Last weekend, we went to Jillson’s Farm and Sugarhouse in Sabattus, Maine, for their hearty weekend breakfast buffet. Tucked between rolling hills, which in March are the color of shredded wheat, the farm is in classic central Maine country—wide fields and hills punctuated by forests. While Maine is rightly known and loved for its rocky coast, this central Maine landscape will always be what I envision when I think about the state.

Jillson’s has a store/dining area large enough for a buffet table and a smattering of  dining tables, many of them long and family style. There are maple products galore to tempt those like me, who are smitten by anything with a maple flavor. I succumbed to maple-cream donuts and maple-flavored kettle corn, one of my absolute favorites. After all, it combines two things I especially love—maple syrup and popcorn. The store also sells other Maine products such as cheese, eggs, and butter.

I spoke with Pat Jillson, one of the owners, and she told me that the maple syrup season was over. It started February 28^th and only lasted for a couple of weeks. “It was the shortest ever,” she said. So there was no smoke coming from the wood fires used to boil down the sap, no watching the alchemy of sap turning to syrup. Because the season was so short, the yield was not good, and I can’t help but wonder if prices will go up because of this. Fortunately, Pat and her husband, Ed, do not rely solely on maple syrup for their livelihood. They have a large farm and grow a variety of vegetables, which I often buy at the farmers’ market in downtown Winthrop. Jillson’s Farm illustrates perfectly how diversity is a very good thing.

Below are pictures that my husband, Clif, took, inside and outside, of the  farm and the too quiet sugarhouse. We can only hope that next year will be a better season for maple syrup.