Close to our house is a part of the forest we didn't frequent ... it had been clearcut 30 years ago and seemed pretty uninteresting.

But when I started to cruise this section this past fall, I found some big sugar maples (18-24" diameter).  One .... five ... twelve ... OMG, there's more than 20 here!?!

Kismet ... this was the reason we were finally meant to make maple syrup.  With a bit of research and a little help from a local maple producer, we're going to try a small scale production this spring.

Very exciting!