Scott goofing around at Sugarbush Farm! Do you know what a sugarbush is? It's where a large group of maple trees grow and are used for maple syrup production, the area is called a "sugarbush".
The Sugarbush - Sugarbush Farm, Woodstock, Vermont taps about 5,000 trees on their 550 acre farm.
The maple sugar season is about 6 weeks long and usually starts in February or early March when temperatures are just right!
This tree has a black plastic spout; plastic tubing will be connected to the spout when the sap begins to flow. The spout is moved at least 6 inches each year when a new hole is drilled.
Up to 100 trees can be connected with the tubing. The sap runs downhill in the tubing and is collected in a large tub at the bottom. This saves a great deal of labor in the collection process.
A tree must be 40 years old before it can be tapped and it will give approximately 10 gallons of sap during a season. The sugaring process takes only 7% of the sap so it's not harmful to the tree.
Sap line
We enjoyed our walk throughout the sugarbush but imagine 2 feet of snow and wearing snowshoes as you gather sap bucket, tap trees, and check lines. Brrrrrrr...
Sap collection bucket - many trees on this farm are still tapped with a metal spout and bucket. Every day sap must be emptied from the bucket because it's perishable until it's boiled.
Scott is looking into the storage tank at the Sugarhouse. 1500 gallons of sap must be collected before they start the fire and begin to boil. Outside the Sugarhouse is a woodshed with 25-35 cords of wood for one season! Once the boiling starts the sugar maker can't leave his job!
The front evaporator pan - the sap gets thicker and thicker as it is boiled. So much steam is generated with the boiling away of the water it's hard to see from one end of the building to the other. When the batch is just right (219 degrees) and the exact density, the sugar maker opens the spigot and "draws off" maple syrup, usually 1 to 3 gallons at a time.
Pipes above the evaporator.
There are 4 grades of maple syrup.
FANCY: Very light in color and a delicate light taste.
GRADE A MEDIUM: A bit more maple flavor, slightly darker. A good all-around pancake syrup and my favorite!
GRADE A DARK: A nice strong maple flavor, used for both table and cooking.
GRADE B: Made at the end of the season, extra strong and Scott's favorite.
80% of the syrup at the store is Grade A, 10% is Fancy, and 10% is Grade B. it seemed to us that Vermonters liked either Fancy or Grade B syrup the best!
In the evening we went to the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction to see the play, Twelve Angry Men. It was very good and done with a multi-racial cast which made it even more thought provoking. We stayed for the call back - it was interesting to hear the actors personal responses to the play.
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