{"id":9726,"date":"2012-03-02T15:44:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T20:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/\/wp\/?p=9726"},"modified":"2012-03-02T15:44:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T20:44:24","slug":"a-family-affair-davenport-maple-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=9726","title":{"rendered":"A Family Affair: Davenport Maple Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This photo was taken three years ago, but the ambiance hasn’t changed much! (Courtesy of Davenport Maple Farm)<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

March is Massachusetts Maple Month, and an annual pilgrimage for many syrup lovers is now underway. Nothing beats a visit to a sugarhouse restaurant at this time of year to watch sap being boiled and consume food made with fresh, hot syrup.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Davenport Maple Farm<\/a>, high on Tower Road in Shelburne, Norman Davenport and his wife Lisa are boiling sap furiously in their evaporator and greeting crowds at their restaurant, which is open only on weekends during maple season. The farm has been in the Davenport family for generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re actually approaching our centennial,\u201d Lisa Davenport told me recently. \u201cNorman\u2019s great grandfather Walter Davenport purchased the farm in 1913. There was always sugaring going on here prior to that. And they\u2019ve always had cows here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She noted that the restaurant, which opened in 1990, was the brainchild of her husband\u2019s father. At that point the family\u2019s old sugarhouse was in need of substantial repairs, and Russell Davenport and his wife Martha decided to expand it into to a restaurant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two decades later the senior Davenports can still be found at the restaurant during maple season. Russ Davenport helps Norman run the evaporator and chats with customers, and Martha Davenport runs the cash register. Lisa and Norm\u2019s daughter Maegan runs the kitchen while daughter Daina serves as head waitress.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNorm\u2019s sister Barbara Goodchild comes up and helps, too. It\u2019s really a family affair,\u201d said Lisa. \u201cI supervise everybody. I do all the ordering and the payroll, I go out and do the shopping, and I fill in for somebody when they stop working.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She admitted that while she enjoys maple season she can also find the family\u2019s restaurant weekends intense.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a short season, six weeks long, but you\u2019ve got a couple of weeks beforehand when you\u2019re getting ready for it. There are some all-nighters. If the sap\u2019s really running, you\u2019ve got to keep boiling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She observed that she sometimes sets her cell phone to wake her up in the morning only to hear it ring in her pocket at the end of a long night at the evaporator.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we still have the cows to milk and regular chores to do,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s a long schedule, but it\u2019s fun. You\u2019re right in the middle of it all the time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Most visitors to the restaurant order breakfast, which is served all day, although the Davenports also offer lunch items. These include hamburgers made from their own beef, corn chowder, maple baked beans, and grilled cheese.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked to sum up the farm\u2019s cuisine, Lisa Davenport thought for a minute. \u201cGood home cooking. We don\u2019t use any mixes; it\u2019s all made from scratch. I bake all the bread.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At home the Davenports use maple syrup in a variety of dishes. \u201cMy kids didn\u2019t like spaghetti sauce or the tomato sauces,\u201d Lisa told me. \u201cThey\u2019d just have buttered pasta with maple syrup drizzled over it.\u201d I am NOT telling my nephew Michael about this practice!<\/span><\/p>\n

She also tops her tuna-noodle casserole with maple syrup and crackers. And she recommends a drop or two of syrup on scrambled eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m ready for the tuna casserole or even the eggs. Nevertheless, I did enjoy making and eating the Finnish pancakes that are the restaurant\u2019s most popular breakfast offering.<\/span><\/p>\n

The recipe below served four of my family members, although Lisa explained that she doubles it for four. Portions are generous at Davenport\u2019s!<\/span><\/p>\n

The pancake tastes a bit like a rich custard as it doesn\u2019t use a lot of flour.<\/span><\/p>\n

Davenport Farm Finnish Pancakes<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

1\/4 cup (1\/2 stick) butter
\n2 cups fresh milk
\n4 large eggs
\n2-1\/2 tablespoons sugar
\n1\/2 teaspoon salt
\n1\/2 cup flour<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructions:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Melt the butter and place it in an 8-by-8-inch pan or a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Mix the milk and the eggs lightly with a beater; then add the sugar, the salt, and the flour. Pour the mixed batter over the melted butter and bake for 20 to 23 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Serves 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo by Michael Weisblat, who helped eat!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This photo was taken three years ago, but the ambiance hasn’t changed much! (Courtesy of Davenport Maple Farm) March is Massachusetts Maple Month, and an annual pilgrimage for many syrup lovers is now underway. Nothing beats a visit to a sugarhouse restaurant at this time of year to watch sap being boiled and consume food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,20],"tags":[1489,1488,1440,270],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9726"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9746,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726\/revisions\/9746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}