Our Week at Jennings Environmental Center

For the past four years we have spent the third week of March at the Jennings Environmental Center's maple sugaring program. The center invites traditional schools, home schoolers and scout troops to sign up for a 1 hour maple sugaring crash course. The tour begins in the classroom where one of the rangers gives a talk about the biology, chemistry and physical make up of the beautiful maple tree. Students learn about the variety of maple species, how to identify a maple and what makes sap flow in trees. After the talk they go out on the maple trail and have first hand experience of tapping a tree and if the weather is right they see sap dripping into a bucket from a real sugar maple. Jennings has a small sugar bush and throughout the week have the evaporator boiling for the students to see and smell the sap boiling. After the last stop at the evaporator and a taste of the real thing (many of these students and adults think Mrs. Butterworths and Log Cabin is pure maple syrup) they can stop by our booth to purchase a variety of maple products. One of our best sellers in my wife's maple popcorn, and this year we made maple cotton candy (we made a few extra bags and are saving them for Easter). The staff at Jennings are very knowledgeable and provide seminars and classes throughout the year in on a variety of topics. One upcoming seminar thats sounds fun is about the benefits of bats and how to build your own bat house. As always we had a great year and plan to be back next year.

Is the season over?

Due to unseasonably warm weather (we have not had a night below freezing in over a week) we are wondering if the 2010 season could be over. Yesterday it was beautiful and 70F, great for cleaning up the yard and getting the garden ready but not ideal for maple syrup producers. The 7 day forecast is predicting cooler temperatures by mid week but now the question becomes are the tap holes sealing off? As the season goes on the trees begin to seal the holes we drilled in the tree at the end of February, the warmer the weather the faster that process happens. Our hope is they can hang on for another 10 days but we can only wait and see. If the season ended today our crop would be about half what we usually produce. As any farmer can tell you, much depends on circumstances that are out of our control so the best you can do is prepare and hope for the best.

2nd Week in Review

The second week of the 2010 maple season has been a bit of disappointment. The second week of March is typically the one of the biggest production weeks of the season (with only a 4 week harvest season every week counts). The temperatures shot right up into the mid 50's and by Thursday it was 63F. On the bright side our vacuum pumps have been working flawlessly and we have been collecting a slow but steady amount of sap. What does a vacuum pump do, you ask? The pressure differential between inside the tree and the outside atmosphere is what causes sap to flow from the roots up the trunk to the limbs and branches. When it freezes at night the pressure in the tree builds and when it warms up during the day the sap begins to flow. By using vacuum (we pull 22-23" inches) we create an area of low pressure around the tap hole and the tree continues to send sap to that area, which is then pulled into the collection tank. Because it has not been below freezing for over a week, without vacuum we would not be collecting any sap. This is exactly what we have found on the 700 trees we do not have on vacuum. We are hoping the taps hang in there through this next warm spell (it is supposed to be in the 50's until Saturday) because next week looks like better sap weather. On the brighter side my bother and his family made their annual trip home to help out for the maple season. They live outside State College PA, about 2 1/2 hours from us. We were able to cut and split some firewood and he hauled sap from on Saturday. Sunday before his and my father's birthday dinner we put new brakes on the truck. It never fails as soon as sugar season starts, my truck needs some kind of repair. The most costly was a new transmission in the middle of the 2008 season.

First Big Run of 2010 Season

The past few days have been great maple syrup weather. Daytime temperatures have been in the low 40's and below freezing at night. We had our first boil of the year on Saturday (3/6). Today we hauled about 4000 gallons of sap and I plan to get started early in the morning, we should make about 100 gallons of syrup. We found a leaking tank last Wednesday and spent the rest of the day finding replacement tanks (in the picture below you can see the stainless tank in the back round, that is the one we had to abandon for this season. In the other photo, we are pumping sap from the holding tank in the woods. Back at the sugarhouse someone snapped a picture of me playing sudoku. One of my favorite past times while boiling syrup. The last shot is of our kids on a giant snow ball we made two weekends ago. Despite the sunny weather the snowball is still as tall a Jude our oldest son.

Off to bed for a good nights rest!

2010 Maple Season Underway

The 2010 maple season is underway. We have not collected any sap yet (things look good for later in the week) but the tapping is all done. I started on Friday (2/19) and tackled my most difficult sugar bush. It is very steep and rocky, sometimes I'm scrambling up and down these hillsides on my hands and knees all the while carrying a gas powered drill on a strap around my neck. The next week my dad and I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the woods and finished up all 3300 taps just before another one of this winter's snow storms blew into the area. I have to say I am getting a bit anxious to get that first batch of sap in and boiled down.

Our New Jugs Have Arrived

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.

The Art of Pancakes

Now that you have found the best Maple Syrup money can buy (ours of course) please don't even think of pouring it over a frozen waffle or pancake. Pancakes on Sunday, and Saturday morning if time permits, have become somewhat of a ritual, we've made many a batch by trial and error and have learned a few things along the way. Great pancakes are not complicated but do require attention to detail. We would like to share the key ingredients and techniques that will take you to the next level of pancake making.

Flour: There is no substitute for fresh ground flour but if you do not have your own flour mill get the freshest you can find. We use a combination of wheat and white flour. We also add a touch of corn meal to the mix.

Liquid: Buttermilk makes the best pancakes hands down. We also add a dollop of sour cream to enhance the flavor.

The Mixing process: Mixing should be kept to minimum. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients with 7-10 gentle strokes, you will have lumps in the batter. Over stirring activates the gluten in the flour and will make the pancakes tough.

The Resting period: The batter should rest for 5-10 minutes while the skillet heats up. This allows the gluten to relax and moisten some of the lumps of flour in the batter.

The Recipe: (this has been adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

In large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients (my wife makes mixes multiple batches of dry ingredients and stores them in an air tight container for a quick breakfast during the week).

Whisk eggs, add buttermilk, whole milk and sour cream, whisk until blended. Add liquid to dry ingredients, remember stir gently and as little as possible, some lumps should remain. Let the batter rest 5-10 minutes.