Open House: Boiling at the Sugarhouse  If you missed out on our Maple Festival, this is the next best thing! We host Open House times on Saturdays during March and possibly into April  from approximately 10 am. till 4 pm.  Come on over and visit us, smell the steam and watch us boil, have a taste sample and hang out with us in the sugarhouse. Tours offered if we aren't too busy at the moment, and either a video or slide show will be up on the screen too! Coffee and more available.Please feel free to call ahead to find out exact times we are starting and ending the boil, but we will always be around for you to visit and purchase maple products too.

5th Annual Maple Festival
Saturday March 12th, 2011, from 10 a.m. till   4 p.m. Featuring maple syrup and sugar making demonstrations, narrated slide show, video, storytime for kids, sugarhouse tours, cooking and recipe class, food, free syrup samples, tree tapping demonstration, sugar-on-snow, and more! Learn how maple syrup and sugar is made at our farm. Various maple products will be for sale.A fun and educational day out for you and your family! Free admission. A schedule of the day's events will be posted prior to event. (see below)
This event is held RAIN OR SHINE, since most of it is indoors anyways. Please dress accordingly for the outdoor portion of the festival (tree tapping demonstration and tour of tapped maple trees). Boots recommended if you want to participate in the outdoor events.
NOTE: Our next Maple Festival will be held on Saturday, March 10th, 2012. If you missed out this year, you are welcome to come to the next best thing, our Open House Boiling Days. (See above)

Maple Sugaring Classes and Tours
Sweet Wind Farm is the perfect place to take your group or family to an educational outing. Our class/tour consists of viewing tapped trees (during syrup season only), a guided tour of the sugarhouse facility and equipment, possibly watching us boil sap and sniff the heavenly smell of syrup steaming, a narrated slide show of the sugaring process, and the history of sugaring and other fascinating facts about maple will be discussed.Maple syrup and sugar samples given during class. Sap samples given out when available.Presentation material will be based on age of the participants, great class for ages 3 - 99! For the younger set, a picture book will be read aloud also. The class lasts approximately 1 1/2 hours, and paid participants will take home a "Maple Facts" sheet. Children will also receive a coloring page, crossword and word search puzzles. This class may be scheduled at any time of the year, but viewing of tapped trees and possibly seeing us boil sap can only be done during sugaring season (the months of Feb. - April) Viewing of sap boiling is not guaranteed during your scheduled classtime, as this is dependant on the weather and sap flow.  Please come dressed for the weather, especially for the outdoor portion of the tour.  Boots, warm coats, hats, and umbrellas if it's raining are recommended.Classes are not cancelled due to rain, since most of the class is indoors, but if there is a snow storm you may reschedule. Please call or email to schedule a class soon for the 2011 season. 
FEE Ages 5 and up, $5.00 each. For school groups, homeschool groups, and scouts: Teachers and chaperones are free. Siblings under 5 free. PLEASE NOTE* that due to time constraints and limited availability for times, there is a 10 student minimum to run a class. (A minimum of $50.00 to schedule a class.)
If you don't meet the 10 person requirement, you can choose to either pay the difference or invite others to join you.
Call Susan at (860) 653-2038, or email to schedule , sweetwind@sweetwindfarm.net

Homeschooler's Maple Sugaring Days:
Monday March 21 at 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday March 23 at 1:00 p.m.
**PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FRIDAY MARCH 18th Class is now FULL. Interested families will need to sign up for one of the other remaining dates listed above.
As I am a homeschooler myself, I can appreciate the idea of finding good, fun, and interesting things to do and learn about as a homeschooling family. This year I am going to be offering a few selected dates for homeschoolers to sign up and register to come to a maple sugaring class and tour. Everything will be as described in the above paragraph for "Maple Sugaring Classes and Tours", but rather than having individuals try to organize their own group, you can simply sign up with me to come on one of these dates! This makes it easier for some to not have to be involved with a group and trying to organize a date that works for everyone at the same time.

In order to pre-register you must: 1. send in your name with contact info.( a phone number and email, very important!!), 2. date/time of choice, (choose one of the above dates and times only please) 3. number of people coming total which includes parents and younger siblings, and ages and amount of students, and 4. a check written out to Sweet Wind Farm for $5.00 for each student. Send your registration to our address at: 339 South  Road, East Hartland, CT 06027. There is a 10 student minimum to run a class, so PLEASE tell your other homeschooling friends to join you! In the event there are not enough people registered to come on a given date, you will be informed and can choose to select a different date if you wish. Class capacity is 30 people, so it will be filled on a first-come first-served basis. Any cancellation on your part  will not be refunded, but transfering the registration to another family, or changing to a different date if available, will be allowed.

NOTE**If your organized homeschooling group would like to come together, please just sign up individually at the same time. You can even consider signing up as a group at one of your meetings, just send in all the necessary information I need and payment in one envelope. If you need to have a different date/time, please follow the guidelines listed in the "Maple Sugaring Classes and Tours" paragraph above. If you can get your group to sign up together on one of my selected dates for homeschoolers, it would be better because I am limited with time availabilities this year.

Birthday Parties
Our farm is a great place to host a birthday party! You can select from a variety of activities for your group, from pumpkin painting, face painting, bounce house, hayrides, sugarhouse tour and class, gardening class, crafts, farm tour, and more. Price depends on choice of activities. There is a picnic area outside for hosting your birthday cake time, or you can use the inside of our sugarhouse as well. There is a flate fee of $50.00 for use of the sugarhouse to host your party, additonal fee per child depending on activities chosen, in range of $5.00 and up per child.Please call us at 653-2038 if you are interested. Booking a party requires a $20 deposit to reserve the date.

Group Classes and Activities
Sweet Wind Farm can host a variety of activities for your group like Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Homeschoolers, Senior Clubs, or whatever your group is! Activity choices range from scavenger hunt, nature hike, nature lessons,  pumpkin painting, arts and crafts, music, cooking class and more. Call with your ideas and preferences, and see if we can't be a great destination for your group or club. (860) 653-2038, Ask for Susan. Susan is an experienced educator, having taught in the public schools, and then having  homeschooled for a total of 12 years plus, and has experience working with people of all ages. Price depends of choice of activity, usually charging per student with teachers/chaperones/parents free for children's groups.