2023 Maple Season Wrap Up

The end of maple season in our region arrived with the month of April. We really thought this might be our longest season ever, but the trees had other plans for spring’s arrival. On the last days of March, we started to suspect a ‘metabolic’ or ‘buddy’ off flavor to our sap and syrup. It did not make sense, we still didn’t have super warm weather and the season had been moving right along, but the record warm temperatures in January/February may have caught up with us. We suspect the soil in our woods didn’t experience deep frost before the snow of February and March. The snow can act like blanket, keeping the tree roots warm enough to throw things off. As we approach spring, maple trees experience metabolism changes in sap as they move toward budding and growing leaves. This happens in response to warmer nights, warmer days, and time of year. The typical progression is that our maple syrup begins to move toward the darker grades. The sap changes from clear to cloudy or will appear yellow/green. The texture of the sap also gets thicker or ‘ropy’. This season, we didn’t see as much of a visual change, but the flavor definitely changed and stopped meeting our quality standard. There is a bulk market for off-flavor syrup, but the profit margin is minimal.

After much deliberation and taste testing amongst our crew, we decided to stop collecting sap and had our last production day on April 2nd. That also happened to coincide with our friends and family cookout to celebrate the end of the season. Although we celebrated the end to sleepless nights (someone tell our kids that!) and no days off, it wasn’t as much of a celebration on the culmination of maple production. We were short on our goals this year, and that’s always tough to swallow. Our best guess is we made about 75% of our expected maple syrup crop this year. It should be noted that this is still our most productive season EVER, we we went from 2,500 in 2022 to 7,000 taps in 2023. We had lofty goals, but it will just have to wait until next year. It’s also interesting to talk with other sugarmakers. The end of the season was quite location specific throughout our region - some getting away with a week or two longer than others.

maple tap count
7,000 Taps

First Boil - February 13, 2023
Last Boil - April 2, 2023
**Total Sap Collected**
138,740 Gallons
1.5% Sugar Average
57 Gal sap needed for 1 Gal syrup
**Maple Syrup Total**
2,560 Gallons
**Maple Grades**
Golden Delicate, Amber Rich, Dark Robust

The maple season may have come to a bittersweet end… but we cannot deny how successful of a year it was for visitors and sales. You all showed UP! We were steadily busy every weekend in March and during the first weekend of April. Our maple weekend celebration and first ever pancake breakfast was a huge success. We have so much gratitude for our community’s enthusiasm and dedication to local farms, local food, and hunger to learn about maple syrup production. We were honored to host school groups, the NH Timberland Owners Association, and a 4-H Club. We even had a few visits from fellow sugarmakers. To continue our maple addiction, we made the effort to visit two other sugarhouses at the end of our season to network and learn a few things.

Now we enter spring and pick up the pieces as we tackle all the projects that have been ignored since maple took all our energy. The cows need attention as we head into spring calving. The fields will start to green up and we will start fertilizer spreading and fencing pastures. The firewood processor is put to work making cordwood. Tyler is working through his spring/summer schedule for tree care services and doing consultations. The work never ends, but we love the variety. There is no such thing as boredom with our lifestyle.