Where the Sap RunsDeep and the Maple is Part of Who We Are

Maple syrup has long been a staple in our home. We probably go through more of it than most people. There are several reasons for this, some may be helpful and inspiring from a nutrition and cooking perspective, and others are entirely personal and part of our storytelling. And there are so many beautiful ways that maple syrup has become this sacred seasonal ritual in our family, and the excitement keeps building. Even my five year old daughter announced over the weekend that March is one of her favorite times of year because of all of the maple syrup. As a proprietor with snow still on the ground here in Upstate New York in late March, her sentiment certainly makes a statement.

So, here we are at the end of March, the height of the maple syrup season. Since landing in Saratoga County just at the foothills of the Adirondacks, there are a number of syrup production houses that we drive out and visit this time of year. One of our most memorable visits was to Toad Hill where they handed our frosted maple sugar cookies with recipe cards, and offered wagon ride tours of their forest, and insights into the challenges of a warming climate. My father who came along for the wagon ride visiting from Ohio gets a kick out of the maple industry here, and with our neighboring Vermont, as we happen to hail from the epicenter of maple syrup in the Midwest, with my hometown hosting a maple syrup festival every spring.

While the process of sugaring is one that more and more of us are connecting to in recent years, the maple season is a seasonal celebration that is engrained in who I am. Above are my grandparents in the early 1960s standing for a picture in their sugar house on the property where I grew up.

It’s also around the same time that JFK and Jacki O visited my hometown’s maple syrup festival and rode in the parade around our town square.

My family boiled until my father, who helped as the sap gatherer for years growing up, turned twenty-one. Growing up myself, there was an area of our woods that still contained a few leftover sap buckets and equipment from the old sugar house that pre-dates my father’s generation and had been used heavily by our ancestors before. I really wish I had a picture of him in the woods on a cold weekend day, collecting sap buckets and listening to the quiet of the trees, and the birds, and maybe the wind. I know these sounds because I too grew up in these same woods.

For me, my childhood consisted of pancake breakfasts in century-old churches, community centers, VFWs, schools, and firehouses. Each spring we head to the maple syrup festival for a maple stir, and I was lucky enough to have memories of evenings spent boiling in sugar houses of friends we knew.

Whether you’re new to maple syrup, or are a diehard small-scale boiler, there is an unquestionable beauty in sugaring as a way to educate, connect to nature, and to enjoy a sweet, healthier, and locally-sourced alternative to sugar. Sending you sweet wishes as we round out maple season and gear up for the month ahead.