Maple Syrup Family Day 2019 is in the books, another successful event sponsored by the Richfield Historical Society. A dedicated group of volunteers puts on this event each spring when the sap begins to run in the sugar maple trees. It's a small window for harvesting sap, between the time the ground warms up and the leaves open. It's the only time sap can be harvested for making into syrup. Once the leaves open, the sap is unusable.
How do I know this? The entire process of making that delicious sweetness of the breakfast table is explained by patient volunteers who are as excited about sharing their knowledge as they are about seeing you there. Across the drive from the sugar shack (where maple syrup is made) is a blacksmith shop where several smithies work 3 forges to demonstrate the magic of turning iron into useable items.
While you're at the Sugar Shack, you can purchase maple syrup that was made right here. Need a cup of hot chocolate (handy on spring day) or some snacks? Right across the way is a concession stand, it's in the old barn.
The campus was a 19th Century working farm and grist mill. Walking down the way from the blacksmith shop, you'll find two log homes that were constructed in the mid 19th century. Just outside the first one, docents were rendering fat into lard, and eventually into soap. Inside, docents were describing how the lard was used in baking and what life was like in Richfield before Wisconsin became a state.
Ancient farm machines were on display, a hands-on exhibit where kids were encouraged to try the machines and see how it used to be done. A great learning opportunity for city slickers!
Further down the way, you cross the Oconomowoc River (it's little more than a stream here) on your way the Messer-Meyer farmstead and grist mill. For a nominal fee, you get a guided tour of the mill and the house. Talk about learning history...the house was occupied by a member of the family until 1971. The mill operated until the mid-1960s when Mr. Meyer left one day and never went back. All the original equipment is in there, and you get to see it. A docent explains it all and even demonstrates some of the equipment.
You don't want to walk all the way or back up the hill? Take the shuttle - a trailer equipped with school bus seats and pulled by a John Deere tractor.
Too bad you missed it this year's show, but it will be back next spring. Watch for it here on Yelp. Wear your swampers - mud is everywhere on the grounds - this is a farmstead, after all.
MIssed Maple Syrup Family Day? Well, all is not lost! Come on out to the historical park in September for the annual Thresheree to see how farm work was accomplished in the past - and it was certainly work! Several beautiful old ash trees have been felled to battle the Emerald Ash Borer, and those logs will be used to demonstrate a steam-powered sawmill. Those milled logs will then be used around the campus for various projects. read more