It really does feel like spring is in the air here in southeastern Wisconsin.  We are busily collecting maple sap and boiling it down to syrup - rather primitively over a fire, I confess, but nevertheless making a sweet confection out of a first sign of spring.  Even though snow is still blanketing our fields and woods, it is nice to know that warmer weather is on its way. 

I grew up on this particular patch of earth, and memories of past syrup-making times keep popping into my consciousness as we begin our own maple syrup routine.  Early in the morning before the school bus took us off for the day, my siblings and I would brave the knee-deep snow to traipse to the woods to collect the sap and load it into metal milk cans.  When my mother was growing up, my grandparents made maple syrup in the building that housed the smokehouse (that building still exists!).  When she began making syrup, Mom forgot how much moisture the process created and tried cooking off the sap in the house - the wallpaper was nearly steamed off of the kitchen walls!  She quickly started using the old, enameled kerosene stove that my grandmother had used for outdoor canning years before, and we'd see the sap steaming on the stove on the open back porch as we returned from school late in the day.  My husband and I now own that recalcitrant stove; its stubbornness in refusing to remain lit is one of the reasons we cook the sap over a fire.  The process is time-consuming and inefficient and we do it on a pretty small scale, but the resulting deeply sweet and slightly smoky-flavored syrup is indescribable and worth every bit of work to keep that fire going.

Spring is a time for stretching out kinked muscles and restless brain cells and doing something different; something that makes us feel energized and renewed and ready for the seasons ahead.  In this issue of Farmhouse Notes, take the time to read about Larry Bilotti and his enthusiastic DIY soap making - and other projects - at Trout House.  You can learn about making soap firsthand at Lakes Gallery in North Lake, WI (see calendar).  Visit our website to read about the maple sap soaps and close your eyes and think about springtime!  And if you have the opportunity, visit the Chicago Botanic Garden's Antiques & Garden Fair to get a jump on springtime decorating and gardening ideas.  If you live too far away from Chicago to see the Gardens - get outside and enjoy the warmer weather wherever you are! 

Warmest regards,

Ann Marie

Enter for a chance to win!

Encourage a friend to join Century Farmhouse's email list and your name (and your friend's name) will be included in a drawing for two complimentary tickets to the Chicago Botanic Garden's Antiques & Garden Fair, held April 16 - 18 in beautiful Glencoe, IL! 

Simply encourage your friend(s) to join the Mail List either from this newsletter or from the homepage of the Century Farmhouse® website.  Be sure to have them note your name in the "referred by" section of the sign-up page.   

The drawing will be held on Thursday April 1, and the winner will be announced on our website and in the first newsletter in April.  Good Luck!

Out and about...

See us here:

March 20:

Soap Making 101 Demonstration

Lakes Gallery of Fine Art

North Lake, Wisconsin

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Registration is required - class size is limited 

More info: www.lakesfineart.com

March 27:

ArtWorks: Madison

Alliant Energy Center

Madison, Wisconsin

10:00AM - 4:00 PM

(The Art Glass & Bead Show shares the Alliant that weekend - plan to spend the day!)

More info:  www.artworksmadison.com

April 16 - 18

Antiques & Garden Fair

Chicago Botanic Garden

Glencoe, IL

More info: 

www.chicago-botanic.org or www.stellashows.com

Trout House meets Farmhouse...

Maple Sap Soaps

Spring is indeed on its way!  The maple trees at Century Farmhouse were tapped on March 1, and the sap was running!  It was a beautiful, clear, early spring day; the birds were beginning to sing again, the snow was melting, and the sap was dripping from the holes sized just right for the metal spiles.  It is maple syrup time again, and that means it is time to make the maple sap soap!  New this year is a luffa gardener's soap, Maple Sap & Roses, scented with essential oils of geranium rose, lemon, lavender, rosemary, & mint, and poured around organically grown luffa from Tennessee. These luscious soaps will be ready in late March, perfect for filling an Easter basket or honoring Mom.