Merrifield Farm

The details

Location: Gorham, Maine
Hours: Open Seasonally. If not during Maine Maple Month/Maine Maple Sunday, call directly for an appointment. Recommend checking their Facebook page for updates.
Parking: Dedicated Parking Lot
Family Friendly: Yes

When I think of March in Maine, I think of two words: Mud & Maple. The snow begins to melt and we welcome "Mud Season" in Maine where everything is well, sort of a muddy mess. And even though our Bean Boots and subsequently our houses are covered in mud, there is one major silver lining for the month of March in Maine: Maine Maple Weekend! Historically, this happens towards the end of March, but with the ever changing COVID restrictions this year, many places opened up all month long to properly spread out the crowds. After a long, weird year, I was pretty stoked to take advantage of this. 

Merrifield Farm in Gorham was one of the first places that caught my eye. It was clear they were taking COVID restrictions seriously and opted to spread out their visitors, which I very much appreciated. We popped over on a Sunday morning and were the first ones there. The women behind the counter were so thoughtful and engaged our 4 year old to teach her how they tap trees. They walked her through the process without being prompted to and continued to show us around to help us make informed decisions on our purchases. Additionally, there is a small playground on the farm which was a totally welcome surprise! Our kiddo was able to get some sillies out after devouring a whoopie pie in two seconds flat.

And holy maple, y'all! Here are just some of the goodies we grabbed: 
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• Maple Syrup (duh)
• Maple Cotton Candy
• Maple Whoopie Pies
• Maple Inspired Coloring Books for Kiddos
• Maple Fudge
• Maple covered Nuts
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And the list goes on! We were on a Maple craze for about a week in our house. The products clearly have a lot of love put into them, and luckily, we were able to control ourselves and still are able to enjoy weeks later the Maple Syrup we bought on our Sunday pancakes.

Another cool thing about Merrifield is their partnership with many local businesses who use their syrup in their offerings. Lone Pine Brewing releases their "Maple Sunday" beer that is finished with Merrifield's maple syrup on the 4th Sunday of every March (the evening after we visited the farm, we popped over to Lone Pine to give it a try - because why not have more maple that day - and it was totally delish.) Parlor Ice Cream Co out of Biddeford uses their maple syrup in their seasonal flavor "Maple Blueberry."