Even the keyhole makes me gasp and smile inside.

They silently and smoothly just roll out, like butt-ah!

And the inside of the large drawer had me flipping out with joy . . . . . .

Talk about great quality. HOW, could anyone throw these drawers away? And what a blessing just meant to be, that Michael was there at that site on this particular day, and looked in that waste container, right when we were building this project! The waste removal company was coming to empty that container the very next morning! The drawers would have been gone forever.

These two smaller drawers were installed side by side, on the opposite end of the large one. Take note of the bare wood before finishing. Aside from the drawers, the table-top is made of cabinet grade plywood, while the rest is plain pine and bead board. A very light color wood.

Now, how I was going to finish this desk, was such a torn-dilemma! I even did various techniques experiments on several scraps of wood, trying to decide: Did I want to just paint it white and then sand it down to worn in various places? Crackle it? Use some dark wax or antiqued glaze?

Honestly, it feels like such a big an important decision, that it kind of paralyzed me. So I kept it simple for now, and will likely continue to alter the finish more when I decide on one, or all of the ways I am contemplating. But at least then it will be a thought-out decision. For now here’s all I did:

I sanded it to a worn state in specific places, such as corners, edges, and raised areas.

But because the wood underneath was so light, I went a step further using a possibly odd technique and medium, to bring the distress work out more . . . . . .

I mixed clear glaze and straight burnt umber watercolor paint. I painted just over the areas where it was sanded to wood, let it sit a minute, and wiped off with a clean dry rag. It stained the exposed under-wood just enough, to have a more distinct worn look. As I said, I still may do some crackle work in areas, and/or antique it more with wax or glaze. But I also expect it will get wear and age naturally, simply from me using it a lot, and owning it for a very long time to come. But for now, I am loving it as it is. It may stay like this forever.

I am still ‘moving in’ to this large piece of furniture that is quickly organizing my whole world, and there will be a follow up post to show you how I arranged everything I needed in this space. But as I said, parts of the desk were very specifically designed for certain things. To give you one example today; that top left cubby you see, will hold my 4 external hard-drives, most of which are about to dumped of all client work. They are already mostly free space even still, so I will be using them for a good many years to come, for external storage space for all of my other personal photo storage and designs.

As I am sure many of you know and will agree, it’s the accessorizing that is the most fun! It’s the pretty little things, that really make a space yours, and I have always felt it’s important to surround yourself in your home and work space, with the things that make you feel those little leaps of joy inside. (Or that’s what happens to me, anyway. ; ) So I hope to share with you all just how I’ll be utilizing the space of my new custom-built workspace, the ways in which it’s organizing my life, and all of the little things I love that make me smile, and maybe will make you smile too. Or give you some ideas of your own.

Another crazy blessing story-bit: I had told Michael I would probably just use one of our regular white farm chairs at the desk, rather than a black computer chair. But that some day, I would love to find a nice white office chair on wheels, much like the Pottery Barn chairs, that we could never afford.
Well guess what he found and brought home with the drawers? . . . . . .

Again, for free. When Michael was chatting one of the moving company employees at the job site where he pulled the drawers out of the waste container, and told him all about this desk he built, the guy said, “I have a chair inside that went with the desk we got rid of, if you want to see it.” And this is what he brings out! Oh, you know I’ll distress this some too, and get some pretty shabby-chic cushions for it. But what a high-quality chair! It not only is on wheels and swivels, but it rocks! I’m a rocker, still. Between my first baby-girl that loved to nurse forever, and then my triplets, Mama-rocking is a just part of my natural movement now. This is a big chair though. It definitely needs the cushions. I feel like a kid in it right now. Michael was more excited about getting the chair for me, than the drawers. But the drawers were actually the biggest pleasant surprise for me. Honestly, the chair is massive! Like, too wide and heavy for me. I may just keep using my computer chair for now.

So there it is! I know I am ridiculously blessed to have a husband whose skilled hands can create these things for me. This desk would cost thousands of dollars, bought. And it wouldn’t be custom-built, for me and my specific needs. Or made with love! He’s built so many things for me, big and small. This one is certainly very special to me, as it will really help me manage the most important aspects of my life; primarily teaching my children, and managing our family details, and lastly, doing what I can to help my husband provide for us, through blogging, which I love to do anyway.

I do apologize for the length of this post and number of photos, but there was a lot to share with you, and I’ve been SO excited to!
Wouldn’t you be?
Tell me what you think of it! Do you have a special space in your home, that helps keep you organized and everything managed? Please tell us about it, and leave any ideas you may have for us as well. Thanks so much for coming by and looking!

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Flower Photography, and History Repeating

June 3, 2012 By Laura 6 Comments

I don’t know where time has gone, but I sure wish it would slow down some. I’ve done the best I can all along, to cherish every moment of watching all of my children grow up, knowing it will all happen too fast. It’s yet another reason I school my kids myself. I don’t want to miss any of their fleeting childhood. Still, it seems like yesterday that my first baby girl, Alexis Grace, was born. She grew up in the blink of an eye. Next thing I knew, she was in high school, and taller than me! She’s athletic and strong, and it blows me away.

And now she has a real job! She’s been trying to figure out how to get one sooner for awhile now. She has worked with both Michael and I in our businesses quite a bit, in the past few years, weeding and prepping truck lettering with Michael, and as my photographer’s assistant when I was doing a lot more portrait work. We’ve paid her of course. Also, she’s actually been pretty creative at finding safe ways to make a little cash of her own, in the meantime, too. I’d venture to say she chooses to spend her time differently than typical girls her age. She’s a determined soul, who loves to research, earn her own way, and make things happen. If anyone is interested for their own young teen kids, I can share those ideas at another time. She’s always been diligent with every dollar she’s gotten. Since she was little, she’s been strict with her own budget for spending and saving. And now, she’ll be making a real pay check from someone else, other than us. There was a lot to consider, knowing she has a lot on her schedule, especially with schooling, and more upcoming heavy sport seasons. Not to mention of course, being such a young age still, at 14. But she gets excellent grades, is self-disciplined with her daily responsibilities like clockwork, and has been really wise with her money. There was really no reason to not let her. She was hired in a heart beat. We just had to get some extra paperwork signed off here and there, because of her age.

She’ll be working at a nursery here in town, watering all of the flowers, helping customers, etc. It’s a job we’re comfortable with as her parents, because we’ve known the owner for years. He’s a good client of Michael’s, so we trust him to watch out for her, and he has a good staff. Also, it’s all outdoors, where Alexis loves to be. It’ll be real hot some days this summer, when the humidity kicks in. But it’s still pretty ideal work for her. I’m excited for her!

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The funny thing is, I used to work at a nursery and greenhouse for a couple of years in high school, right around the same age as she is. I have to admit, I was not all that interested in plants and flowers at that time. But I was working with my friend, so it wasn’t all that bad. I learned what I had to know, to take care of the plants and flowers, and help customers. But it was just a job to me. My second job, actually, working with a lot of plants and flowers. I started working when I was 9 years old, cleaning an older couple’s home and maintaining their impeccable landscaped yard on Saturdays, until I was about 14. I got paid well too! But I was well into my married years, before I honestly took an interest in real gardening and such. However, when I fell in love with it all, I fell hard! I really love working in my gardens.

The funny thing is, my daughter is as passive as I was about gardening right now, as I was at her age. She’s not as into it as my younger daughter is. To her credit, she’ll volunteer to water the gardens on summer nights, which I always appreciate. But I have wished she would love gardening as much as I do. So this job of hers, gives me hope. Already, she jumped in and helped plant some flowers the other night with me. It could very well be that all she learns at her job, will serve her well, years down the road. I think it’s a wonderful education to have. I know I was happy to have some agricultural knowledge and experience to draw on, once I decided to start gardens of my own. I believe she’ll be a valued employee, because she is definitely a people-person, always smiling, loves to help people, takes pride in her work, and despite her supposed lack of interest, she really remembers the names of flower varieties! I’m just so excited she’ll be working in this environment, in particular. I mean, what a great first job on her own.

Well enough chatting. Yes? I’ve been having fun taking photos of the beautiful blooms around our home. Some are on the edge of neighbor’s property. I am always so happy with my camera in my hand. So I thought I’d share with you some of my photos.

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An Iris.
–

004_geranium-flowers Geraniums.

005_chrysanthemum-flowers A Chrysanthemum.

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Azaleias.

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Azaleias.

Foxglove.

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And more Foxglove.

I think this last shot is my favorite, tied with the Iris. What’s yours?

Also, I’d love to know how old you or your teens were when you got your first job, and what you did. Scroll down and tell us about it.

So glad you came by. : )

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Our Antique School Desks and Books

May 21, 2012 By Laura 19 Comments

Lately, I’ve been putting time into some things I can’t speak much of, yet. Well, I could. But there has been too many time in my life, when I have spoken too soon, about many things, that never really came to be, in the end. So I am finally starting to remember to keep my mouth shut about some things, until they are a little more certain! How about that, huh? I’m only in my 40’s. Anyway, just so you know, I’ve been more creatively productive than it has seemed lately. ; ) Doesn’t it bug you when people speak so vaguely? Me too. I’m sorry. I do hope to share more with you all, soon.

But today, I wanted to show you a couple of home treasures of ours, that I love. They are some old little school desks. If you like antiques, and/or you like old school things, you may find these pieces interesting.

This first school desk is one my husband, Michael, picked up at a yard sale he stopped at. He saw it, and knew I would love it. Because I not only love antiques, but love all things ‘old school days’ related! He paid $15 for it, and once he did, the seller told him it was made around 1932. It’s all solid wood, and pretty small, as it seems most school desks were back then. As you can see, I just have it set tucked in under a wall table.

Just inside the desk, are these two really old books.

This book, Twelve Ways to Build a Vocabulary, is by Archibald Hart, with a foreword by Johnson O’Connor. I came across it at a tag sale, on a table with a lot of other books, and bought it for $1.00! The kids and I love vocabulary, and this book is just interesting to read through. Printed in 1939, it has an old worn linen cover, fragile binding, and yellowed pages throughout.

This one, titled The Complete Home Handyman’s Guide, was Michael’s grandmother’s. I couldn’t tell you if she ever read it, but I did have the blessing of getting to know her in the years before she passed, so I can tell you this much; she was as good as any handyman around! She did all of the work of the greatest of handymen, and well into her 70’s! Michael said he grabbed this book out of a box of others his parents had. It was printed in 1948.

We have other wonderful old books in our home as well. Some more meaningful than others. But all of them make my nose tingle, when I flip through them. What’s up with that?

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Our second desk is a little more sentimental. Michael used this desk as a little boy. He tells me that it originally came from his aunt’s home, who had 5 girls. He recalls when he was little, that they had about 3 of these little desks, as well as teacher’s desk. They did not home school, but just used all of the school furniture in the playroom, to pretend with. At some point, one of them ended up coming to Michael’s family’s home, and he used it in his bedroom, while he was in early elementary school.

Through the years Michael and I were dating, Ido recall seeing it in his parent’s basement. It was of no interest to me at the time. When his parents sold their home and moved away, Michael took the desk, and it then sat in our own basement for years. Eventually, I fell in love with home schooling, all things from old schooling days, and antiques in general. When I remembered we had this old school desk of Michael’s in the basement, I couldn’t wait to bring it upstairs!

Although I have to admit, we truly have no room for it in our school room, and it is constantly in the way! It’s far too small for any of our kid’s to really use. And believe it or not, it’s heavy! Still, I love to see it. It’s charming, isn’t it?

Well, most of it. There is a reason I have only showed you the desk on this angle, so far.

Here, let me show you the other sides……

Can you believe this mess? Guess who did this? Michael! When he was little, and the desk was his in his bedroom, he put all of these stickers on it. He says they were the stickers he got in school from the teachers, and when he came home, he would put them on his desk.

I think for the years this desk was in the basements at his old home and ours, the stickers is all I saw when I looked at it. It’s pretty much baffling to me. I have always told my kids, “We only put stickers on paper! Never on walls or furniture!”. Guess Michael never got that memo. Even the kids were like, “DADDY did that? Oh my……gosh!”.

I told Michael, “Guess who’s cleaning them off? I don’t care if you’re 43 now.” ; ) Of course, they are still on there, so far. He’s not that afraid of me, much. But I haven’t really put my foot down yet either. In a way, I find it endearing to know he did all of this as a little boy. I bet he was so cute. And now we have the whole piece in our home, with 4 of his own little children. But then, did you really look at all of the stickers closely?…..

What-in-the . . . . . . Really? A teacher was passing these out in school? Lord have mercy. That’s a little disturbing. Don’t you think? I don’t even get it. What does it mean? I do know, that every time I look at it, I look for the woman’s arms. Where are her arms? Further disturbing. Yeah, he needs to clean these off. It would be nice cleaned up and refinished to it’s natural state anyway. Meanwhile, I keep this side turned to the wall.

Another feature about this desk, is that it’s on boards. I guess they used to screw the desks to the floor, so the kids weren’t moving them all over the place. Or something. I just tell mine to sit still. Anyway, this desk is so different than our other one we showed you, that is all wooden. Isn’t it?

I have no real year of this desk, but we can see on the base that it was made by Kenney Bros. and Wolkins, a manufacturer in Boston. I did some research online and looked at hundreds of photos of old desks, but never found any just like the two we have. Still, I don’t imagine they are anything that unique or valuable in worth. They are kind of special to us though, and that makes them worth something.

Could you tell us anything about the two desks we have here? Do you enjoy antiques, or love old school pieces too? I really do. I bet there are other home schoolers who do, too. If not, we hope you at least enjoyed seeing ours, today. Thanks so much for coming by, and visiting us.

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Last Minute May Day (Baskets & Delivery) Tips & Ideas!

April 26, 2012 By Laura 9 Comments

tips-ideas-may-day-baskets

May Day is less than a week away. But if you really want to touch some hearts and make some older folks in your life feel so unforgotten, this is a wonderful thing to do with your children! It not only has the potential to teach them a bit of History, but it teaches them about kindness and compassion, as well. What’s more, it couldn’t be more fun and exciting!

PLANNING YOUR MAY DAY CONTAINERS

Planning, putting together, and secretly delivering May Day Baskets, is something we have done with our kids for the past 4 consecutive years, from 2008 – 2011. Every year, the number of our recipients has grown. It can be done as simply or as involved as you choose, depending on the time or expense you’d like to put into it. While the traditional May baskets years ago were simply filled with wild flowers, picked special just for the recipient, we have really tended to get into the ideas for our basket contents! (Cheap affordable baskets can be found at any low budget department stores, such as Wal*Mart, as well as places like the Christmas Tree Shoppes.) But you don’t need to. The thought and fun behind it is not more or less, no matter what you give in the basket. It’s what you give from your heart, to their’s, that matters most.

So if just delivering a beautiful bunch of flowers is more the way you’d like to go, here are a couple of other simple container ideas I found on Pinterest:

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Most everyone has some cans in the house! Wash them out, get rid of any sharp edges, punch some holes in the side and thread with some lovely ribbon or rope for a handle, and fill with flowers! If you really want to dress it up, create a label of your own. Consider having your kids make some drawings, and glue them on!

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Another idea is the traditional way…..making a simply paper cone. There are beautiful scrap booking papers in any craft store that you can use. Add some pretty trim, a handle, and the flowers, and you have a beautiful May Day surprise!

Today, as we share photos from our baskets over the years throughout this post, we’d also like to share some other tips and ideas, in the hopes that you will be inspired to really make some older folks day! You must know how much the little things mean to them, and this big surprise they find on their doorstep or door handle will be something that talk about for a long time to come.

WHO WILL RECEIVE YOUR MAY DAY BASKETS?

May Day baskets were typically delivered to older folks years ago (on May Day of course), so this is a tradition they will well remember and appreciate. Think of what older folks are in your life, who your children might want to deliver to. Once you determine how many recipients you’ll have, you’ll know how many baskets (or other forms of containers) you’ll need. Some people to consider:

Grandparents
Older Neighbors
Older Folks you know from Church
Other Friendly Acquaintances
Anyone you suspect could be lonely or need a smile.

Naturally, for doorstep delivery, you’ll need to know where these folks live! Normally, the idea is for the children to sneak up to the door, hang the basket on the doorknob (or place on the porch where the recipient will see it when they open the door), ring the doorbell, and run like the dickens!! With any luck, they’ll get away without being seen, and the recipient will only find a lovely basket of flowers and/or goodies.

BUT, another very thoughtful idea is to deliver them in person, to random folks in a nursing home. Many older folks feel quite forgotten at such homes, with few visitors. Just seeing your children’s faces will feel like such a blessing to them. Getting flowers and/or other goodies will do their hearts so good. (And yours too!). This is a great alternative if May Day turns out to be rainy too. Consider calling a home to let them know you are coming ahead of time, and ask them to put together (your number) of recipients who do not have loved ones to visit them.

MAY DAY BASKET CONTENTS

If you’ve decided to fill your baskets with goodies beyond wild flowers, here are some content ideas we have used over the years:

A Tea Bag Variety
Hard Candy (Consider sugar-free for possible diabetics)
Baked Goods from your own kitchen (Mini loves, muffins, cookies, cupcakes)
Pocket Tissue Packets
Prayer Cards
Small Short & Uplifting Story Books
Cross Word Puzzle Books
Tea Biscuits
Flowers
A scroll explaining the tradition of May Day Basket Delivery (A great time to educate the kids about this tradition)

Basically, anything that fits in the basket! What creative ideas can you and your kids come up with?

Lining your baskets before filling, is another option. You can use tissue paper, an open napkin, a cloth napkin, or even a new kitchen dish towel, which is a gift in itself!

BASKET TAGS

It’s nice to have a tag attached, that wishes them HAPPY MAY DAY! That tends to remove any confusion of why the basket was left. They will realize it is May 1st soon enough, and put it all together. (And them SMILE, no doubt!) Whether you sign your tag or not is up to you. Sometimes there is concern that the recipients will be frightened, or be afraid to eat the contents. So if that is a real concern, you can sign them. But the real fun is to let it be a mystery! It’s also a wonderful lesson for your children, that we can do kind things for others, and not need to get credit.

Here is a free printable tag I made one year, that I am happy to share with you: MAY DAY BASKET TAGS

PLANNING DELIVERIES

This year (2012), May Day falls on a (this) Tuesday. Since we homeschool, we have always rearranged our school work for the day, and made our deliveries in the morning, usually between 9:00-11:00 a.m. But if your kids are in school, evening delivery is just as acceptable!

Before leaving home, plan out your delivery route, according to where your recipients live. Knowing the order of stops ahead of time makes for smoother deliveries.

Also important is to plan ahead WHO will be running up to which doors, and running. We have 4 kids. So rather than they all go up to each door, risking injury and getting caught, by tripping over each other, they decided among themselves who would do which homes. This saved any arguing about the matter in the vehicle too, which could really suck the fun out of it all!

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I especially loved one idea we had last year: Making little flowering window sill tea cup plants. Along with some perfect size Chicken Soup for the Soul books! The above photo is all of the basket contents, pre-assembly. The photo below is them all together.

Naturally, every year around May Day, I have taken lots of photos, from basket assembling, to the secret deliveries themselves. Going through those posts always make me smile. Especially when the kids were so little! So if you care to, you are free to visit the previous years blog post links, and hopefully dig up some more inspiration, to deliver some love, yourselves.

2008
2009-1
2009-2
2010-2011 – Did not blog deliveries, but last year’s basket photos are shown above.

Following May Day last year, we decided it was likely our last year of planning and delivering May Day Baskets. Reason being, 1) the kids are getting a little too old (and big! for this particular serving in secret, and 2) after 4 years, we’re not such a secret anymore! When you start getting thank you cards in the mail, you know they’ve finally figured you out! ; ) But, the lessons have been good for our children, and there is nothing better than the feel-good-feeling, of giving in secret! Our hearts are always open to new ideas and ways in which we can serve others, as God calls us all to do. The possibilities are endless, and there are always daily opportunities in our lives, and yours.

Acts 20:35
“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

Matthew 25:40
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

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Maple Sugar House Field Trip | Homeschooling

April 1, 2012 By Laura Leave a Comment

As a kid growing up in western Massachusetts, tapped maple trees and maple farms seemed to be everywhere. Visiting maple sugar houses, and learning about the process of making maple syrup and sugar, were some of my favorite school field trips.

Living a significant shift away from that area now, maple farms are not as common around here. But this was yet another field trip I really wanted to take our kiddos on. We almost arranged one out where I grew up, but the timing of getting out there would have risked missing the end of the season this year. So I found Matfield Maple Farm, less than an hour from us, and we went on a beautiful day! It almost felt wrong from the get-go, with no snow on the ground though! And that was not the only change in the picturesque scenes I have carried in my fond memories of maple sugaring. But I was still excited for the kids to learn all about today’s process of maple sugaring farms.

My visual memories of the maple tapping season are very much like this:

Metal pails on trees, catching the pure sap from the taps that were put into them. And always, as I recall, snow on the ground. After all, one of the best parts of our class trips, was eating syrup on snow, inside the sugar house! Maple tapping season is the few weeks of the tail of winter, and first weeks of spring, when the nights are still cold, but the days are warmer. That’s when the sap starts flowing. But in western MA, near the Berkshires, we always got so much snow in the winter in those years, it simply had not all melted yet, come maple sugaring season.

MY have things changed. Not only are winters not as true as they used to be throughout the season , but maple trees being tapped for sap at many farms, now look like this:

maple-sugar-field-trip-homeschooling
They are drilled and tapped much the same way, but tubes run connecting one tree to another, with all of the sap from all of the trees, running to one place. I realize it’s more time efficient, and time is money after all. But I must say, I really miss the charm of good old fashioned pails on maple trees.

Watching and learning the whole process of how maple sap is collected, and boiled down into pure maple syrup, was still something I wanted my kids to see for themselves. But I really hoped it would be just like how I learned about it, and I was looking forward to taking photos of the pails on the trees! I did have an idea this farm used the more modern method, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But I was hoping. They did say they also tap with pails, but we didn’t happen to see any.

Still, we were very much enjoying our trip, and it sure was a beautiful day for one. Saturday was when the touring was, so Daddy/Michael was able to come too. It was a family field trip!

maple-sugar-field-trip-homeschooling-1 We had a chuckle at their cute sugar shack sign. We’d recognize that shape anywhere! Clever, recycling a basketball backboard into a sign! We just love little family run businesses, and we always do all we can to support them, because we know all about having a little dream, and trying to make it work.

The kids fed the llamas, while a small crowd of us waited for the tour guide. {JM} was gathering clovers on the ground to feed them too.

Soon, the owner/tour guide, and his daughter led us out into the woods, as he started telling us about the maple farm.

The first stop was this natural spring. Do you see how vibrantly green that grass is? The guide told us that is there even through the winter snow, because of the spring there. Imagine how pretty that must be. BUT….no snow for us! ; )

We were all offered to get a drink, and taste the fresh spring water. So I told one of my boys, who was going up first, that I wanted to get a photo of him getting some water. But all I got a bum shot!

maple-sugar-field-trip-homeschooling-5 Thankfully I have other kids, and got another chance.

We moved on, following each other on these wood-board paths.

A couple of times, we all had to duck under sap lines. I personally thought of doing the limbo, but didn’t want to show off. ; )

Next we stopped at the 450 gallon gathering tank, where all the lines run to. Here, the guide told us about the easiest way to know what trees to tap. They go out scouting trees in the warmer weather, and mark the maples, when the trees have leaves. That is when they can quite obviously tell which trees are of the maple variety. As opposed to the winter / early spring, when it’s harder to tell which are which. See the jug down by his feet? In it was a little treat for us all.

maple-sugar-field-trip-homeschooling-8 He passed out little sampling cups, and poured us all some pure maple sap, straight out of the trees. If you have never seen or tried it, maple sap looks just like water, and tastes almost as refreshing, with just a hint of sweet. Sap straight from the sugar maple tree is about 98 percent water and 2 percent sugar, as well other nutrients, and minerals. Maple syrup is derived by boiling it all down to the point where the process of evaporation leaves only about 33 percent of water and 67 percent sugar.

Do you know what this is? It’s called Skunk Cabbage. He broke off a piece for us to smell, but recommended we don’t let it touch our nose, whilst sniffing! It’s named well. It stinks terribly!

A poison Oak tree, evidences by the poisonous vine plant climbing it.

Back at the sugar shack, we all learned more about the process of boiling down the sap to the right consistency. This is a wood burning boiler, bringing the sap to the boiling point of 212 degrees. When it does boil, the steam rises up out of the sugar shack, and the syrup gets thicker and sweeter.

To the right of this shot is the pre-heating waiting area. As it is moved into the boiling area, and getting to increasing thickened consistencies, it is moved over to the next holding well.

We found it interesting that it takes 40 gallons of maple tree sap, to make one single gallon of maple syrup!

Samples of the finished product were shared with us as well. The kids were sure to get their own little cup, and immediately began asking about plans to have pancakes for dinner. Honestly, there is no comparison between pure maple syrup, and the ‘syrup’ for pancakes that they sell at the grocery store, which is actually made of corn syrup!

Another favorite part of field trips is always the gift shop! Here, what they sold was right behind us right there in the sugar shack, on some shelves. Of course they sold pure maple syrup in fancy bottles, and there was some maple sugar candy as well, which is made by bringing the boiling process even further, removing an even higher percentage of water, until the sugar starts to crystallize. (I think.)

A quick funny story about maple sugar candy: As a kid on maple sugar house field trips, I always spent my spending money on buying maple sugar candy for my father.Every time. And I’d be so excited to give it to him, because I was under the impression he really loved it. Then about a year or so ago he and I were discussing maple sugar houses, and I found out he hates maple sugar candy! He says it’s far too sweet for him. But it just goes to show you how happy he pretended to be, so as not to hurt my feelings as a kid. (Thanks, Dad. : )

I didn’t buy him any candy this time.

We thought these bird houses were cute too.

The kids had a great time, as you can tell by the smiles on their faces.

On the way home, we stopped lakeside, and ate our nice picnic lunch with the swans.

It was a wonderful day, and along with the memories, we brought home a bottle of pure maple syrup. Chosen not only for it’s contents, but of course for the fabulous bottle, with an embossed maple leaf in the glass! I already have ideas of what I can do with it, for detail home decor come Autumn. But before then, we have many pancakes and waffles to eat, drizzled with our pure maple syrup!

A planned meal for that night was quickly kicked to the curb, and we satisfyingly filled ourselves with blueberry pancakes. It was the kid’s first maple sugar house trip, but it won’t be their last! We will be getting to a maple sugar farm in the next couple of years, that still does things the good old fashioned way! But this place was still worth the trip, and no doubt the memories and lessons will be as sticky as the syrup on their plates.

I know not everyone lives in the right climate, but have you all been to a maple sugar shack lately? Did they use the old or new method, and what your thoughts on the two? We’d enjoy it if you shared.

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