Tap around Lake Michigan for a bevy of maple-syrup season events.
By Dawn Williams From the February/March 2006 Issue
Salvaged Beauty Furniture and sculpture combine in Floyd Gompf’s creations.
Golden Arches Andy Goldsworthy leaves a lasting impression in Grand Rapids.
Gentlemen, Wax Your Mustaches! Barbershop quartets throughout the Midwest prepare to hit a high note.
Guerilla Radio Harbor Country’s grassroots radio prevails in the age of Clear Channel.
Lake Magazine covers the hottest information on the Lake Michigan area.
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It’s tapping season in the Midwest. For a few short weeks, the oldest agricultural enterprise in America kicks into high gear as maple syrup farmers work around the clock, tending their orchards and collecting enough sap to fill buckets and barrels with the first sticky crop of the season. Take a walk in the woods, tap a tree, and witness the age-old art of turning sap into sugar by visiting a local
sugar shack.
The process of making genuine maple syrup has not changed much from the pioneer days. Sure, some farmers have elaborate systems of tubes running from their trees into a production facility, but many others stick to more traditional methods. Michigan Maple Syrup Association President Tom Cook became fascinated with producing syrup as a young boy. “My parents used to take me out in the woods and show me how to identify a maple tree and tap it and make the syrup,” says the owner of Cook’s Sugar Bush in Niles, Mich. “Maple syrup is the first farm crop harvested each year, but it’s a challenge because everything depends on timing and weather.”
While the season can last for six to 10 weeks, the heavy sap may run for only 10 to 20 days. According to Cook, whose award-winning syrup is sold around the world, the best conditions for tapping require warm, sunny days and freezing nights because a rapid rise in temperature (25 to 45 degrees) creates pressure inside the tree and helps to force the sap out. To make things even trickier, 40 gallons of sap are required to produce just one gallon of standard syrup.
It’s a challenging process, but those dedicated people who respect and love the art of making real maple syrup take their time with the craft. Ruth Rupp, owner of Ocooch Mountain Acres in Westby, Wis., is a perfect example. Rupp’s been farming syrup for ages and recently joined forces with the University of Wisconsin to research the nutritional value of light syrup vs. dark.
“Our results will soon be presented to the USDA. It’s pretty exciting,” says Rupp, who’s proud to open her doors year-round to the public. “But March is when people can come out to the farm, watch us collect sap and see how we boil it down in the evaporator.” For families who want to soak in the entire experience of farming, Rupp rents out her 100-year-old Loft of Logan’s Mill guesthouse. Renovated from a 19th-century seed mill, the cozy loft sits atop the Ocooch bottling plant.
Indiana residents young and old should head to Bendix Woods County Park, located in New Carlisle. According to Tom Cook, “They’ve cornered the market on maple syrup celebrations.” The park’s annual Sugar Camp Days Festival will be on March 11 and 12 and promises a fun-filled weekend that starts off with a pancake and sausage breakfast. Guided tours of the sugar shack are only the beginning; visitors can also watch Native American cooking demonstrations, listen to great live musical entertainment, and enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides.
In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Nature Center puts on a lively family event on March 18 and 19 that also begins with a pancake breakfast and offers tours of the sugar bush plus a behind-the-scenes look at how maple syrup is made. Kids love the center’s popular maple-flavored cotton candy.
There’s no better way to welcome the sights and sounds of spring than to walk the woods and experience the natural wonder of maple syrup season.
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