News & Events
* UPCOMING *
Maple sugaring: Agricultural Hall and the Boston Nature Center will co-host our annual Maple Sugaring Demonstration at the Nature Center (500 Walk Hill St., Mattapan) on Sat., Feb. 17 & again on March 2.
Sugaring (tapping trees, collecting and boiling-down sap) begins in early February in eastern Massachusetts, but 'global weirding' has been pushing the start date earlier, faster. To that end, try to bike, walk, use public trans, or carpool to get to the Nature Center.
As for beekeeping, early Spring is all about ramping-up for the season ahead. If you're jus starting out, now is a perfect time to enroll in a bee school, and the Boston Area Beekeeping Association's 6-week+ bee school starts February 5th! Visit BABA's website to register; BostonBeekeepers.org
For upcoming Ag Hall workshops & happenings, check the Workshops calendar here.
Agricultural Hall?
In 1818, the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture built the original Agricultural Hall on Dighton Street in Brighton. It served as the hub of the Brighton Fair and Cattle Show, one of the earliest and largest such fairs in the country. In 1829, "a 17-pound turnip, a 19-pound radish, and a bough on which pears hung like a cluster of grapes were among the outstanding exhibits of that year." In 1844 the building was moved to its present location at the corner of Chestnut Hill Avenue and Washington Street.
Dr. William P. Marchione &
The Bostonian Society
Agricultural Hall
245 Amory Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-388-7378 / e-mail Ag Hall
Open daily by appt. Calling ahead is always a good idea.
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Maple Sugaring 2018
Let's build a fully equipped sugar shack in JP! There are hundreds of sugar maples in town; a town-wide harvest could generate dozens of gallons of syrup. Interested? Please call Bill at 617-388-7378. Plan now, pancakes later.
The Boston Nature Center demonstrates sugaring each spring using Agricultural Hall's small, portable evaporator. In 2019 - 2021, an all-ages sugaring demo takes place on two consecutive days. Learn how to identify tap-able trees, practice drilling and setting the tap, see a small evaporator at work, and taste some liquid maple gold! Call for times and dates.
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Sugaring in Boston -- An Overview
After long New England winters, 'sugaring' offers a magical transition to spring. Tapping trees and boiling sap into warm sweet maple syrup begins in early February (earlier than up north). One tree will produce anywhere from a mere two gallons to as many as 30 gallons of sap, but it takes about 30 gallons of syrup to boil down to one gallon of syrup! Between 2012 & 2014, the Collective tapped eleven trees between Jamaica Plain's Sumner Hill and Stony Brook neighborhoods, collected about 70 gallons of sap annually, and produced around two gallons of syrup in a small evaporator fabricated at Stonybrook Fine Arts.
The Collective is always looking for new members. Here are ways to get involved:
- Staff the evaporator and/or collect sap;
- Help construct the new sugaring shack;
- Identify tappable maple sugar trees for the 2019 season.
Members of the Collective will be required to work and/or pay modest dues depending on the amount of work hours they invest. Typically, the most a member will pay per season is $45, but this goes down to $35 if you log two or more hours of work. The amount of syrup at the end of the season is then divided up equally between members.
If you would like to join, please contact Bill at 617-388-7378.