In his tidy sugarhouse that has been expanded slightly since his father's and uncle's days, Roger is busy keeping the fire stoked and just at the right temperature to bring the sap to a boil. It takes a great amount of wood to get through the boiling season and Roger has plenty perfectly stacked around to get the job done.
Sugarhouses dot the New England country landscape but I think my friend Roger's is a particularly charming and instructive one. It is not a place to join others... to stand in line for a yummy pancake breakfast... it is very cozy and only meant for the art of creating maple syrup. If visiting at the right time one might be offered a tiny cup of fresh hot syrup and a look about the small sugarhouse and sugar woods that surround it. Roger's sugarhouse is a bit of a museum showing a collection of relics from years past that in part tell the history of sugaring, an art he has taken part in most of his life.