It is the “Mud Season” here in Maryland and across the eastern seaboard. The time of year when the snow turns gray beside the road and slushy rivulets traverse tired grass lawns on their way to the nearest stream.

For some, mud season is what they have waited for through a long hot summer, crisp fall and freezing winter, because it is the time of year when there is a large range of temperature between the nights and days. It is this range that makes the sap rise, and when that happens its Maple Syrup time.

The farmers who tap the Maple trees all across the hills of Maryland and beyond raise cattle, grow corn and other crops through the year, but in the mud season they can be found in amongst the trees as the maple sap fills their tapping cans or in the barn as the watery sap is reduced in huge boilers until it is pale brown and syrupy and ready to bottle for the stores. Many of the farmers give maple syrup making demonstrations to the public at the weekends, which is another small money maker for them.

We have a shelf full of Garrett County Maple Syrup 2011 in our little gift shop. We sold the last of the 2010 vintage and drove out into the country to the Steyer (pronounced Stoyer) Brothers farm where they have been very busy. Mrs Steyer had our order waiting for us. She had just returned from the cattle market where her husband and she had been dismayed by the low prices for their stock. But like all farmers they have a hard won resilience to bad times and with a wan smile she said’ “At least the trees are going to make up for it this year.”

The temperatures have been swinging wildly across the scale for Mr and Mrs Steyer and that is just what is needed to balance out their budget. We go through a lot of it in the Inn’s kitchen, serving it in the traditional way over ham steaks as well as on waffles of all kinds. The guests buy it to take home to their children for breakfasts before school or to remind them of their visit to these mountains. We thought we had tried maple syrup before we arrived here but when we tasted Garrett County maple syrup we were transported to another level of gastronomic delight. It is truly the nectar of the gods and it flows from the depths of the earth where the real secrets of life are never told.