Spring took its time arriving at the folk school. Spring and Winter wrestled with each other for nearly the whole beginning of March - with spring finally seeming to win out in just the last couple days- though Winter is making one last push this first week of April.

As the sap flows in the sugar bush and the fish come up Spunk Creek as they have for thousands of years we are so excited by the parade of opportunities that are presenting themselves to the Avon Hills Folk School.

Building upon the momentum of last year we are welcoming new artists, crafts people of all types to the folk school. Public schools, private schools and home school groups are all reaching out to inquire about field trips. And we continue to have our buckets filled through our collaborations with other community partners- Gathering Grounds, Milk and Honey, Korppi Coffee + Bakeshop, Bad Habit Brewing, Art In Motion, Krewe, Flour and Flower and many others!

Our gratitude grows daily to our ever expanding group of volunteers who are helping us to support the present and build the future at the folk school. We couldn’t do what we do without you and we’ll need you even more to get where we are going.

During just the first three months of 2025 we have already held 19 courses, welcomed over 300 people to the folk school, held multiple events on and off-site and have another 30 courses scheduled with more on the way!

Watch for new courses, events and other opportunities to discover, learn and create within a supportive community, surrounded by nature.

With gratitude,

Chris Schellinger

Founder and Executive Director

Avon Hills Folk School

**2025 Maple Syrup Season**

We tapped our first trees in late February and the season got off to a slow start, but several weeks in we got just the right temperature swings and a lot of low pressure systems. We've been drowning in sap ever since. With about 350 taps out there have been very few dull moments. As of yesterday we have collected 4,195 gallons of sap. This beats the previous record by about 100 gallons set just last year, when the season began in the last week of January!! Fully 6 weeks earlier than usual. To date we have bottled 54 gallons of syrup and expect to exceed well over 120 gallons this year by the time we are complete.

Our volunteers make the work light and the evenings around the evaporator a joy as we visit, listen to spring happening and watch water evaporate from the sap. Our Sugar Bush volunteers get a particularly "sweet" deal as we take a percentage of each year's production and distribute it to our volunteers based upon the hours they've been able to help.

Looking forward to the end of the season and the beginning of spring. There are still opportunities to volunteer and cash in on your % of the syrup (remember it's gonna be a record year) by volunteering for our end of season wrap-up/clean-up. Hope to see you at the folk school in the coming days.