malabar farms | momjeanz

we made the annual trek north to the Malabar Farm Maple Syrup festival this past weekend. Did you know Ohio is the 4th largest producer of pure maple syrup in the US? now you do.

this was the third year for darla and i but mike’s inaugural visit. our besties joined us too. and darla made fast friends with some other folks. that lady in the first couple pictures is a complete stranger. she parked next to us and happened to be the other closest person to her when she decided she wanted to swing.

this event has become my herald of spring. it signifies that time of year that we can get back outside to climb rocks and take walks. this was by far the best weather we’ve seen but as my boots can attest, it was pretty muddy.

as you can see we got the gallon to tide us over until next year’s fest.

most of my goals for the weekend fell through the cracks except for the Malabar Farms Maple Syrup Festival. Darla and i trekked north during the good weather saturday and we had a good ol’ time revisiting the process of maple syrup. really, i just made it a priority to purchase some more of the syrup because it is so delicious. one taste of real, fresh syrup and you’ll never want to go back to the hfcs substitute.

the view is beautious maximus. can you tell i made darla pose for the second shot?

tractor rides and tickles from evergreen branches

she chose her raccoon socks because they live in the forest and would like maple syrup, so she says.

we cheated on the candy rule and got some cotton candy made from maple syrup. can you tell by her face that she was happy to indulge? she then proceeded to tell strangers that maple syrup is healthy. which we were informed at the festival that it is. it has the lowest calorie content of any of the natural sweeteners and is good for your kidneys if it is pure. more pancakes anyone?

we did enjoy a pancake breakfast on sunday morning to break in our new bottle. i hope we will continue our visit as an annual tradition. it was bittersweet to visit as a twosome this year. i missed our cali friends dearly remembering our experience the previous year. hopefully next year we’ll be able to enlist more of a gang to join us.