JACKSONVILLE — Speaking through the billowing steam of the evaporator at Sprague and Sons Sugarhouse, Marty Sprague deftly avoids jinxing what is shaping up to be a very good sugaring season in Windham County.
“I don't like to say how the season is until it's over,” said Sprague, who nonetheless spoke with some optimism.
“We collected the most sap ever in February over a week-and-a-half span,” he said.
Amanda Voyer was less wary. The communications manager at the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association reported that as of mid-March, some sugarers reported having gathered 70 percent of their projected crop.
“There is a good chance for a record year for some sugarers,” she said.
Locally, “It's been a tale of two seasons,” said Rob Wheeler of Wheeler Farm in Wilmington. “We had a good early start in February - in just a few days we were boiling. This year was as early as we've ever started.”
Windham County sugarers reported the biggest challenge this season has been sap line maintenance due to the extreme cold and snow that followed the strong February run.
“The little snow in February made tapping trees and getting around very easy,” said Wheeler.
But all that changed in March.
The cold weather returned, along with two nor'easters and close to 5 feet of snow, and sugarers in the Deerfield River Valley waited 17 days until the sap started flowing again.
“You think you put some lines in high enough, but who knew we would get this much snow,” Wheeler said.
The snow holds down the overnight temperatures better during the spring, which is an advantage in the late season, but some of the colder-than-usual March nights this year have shortened the number of daytime hours that are warm enough for the sap to run.
On the bright side? “The bears aren't out yet,” said Sprague. Bears are one of the bigger critters that can damage sap lines by chewing them. Squirrels are also on that list.
Wheeler's family has been sugaring since 1931, full-time since 1982. “We've never missed a year,” he said.
“We've been getting a good mix of the top two grades: Amber Rich and some Golden Delicate,” he observed. “We're on track for a good season.”
“We get pretty stoked on it,” said Wheeler. “I'm not sure why it affects us the way it does. Maybe it's because it's the first crop of the year, and you're coming out of winter, looking into spring.”
The maple boom
While farmers are tapping some of the same trees they did as children, a testament to the sustainability of the maple business, the landscape of the industry has changed with tremendous growth over the past 20 years.
“Not long ago we [Vermont] had 1 million taps,” said Sprague. “Now we make 1{1/2} million gallons of syrup.”
Vermont has quadrupled production since 2000, with five times the number of taps, generating 50 percent of the United States crop in 2017.
The state led the nation in production in 2017 at nearly 2 million gallons of maple syrup, and reported 46 days of sap collecting - the most in the country - according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture.
The popularity of maple syrup has been lifted by a perfect storm of generational movements toward sustainability, healthy and creative eating, and increased interest in cultivating one's own food.
“People are more and more interested in their food, and the source of their food,” Voyer added.
Maple sugaring has been consistently used in Vermont's educational system to open the minds of young people to the potential of the forest's natural resources, and these days, according to Voyer, more and more adults are sugaring in their backyards.
“Maple syrup is a true heritage product,” she points out. “It dates back to the Native Americans.”
The unrefined pureness and simplicity of maple syrup - “an inherently organic product,” Voyer said - makes it very appealing to healthy eaters, she added.
“Of your sugar options, maple syrup has the most nutritive content with naturally occurring minerals and antioxidants,” she said.
The versatility of maple syrup has also been explored by distillers, brewers, and chefs alike in recent years, further bolstering popularity and market growth, as what was once just a waffle topping is being added as an ingredient in beers and even cider.
Maple infusions have become popular as sugarers are adding flavors like bourbon, hibiscus, cinnamon and vanilla, to the mix.
“A lot of people are using maple syrup as a flavor profile,” said Voyer. “They are putting it in cocktails and even choosing to sweeten their coffee with it.”
Brattleboro's Saxton River Distillery was ahead of the curve when the company started using maple syrup in their award winning craft spirits, which now include Sapling Maple Liqueur, Sapling Maple Bourbon, and Sapling Maple Rye. (“The liqueur was the original, but or top seller is the bourbon,” said founder, owner, and lead distiller Christian Stromberg. “Most people drink bourbon, but the rye really benefits from the toning down from the maple syrup.”) Putney Mountain Winery also sells a local apple-maple wine.
Wheeler boils down an explanation of maple's appeal, alone or as ingredients in other foods.
“It's a good product,” he said. “People like it.”
Advances in maple tech
Another reason for the maple syrup boom is the multiple advances in sugaring technology.
Reverse-osmosis machines substantially reduce the amount of water in the sap before it arrives at the boiler. This reduces evaporating time significantly, translating to reduced fuel costs.
New vacuum systems increase the amount of sap extracted from trees to a level described by Rob Wheeler as “oodles and oodles.” These tubing systems have all but eliminated labor costs for gathering buckets. The tubing used in these systems performs very well during cold weather, giving sugarers access to the early January and February runs.
The “health spout” is a tap that minimizes damage to the maple trees, removing less than a third of the wood than the traditional taps but retaining 90 percent of the yield, Sprague said.
“They are not called 'health spouts' anymore because they are so commonly used”, said Sprague.
Even the internet has pushed the production of this heritage product into the future.
“Sugarmakers watch the weather real close starting in February,” said Grant Fisher of Sprague Farm, who performs many tasks there - including predicting when the sap will run.
“With the internet, you can look 10 days out,” Fisher said.
Sugarer's spirit
Sugaring is hard, year-round work, and not for those with any aversion to manual labor. Stoking the evaporator during boiling season is just the last physical task of many throughout the calendar, including splitting and stacking wood, vehicle and equipment maintenance, and other chores. Maple producers endure miles and miles of hiking and snowshoeing through the sugarbush.
“You get to be in the woods,” said Marty Sprague. “I love that. That's the best.”
For many sugarers, the rigors of the sugaring season add to the existing demands of commercial farming.
“While we have all this sugaring tech, we still have to milk cows,” said Wheeler. “It's intense, but it's for a short period of time.”
For the Spragues and the Wheelers, the anticipation, the excitement, and the enjoyment of the sugaring season overshadows the extra work.
“You're always hoping that next year is going to be better than the last,” Wheeler said. “You're hoping for your best year.”
“We're farmers,” he said. “We're optimists. That's what we do”.