In an earlier blog I mentioned that three granddaughters would be visiting this weekend. Actually five granddaughters are visiting along with boyfriends or husbands as well as our daughter and husband. So it is a real family gathering at Fortune Farms.

The sap ran a bit today from trees in the sunshine. It may be warmer tomorrow so we may have bigger run of sap. There is enough for the Shanty Men to operate and they will be boiling tomorrow. The trails are snowy but walkable with good boots or snowshoes.

Some visitors today asked about the tree on the Sugar Bush trail that is identified as the Fortune Giant. This is a huge tree about 3 feet in diameter and 70 feet tall. It is probably over 300 years old. As far as we can tell this farm was never logged aggressively so there are several trees of different species in the 300 year plus category and many in the 200 plus category. We have been told that the large pine trees at another location were specifically saved as specimen trees by all the previous owners of the property. We are very fortunate to have such a mature sugar bush with a diversity of species and are continuing to preserve this heritage.