Home Made Maple Syrup

You may remember that last week we met a resident of Nappanee in the local coffee shop where we all checked in for a cup of coffee and to organize our day.  Dale owns his own business, and he and his wife own a patch of land just across Highway 6 from where we are staying at the Newmar factory.

We chatted with Dale several mornings last week, and he was extremely helpful with ideas of things to do and see in the area, even going so far as to bring us literature about area attractions.  Last Friday, he and his wife rode their bicycles over to our "home" and we had a great time with them.  Part of that conversation had to do with the Fourth of July festivities and the local fireworks show.  Dale told us that he had his own show over "the pond", and that his show included the use of a cannon, which we allowed we had heard! Dale left us with his business card and a promise to keep in touch.

Saturday evening we heard a great, loud "boom" and figured it was Dale and his cannon, so I called him to say that I had just settled down to watch tv when I heard his cannon.  He told me that the noise wasn't from him, but a neighbor, and that he was going to fire his cannon in a few minutes so that the neighbor would know who was top dog in the area!  And sure enough, he did! Their place is only about 1/4 mile from us, and it sounded like we were in a war zone!  I immediately called him to tell him that I thought the motorhome had suffered some damage, and that he should "put a cork in it"!  During that conversation with Dale, we were invited to dinner, which we readily accepted.

Turns out that Dale and his wife own a fantastic piece of property!  They took us on a golf cart tour of the pond (more like a lake), the woods, and the cultivated farmland.  The pond is stocked with fish, the woods are full of deer, and the farmland is growing soybeans.  Everything is so green and lush!  The woods are filled with Tulip trees a hundred or more feet tall, along with hardwoods and conifers.  Dale has the woodlot harvested every 10 years of so and it's getting close to time to do it again, but he doesn't really want to disturb the forest, so it may be awhile yet.

It took two tours on the golf cart to explore their property, one before dinner, and another after.  The later tour went deeper into the woods where we noticed that several Maple trees had been tapped.  When we returned to their 100+ year old home, we were presented with a jar of Maple Syrup taken from their trees.  How cool is that?

A grand dinner and wonderful conversation made it difficult to leave, but our hosts get up at 4:00 am and go to work.  We admire their mid-western self-reliance, and complement them for their hard work.  Working full time and taking care of a 60+ acre farm is no easy task. Thank you for an enjoyable evening!