Promising season for maple sugarers

Quebec may produce more than 80 percent of the world's maple syrup, but breakfast at a Valley sugarhouse should prove there's plenty to be had right here at home.
And for those who haven't joined others dining out on pancakes, French toast or waffles smothered with syrup, the time to act is now, as a strong sugaring season gathers steam.
Tom McCrumm, who oversees the Massachusetts Maple Association and makes syrup in Ashfield, said the season has 'started out with a bang.

'Everyone's real happy. Some people have made a third of their crop in four days,' he said. 'If the rest of the season goes well, we'll have a good crop. But it's agriculture, so you never know.'
The season so far is a welcome change from last year, which featured a bitterly cold March that forced a late start to sugaring in mid-month.

In contrast, recent days have brought temperatures above freezing during the day and then a return to freezing at night - the recipe for strong sap flow.
Kathryn Vreeland, a climatologist with the Northeast Climate Center, projects below-normal temperatures for the Northeast region. 'We tend to lean toward the cooler scenarios of the forecasts,' she said. 'I guess it just depends on how high those daytime temperatures are for the maple people.'

In full swing

Joe Boisvert of the North Hadley Sugar Shack said his operation is in full swing as he and his family produce the syrup that almost instantly lands upon his customers' plates. He started boiling sap March 2 and has no complaints about the season so far.
He said production is about average when compared to years past. His breakfast tables attracted around 480 people on a recent Sunday.

'It's the farming way of life,' Boisvert said. 'You have to put up with the weather, hope it lasts at least into the first week of April and hope people come out for this great Massachusetts tradition.'

Anita Aloisi of Hanging Mountain Farm on North Road in Westhampton made her first batch of syrup last Friday and is getting good results from her 1,100 taps. She too sees significantly improved results over last year, but added the yield has been lower since the early 1990s.
But it's more of an observation than a complaint. She said hundreds have been crowding into the farm's Strawbale Cafe. Though open year round, her business over the sugar season has seen a significant increase compared to other months.

Massachusetts produced 30,000 gallons of maple syrup last year, amounting to a harvest with an estimated value of $1,960,000, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Brian Rowe of High Hopes Farm Sugar House on Route 112 in Worthington said he hopes to make 300 and 600 gallons of syrup this season. He added it's hard to count your gallons before they drip out of the tree.

'We started off great,' he said, 'and as long as the weather holds, we'll hold in there and keep making syrup.'

According to Rowe, overnight temperatures should reach around 27 degrees with daytime temperatures varying between 37 to 42 degrees, with little wind.

When the outside temperature swings back and forth over the freezing point, it creates a pressure within the tree that helps force sap through the plastic lines that connect each tree in his sugarbush to the sugarhouse.

Rowe said maintaining the lines has been easier this year, though buried or lost lines are inevitable. He said the snow not only aids in creating continuous moisture, but a hard crust allows for him to walk on its surface when in the woods, rather than trudging through heavy snowfall.

However, the snowpack is deep in the Hilltowns - and in three layers. It is proving difficult to traverse for some. 'It makes it hard to get out there (and it) knocks a lot of limbs and lines down that then get buried in the snow,' said McCrumm, who operates South Face Farm in Ashfield.
McCrumm said the region's maple trees appear to be healthy. 'We had an insect problem a few years back, but like any insect problem, they come and go. Nothing reported this year. ... You can never predict a crop ahead of time.'

'I love managing the forest and expanding. A forest with a crop like this is like a garden. You need to cultivate it, take out weeds, cut brush and give them room to grow without competition,' McCrumm said. 'You have to make them the most productive for your target, a lot of work with snowshoes.'

Bringing it in

Gravity aids in the process of gathering sap, as the network of tubes resembles ancient aqueducts, bringing tree sap from far away to be boiled down to syrup.
Maple farmers use evaporators to change the sap to syrup. According to Mass. Maple, once the temperature reaches 7.5 degrees above the boiling point of water, the sap has reached the proper density to become syrup. It take around 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Maple sap is 98 percent water and 2 percent sugar; the syrup is 33 percent water and 67 percent sugar.

Syrup is divided into two grades: A and B. Grade A is divided into light, medium and dark ambers, each having different flavors and viscosity. Grade B is a cooking syrup usually made toward the end of the five-week season, just before the 'off flavors' settle in and the outside temperatures cease to cooperate.

But according to a weather.com extended forecast, farmers can expect much more of what they've seen so far, with daytime temperatures averaging 46 degrees and overnight lows at 27 degrees.

In the meantime, Boisvert said he and his staff will be working hard.
'We're hoping to get to the first week of April, at least,' he said. 'But it all comes down to the temperatures, so you have to cut the hay while the sun shines.'