By Aaron Lefland, Forestry and Stewardship Coordinator
The 2015 maple sugaring season was anything from typical. Due to an unusually cold and snowy winter, the sap did not start flowing until mid-March, almost a month later than most years. In addition, warm temperatures in early April shortened the usually 6-week season to a mere 4 weeks. Fortunately, those 4 weeks were incredibly productive and the 2015 season was another success.
2015 By the Numbers:
Maple sugaring is one of those things that can best be explained using numbers. So, rather than describe our season, we have created a list of numbers to help summarize everything we accomplished this year:
450: Number of buckets hung on trees around the town of Weston
12: Number of days that sap was collected
4100 gallons: Total volume of sap collected this season
600 gallons: Largest single-day collection total
200 feet: Length of the “sapuaduct”; a temporary tubing system that allowed easier collection of sap in the deep snow
7 cords: Amount of firewood used to produce all of our syrup
130 hours: Amount of time Aaron and Cam spent boiling sap into syrup
250 people: Number of attendees at this year’s Sugaring Off Festival
393: Number of kindergardeners and first graders who visited the sugar shack
13: Number of middle school students in the after school program who are now expert sugar makers
84 gallons: Total volume of syrup produced (a 12% increase form 2014!)
That’s All Folks!
As you have seen in our past blog posts, making maple syrup is no easy task. At Land’s Sake, we are proud to continue this New England tradition and share the experience with our volunteers, middle school after-school program, and visiting school groups. We are sad to see the maple season go, but will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor for the remainder of the year. If you are interested in purchasing our maple syrup, please visit our farm stand when it opens on June 6th.
