Bev and I are childhood sweethearts who recently celebrated 47 years of marriage. We’ve lived on the edge of a forest for more than 30 years, where we operate a tree farm with several fields of red pine and balsam. We’re one of the few places in our neck of the woods where families can still come to select and cut their own Christmas tree. In addition to our planting, we carefully manage many acres of hardwood forest for healthy growth and improved quality.
One of my first jobs as a young man of 12 was hauling maple sap for a local sugar bush, and the experience left me with many fond memories and a fascination for the syrup-making process. That “bug” lay dormant for almost 50 years, but we tested our interest in 2013 with a small syrup start-up of 250 taps. When we retired from our family business in 2017, the bug proved to be a rather difficult case, and we nearly tripled our number of taps.
With our expansion, we are now state licensed and very proud of our quality maple syrup. Our operation is extremely clean, and we strive to process the sap quickly, stop the process at exactly the correct temperature, and filter press the syrup. The end product is a bottle of beautiful, crystal-clear amber color to which we proudly add the Maplecrest label.