2024 Maple Month is Coming to an End
While some of us are losing steam (get it?) as we near the end of our busiest season, we did just finish a four night stretch of boiling at the sugarhouse. It has certainly been a weird season and an even weirder two weeks. After spring-like weather and a total meltdown of our snow pack, Mother Nature roared back to life last Saturday. The spring snowstorm dropped over 20 inches of snow in the Sunapee area. Skiers were thrilled and the cold weather gave us a temporary break from collecting sap. As always, the snow brought plenty of plowing and extra work for us farmers. We also had a structure collapse over one of the sap tanks in our woods which involved a bunch of Sunday clean up. The barnyards and driveways are back to muddy conditions, and we could certainly use some more sunshine. We appreciate the good attitudes of our visiting customers over the weekend who braved the snow to stop at retail shop despite a limited staff and no boiling demonstration.
As far as the 2024 season stats go, it has been an interesting week of developments. It’s been a steady week for sap collection since the storm. The sap color and clarity has been good and the sugar content of the sap came back from just under 1% to a respectable 1.3%. At 1.3% we make 1 gallon of syrup from every 66 gallons of maple sap. Not ideal, but certainly better than we’ve seen this season. Over the past two nights, our grade has lightened from an Amber Rich to a Golden Delicate for the first time this year. This is strange and certainly not predicted. We are maintaining decent flavor and monitoring sap closely for changes in its chemistry which affects our syrup quality. We’ve seen signs of spring and boiling beyond a certain point will generate off flavors in the syrup. We’re hopeful to keep boiling into next week to break last years record of 2,600 gallons of maple syrup.
Our last open sugarhouse is Saturday, March 30th with decent weather and a lot of sap to boil. Stop in for a tour, visit, and shop our farm store. We’ve also got small syrup bottles, maple candy, and cream for last minute Easter gifts. See you there!
maple tap count
5,700 Taps
First Boil - January 29th, 2024
26 boiling days
Total Sap Collected so far…
160,000 Gallons
1.3% Sugar Average
66 Gal sap needed for 1 Gal syrup
Maple Syrup Total as of 3/28
2,440 Gallons
Maple Grades
Amber Rich, Dark Robust, Golden Delicate
We’re stocked with various sizes and bottles of Amber Rich and Dark Robust Maple Syrup. Grab your Easter supply of maple candy, granulated sugar and cream! Open hours at the sugarhouse are Saturday ONLY - 10am till 4:30 pm.
ALSO - I highly encourage you to join our email newsletter community (entry form at bottom of webpage). This is our only guaranteed way of getting you all the latest info on our farm goods and upcoming events.
be healthy, support local, think maple
~Kelly Webb