Adventure 11 – #44 Go to Malabar Farms

Malabar Farm is an Ohio State Park not too far from Columbus. The Farm was built by Louis Bromfield in 1939. Bromfield was a Pulitzer Prize winning author and conservationist. The farm sits upon about 580 acres in the rolling hills of Richland county. This past weekend the farm was hosting a Maple Syrup Festival. I know what you are thinking, but Susan, you just wrote about maple syrup. I know, I know, but it is yummy and it was a festival. We headed up there to check it out.

To get out to the sugar bush, we were shuttled out in wagons pulled by horses. The horses were huge! I felt so small next to them.

Once at the sugar bush we took a trail back in time with reenactors talking about how syrup was made. The setting was so rustic, it was not hard to get swept back in time. Our first stop was with the Native Americans. They carved out wooden troughs to pour the sap into. Then they took hot coals from the fire to evaporate the water from the sap.

The next stop on the trail was the Pioneers. We learned about how they boiled the sap in kettles over an open fire to make the syrup. We also saw how they carved molds to make maple sugar candy. They gave us samples of maple sugar that they made. Yum!

We then finished the trail with the modern way to produce the sticky yummy syrup. We made our way to the sugar shack, where a ranger showed us how they produced the syrup they sold. It was warm and cozy in the shack. The evaporator they use to make the syrup was heated by wood. We were treated to some samples of syrup. The real stuff is SO much better than the flavored stuff you buy at the store. I really really want pancakes now! Of course, we had to buy a pint.

We then headed to the Pugh Cabin to warm up and get some lunch. They had some Ham and Bean soup with corn bread for sale. It was really good. They also had Maple Syrup Peanut Brittle. It was amazing. We also learned that the Pugh Cabin was in the movie, Shawshank Redemption. There is a drive that you can do to see where the movie was filmed. This may have to go on the Adventure List for next year!