Vermont Roots

Growing up in Northeastern Vermont I was always exposed to the sugaring process. The smell of the sweet steam created when boiling maple sap is something that sticks with you forever. I remember my first exposure to this sweet steam at my uncle Cliff’s large sugaring operation in the early 80’s in Kirby Vt. There was no road leading to the sugarhouse so a weasel ride through a field was required to get there. I was too young to remember many details of his first sugarhouse but a story told over and over again is how the wall by the evaporator smokestack would sometimes catch on fire! A pump style fire extinguisher filled with water is what was used to put the fire out so everyone could get back to sugaring.

As his operation grew to 12,000 taps, he moved into a sugarhouse on route 114 between Lyndonville and East Burke. There was no reverse osmosis then, or if it was around he surely did not own one, as he had 5 evaporators in his mammoth sized sugarhouse all manned by their own crew. A couple were wood fired, a couple were oil fired and one was used for the finishing. I do remember the sugaring scene in this sugarhouse quite well. One memory that sticks out is being on top of the mountain of firewood in the corner while someone was scooping wood from the same pile with a front-loader! This was quite the scene and it apparently left an impression on me.

The sugaring at our sugarhouse is much more tame and probably not as memorable but we like it just the same!