Shelburne farm just opened for its 53rd season.
Helen E. Gould, of Gould's Maple Sugarhouse in Shelburne, serves up the sugar on snow to long time customers Lisette and Bertrand Grondin, of Enfield, Conn. Bertrand's father and grandfather had a sugar house in Quebec City Canada and grew up on maple syrup sugar on snow.
"I was very young, probably around 13, but Mrs. Gould says I was younger," said Stevens, referring to Helen E. Gould, matriarch of the family-run farm. "I grew up across the street and it was a big deal to be able to walk up Route 2 and go in there to ask for a job."
Gould remembers how her late husband, Edgar, told her "if that kid wants a job, you give her one" and Stevens has been there ever since.
Terri Bernard cooks up the popular blueberry pancakes at Gould's Maple Sugarhouse on the Mohawk Trail in Shelburne.
She washed dishes for a dollar, waitressed, worked downstairs in the gift shop, helped can syrup and then Helen Gould had the idea that Stevens would take over for a cook who had left.
"She thought it would be good for me to learn to be a cook. I agreed and that began that endeavor that's last almost 25 years," Stevens said.
Years ago, before her full-time job as a customer service associate at People's United Bank in West Hatfield, Stevens worked most of the week during the short but concentrated sugaring season that lasts from the beginning of March until the last Sunday in April.
"My favorite time of year is maple season because it's exciting and everybody at the farm has a job. People are working out in the woods, others are tending to the evaporator, the gift shop is stocked and Mrs. Gould is taking care of things in the restaurant," said Stevens, who still lives in Shelburne.
Warm maple syrup, boiled a little longer for a thicker consistency, is poured on natural snow for Gould's popular sugar on snow, a tradition this time of year at some New England venues.
For the small kitchen staff, this means a very early start to accommodate the hours of prep time to make the much-coveted pancake, waffle and corn fritter batters from scratch.
The sugarhouse is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. during their Spring season.
"People come from all over the area when it's sugaring time and they know they're going to have to wait but they're happy to wait as long as there's a fire going and they can see all the things that are going on here at the sugar house," Stevens said.
A spring trek to Gould's Maple Sugarhouse has become a family tradition for many and a new practice for those who hear their famous blueberry pancakes, the taffy-like confection called sugar-on-snow, 25-cent maple ice cream cones made with local milk from Family Farm and one much unexpected breakfast menu mainstay.
"Mrs. Gould makes amazing dill pickles and they go with sugar-on-snow because it's so sweet and the pickles are so sour," Stevens said.
"She makes such good pickles that people started to ask for them all the time so we serve them on the table for everyone to eat while they're waiting for their meal."
Eggs come anyway patrons like them and an heirloom-recipe sausage is the perfect match for the doughy and deep-fried corn fritters doused in the farm's high-grade maple syrup made with the help of a wood-fired evaporator.
"Everything is made with a lot of love and part of Gould's success is that they've stuck with the same thing," Stevens said.
"They've been successful doing the basics very well."
So well in fact that Gould's Sugar House was voted the 2013 Best Sugarhouse by voters in the recent online Reader Raves contest conducted The Republican and Masslive.com.
"We were so surprised that so many readers would take the time to say that they thought we were best," Gould said. "None of us even knew and it was great to hear. Our patrons have always been extremely good to us and we're thankful for that."
Gould and her late husband opened the retail side of their business when they rebuilt four old barns in 1960.
Six generations of family have farmed the land and it has been recognized as a "Century farm" by the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture since it has been owned and operated by one family for 100 years or more.
Depending on the weather, Gould's produces 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of maple syrup a year. It is sold in the restaurant and in the gift shop.
"My sons Leonard and Larry tend the syrup and they've sugared every year of their lives. My daughter Linda cans all the syrup and runs the gift shop and my other daughters help when they can. Kathryn's been here so long that she's become part of the family," Gould said.
"I just hang around and go where ever I'm needed and I haven't missed a season yet. Isn't that a riot?"
There are customers who cames as children in the 1960s and who now come with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"Weekends are busiest times but everyone is happy because they are with their families and friends having a good time," Stevens said. "When Mrs. Gould is saying there's an hour and a half waiting line, I know that's a lot of people out there."
Patrons can observe the staff -- cook Terri Bernard is apt to be on duty during the week -- busy around a very seasoned electric grill doing what they do best until the very last person is served.
"I can cook pancakes all day long but this isn't work to me. I've done it for so long that it's kind of part of me," Stevens said.
"Mrs. Gould has been a great role model in my life. Her work ethics are very strong and she's taught us all to do our best and have fun with life. Sometimes we sit down and have a pancake together. I'm happy that I met her when I was a young girl."
Gould's Maple Sugarhouse is located at 570 Mohawk Trail in Shelburne. For more information call (413) 625-6170 or visit www.goulds-sugarhouse.com.
For a listing of sugarhouses, visit the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association website, www.massmaple.org/