Since our first year of retail sales Old State Farms has purchased plastic jugs from a local supplier that can be used by any Pennsylvania maple producer. In the beginning this worked great because we could buy a few cases at a time and simply put our label on the jugs. As our business has grown we decided it was time to have jugs made with our own Old State Farms label. This is a big step in the world of maple syrup producers. For one it requires a significant capital investment (artwork charges, screens for the printing, minimum order of 20 cases of each size). Secondly you are now officially your own brand are held to higher quality standards. We welcomed the challenges of both and in October took a trip to New Hampshire to pickup our first order of jugs from the Bacon Jug company. We originally had a freight company lined up to deliver the jugs but when I heard it would cost $1500 I decided to go myself. My wife wasn't going to miss a chance to visit the White Mountains so at 3am on a Tuesday morning we packed the whole family in the truck and headed for Littleton NH, 12 hours later we loading the boxes on to the trailer. We spent the rest of the day enjoying Littleton which is home to Chutters candy store (it has the longest candy counter in the world, 112ft). I took advantage of the quite country roads and went for a relaxing bike ride. After breakfast on Wednesday we off headed for home. The trip home was bit unnerving for the for few hours, towing this albatross of cardboard, plastic wrap and cargo straps down the highway. After the first few looks of disbelief of my fellow travels on the highway I decided just to look straight ahead when cars went past. We made it home safe and sound and didn't lose any boxes in the process.
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