The Agency is about to enter into its 30th year of maple syruping. Normally, the last two weeks of January are spent out in the woods making sure that all the lines have made it through the summer without being damaged by fallen trees. It is also a time to clean out the sugar house, get the evaporator ready and prepare to begin tapping.

This year has been a little bit different. It has been so cold and there is so much snow in the woods, that we haven’t been able to do very much.

We were lucky that Nate Jejer, a student from Paul Smith College, came home over the holidays and supervised the repair and set up of all our sugar bushes. He was also able to clear out several trees which had found their way into the sugar bush. With this major piece of the preseason completed, we are not left to wait for the weather to warm up so that we can begin tapping the trees. At this point, the sugar house is straightened out and ready to go, buckets have been cleaned and ready to be hung. It’s now all up to mother nature. With temperatures in the teens, it’s just been too cold to send our crews out.

We are still looking for high school and middle school students who may be interested in learning one of New England’s most important artisanal skill sets. If you or someone you know are interested in participating, you can contact the Youth Agency at 860.210.2030.