Pictures
Our Sugar House
What is now the sugar house at Maple Lane Farm started its life as a scale house. Original owners of what was then called Maple Lawn Farm Harold & Virgie Middlekauf used the building to weigh livestock and grain. The building had two large doors at each end and was designed to drive in one side and out the other. The floor of the building was a giant Fairbanks-Morse scale. Just inside the South door was the scale box where the weight was read. Converting the scale house was more or less RG’s idea. While sugaring one rainy day out in the open driveway, RG looked at his dad and said “this really doesn’t make much sense, we are trying to get rid of the water in the sap and Gods just putting more in.” Rob looked at him and said “I guess we ought to build a sugar house.” That they did. In 2010 the scale house was gutted saving the scale box (shown below) which is on display in the sugar house today including the Middlekauf’s hand written notes. New window’s doors, insulation and electrical are just a few of the many upgrades. Rob removed the tin stamped ceiling from the Buser Lumber Co. building in Mt. Morris before its demolition and installed it in the sugar house. The sugar house is a great mix of modern conveniences with lots of history. You’ll have to stop by and see it!
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