The Maple Grove

When winter meets spring late in March, as the snow melts and stems push through the ground, trying to reach the sky, the sap of the sugar maple begins to run. The tears of happiness seep from the woken trees. A sign that they have survived, the long sleep of the frozen landscape. This is the time that our harvest begins from the forest.

A month ago, we got everything ready at the sugar shack, in the maple grove. Lynn, my oldest checked the equipment: sap buckets, spikes, drills, hoses, connectors, refrigerators, and the boiler. I trust her, she is a fine young woman. It's good equipment, we've been using the same buckets for over 15 years and will probably get another 10 out of them. The steam boiler was my Dad’s idea. He had it custom-made out of stainless steel. Mom ordered all the bottles, to put the syrup in. 30 cases in all, of 8oz glass maple leafs. There’s a couple of dozen leftover from last year, we can still use. We’ll order more when needed. A few restaurants in the area buy syrup by the gallon, so we have big returnable jugs for them. Jake, my middle one, boils all the bottles to sanitize them. Every year Mom makes special labels with the kid’s names, the year, and a drawing of our house on it.

The big day is here, tapping day. No one is left behind. It's early around 5:30 A.M., there’s frost on the windows. By the time we get out to the woods, it’ll be 40° or so out, just the perfect temperature. All of us are bundled up, looking like lumberjacks, with plaid coats, stocking caps, gloves, and boots. Even Emilly, our 2-year-old, has a plaid coat and hat on. The grove is about a ½ mile from the house. I double-check that all the supplies are in the back of the truck. Good thing I did, because the water and snacks were still in the house. I unplug the truck and off we go. By noon we’ll be back home for a big lunch.

Dad cut a road to the shack back in ”‘73”, so it’s easy to drive into the woods. There are 262 trees total, and we’re only going to tap around 145. They have to be at least 12 inches in diameter to spike. We manage them year-round. There are orange cotton ribbons around the ones we’re going to use. This is the sixth generation to put spigots in the maples. There’s a system: we work in teams of two. One of us drills a hole. You want to look for clean bark, be at least 2 feet above an old hole, not under a previous one, and at least four feet above the ground. When drilling, use a sharp bit. You don’t want any rough wood in the taphole, it affects the quality of the liquid gold. Drill straight in, only an inch and a half. The bits are marked so we know exactly when to stop. The second person lightly taps the spout in, just enough so it can’t be pulled out by hand. If you drive it in too hard it could split the tree. The tapping doesn't harm the trees, but splitting one could lead to diseases. With a bucket in hand, the first person hangs it on the hook at the end of the spout. Then the second person puts the cover over the top, to keep out the rain, snow, and forest debris.

By 11:30 we’re done. The stand looks like a contemporary art piece, with dull silver buckets attached to each tree. This could be an installation at any modern art museum. The sap is running slow, but there is enough for all of us to take a little in a cup, then say a prayer for the gift the earth has given us, and for the sweetness of the year to come. We load up and head back to the house. Before dark, Lynn and I will go back to make sure that it is all safe and secure.

Every day for the next 4-6 weeks we go to check the buckets. In the bed of the truck, there’s a stainless tank the sap is poured into. Then it’s brought to the shack and pumped into a big refrigerated tank. You have to keep the sweet clear liquid cold, or it will sour, just like milk. By the end of the run, each tree will produce about ten gallons. When the tank’s ¾ full, it’s time to cook. The cold raw sap is drained into the boiler in small batches, adding more as the batch evaporates down by half. Back in the day, Grandpa used wood fires to heat the boiler. My addition to the sugar shack is a solar garden, just outside the woods. There are enough panels to run everything in the house and the shack. The extra power gets sold to the electric company. Energy used to be our biggest expense. Burning wood puts too much carbon dioxide into the air. Once the cooking begins, every few days a new batch is started. We do 50 gallons of sap at a time and cook for about 7-8 hours at a boil. Some days there are two boils. When it is at about seventy percent reduced down, it’s drained and put into the finishing tank. This is where the magic happens, when the sap reaches 219 ℉ it turns to syrup. You don’t want it any hotter or it starts turning into caramel and crystals. You end up with maple sugar instead of syrup. Then it’s filtered and drained into another pot. While it’s still hot, the liquid gold is syphoned into the bottles. This gives us about 5 gallons of syrup per batch.

I always leave a little in the bottom of the tank and cook it a little bit longer until it starts to caramelize at about 240℉, just before it turns to all crystals. Then I put it in a warm steel pitcher and lightly pour it over packed snow or crushed ice, in lines about 7 inches long and an inch wide. Using a popsicle stick I press down on the taffy, then roll the stick over and over until there’s a good size ball at the end. The kids still love them. I make enough so they can give them to all their friends. Mom gets the best-looking ones, she gives them as gifts, to all the church ladies and the pastor. The air smells like heaven for miles around, for the next few weeks. You would think the county fair was in town and they were spinning maple cotton candy and serving flapjacks 24 hours a day.

Around mid-April, we’re done. Lynn and Luke sell bottled syrup at their roadside stand. They get to keep 30% of what they sell. This is their earnings, it’s not an allowance. If they want to go to the movies, roller skating, go on a date, this is where they get their money. Lynn is saving up for her first car. Tourists drive out from the city on weekends, for the maple leaf jars of goodness. If they have an EV or a hybrid vehicle, we have a charging station they can use for free. They’re welcome to walk the property while charging up. Some, like the Swensons, have come out every spring for over 50 years. There is a mail-order business also, and the bulk of our bottled sales are through that. We sell as far away as Japan. There's a pastry chef in New York that blows maple candy roses out of it, to put on top of his chocolate torts. We have a picture on the frig of his masterpieces. We are always amazed by how people have used our syrup.

For us, this is our sweetness for the year. Mom occasionally will get raw organic sugar, but for the most part, we put syrup in almost any recipe that calls for sugar,(you just add a little less liquid than called for.) Every morning I put it in my coffee. The kids put it on their oatmeal. It is so good in pancakes, substituting the syrup for the sugar, with almond milk and blueberries, delicious. Of course when the morels come up, sauteed in a little walnut oil and a splash of maple syrup on top, to die for. One of my favorites is berries and whipped cream. We drain chickpeas and use the juice, add a ¼ tsp of cream of tartar, ½ tsp of vanilla extract, then beat it on high speed until it gets a little thick and foamy, then add a pinch or two more of cream of tartar, about a ¼ cup of powdered sugar(this is one of those times,) and whip it until it stiffens. The whipped madness goes under fresh-picked raspberries and huckleberries, with a drizzle of maple syrup on top. This is what mother nature is all about!

The fields will be planted and tended throughout spring, summer, and fall. Then harvested when ripe. There are peas, beans, squash, corn, tomatoes, wheat and so much more. Each will be used fresh, and then canned, frozen, ground, or pickled. Our herbs will be hung to dry and then stored. All of these will be our bounty and nourishment for the year to come.

Of all the harvests, the sweetest is, the maple groves' fresh running sap. Only happiness can come from what you bake or cook, with the nectar of the forest. The energy and joy of the golden-brown syrup is the spark of our well-being, our thoughts, our wisdom, our visions, and our love.