WESTHAMPTON — Hanging Mountain Farms, which is also the location of the Strawbale Cafe, will not offer sugarhouse tours this year for one main reason: They bring in too much business.
Anita Aloisi, who co-owns the farm and breakfast restaurant with her husband, Leo, said that outside of maple sugaring season, the Strawbale Cafe draws 100 to 130 people on a weekend. In sugaring season, however, that number rises to 300 to 400 people.
“It’s just way too much,” Aloisi said.
Noting that she and her husband are older now — he’s 68 and she’s 67 — she said they’d like to be able to give more attention to their year-round customers.
“They’re the ones that keep us in business,” she said.
The pair bought the farm from Leo’s parents in 1983, and named it Hanging Mountain Farms. Leo’s father originally bought the farm from farmer C.G. Loud in the late 1940s, whom he worked for as a teenager. Although it was a dairy farm when Leo was growing up, its main products now are Christmas trees and maple syrup.
The Strawbale Cafe — so named because it is constructed from actual straw bales — is open Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. However, starting on Jan. 15, it will also be open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with a limited menu from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The popular, though small cafe has offerings that includes omelets, benedicts and maple oatmeal bread, as well as gluten-free dishes.
“There’s many choices for every individual,” Anita said.
Meanwhile, Leo said, hosting crowds of people could be disruptive to the maple sugaring operation. It also meant having extra people working there to keep the operation going as he supervised tours.
“It’s a very small sugarhouse,” Leo said.
Although he will miss having the sugaring operation open to the public somewhat, he won’t miss worrying about people getting burned by sparks, he said, and he will still have the opportunity to chat with people at the cafe.
“People will want to talk about something or other,” he said.
Bera Dunau can be reached bdunau@gazettenet.com.