One thing is for sure; you are not making syrup without a maple tree. To find land with a viable maple resource on it, at a fair price in Vermont is a nearly impossible task. We started floating the idea of buying land a long time ago. We looked at numerous parcels with very open minds and lots of optimism but they all fell through for one reason or another. We’re glad most of them fell through and I’m surprised at what I thought would work. We looked at land-locked parcels, really steep parcels on mountainsides and at one point I researched how to build a bridge to gain access. Oh my goodness am I glad those all fell through!

I remember when I first saw our current land listed for sale. We had no money to buy it with after major house renovations and I had to make an effort to not look at the listing. It had what we were looking for and no apparent drama. I swore to myself I would avoid the website with the listing and I did for about 9 months. Surprisingly when we were in a position to buy it was somehow still for sale! Something had to be wrong with it, why else would it still be for sale. I asked and Katie approved a drive to go look at it.

We wrote down the directions, loaded the kids in the truck, packed appropriate provisions and headed out. As we got closer we noticed the road start to narrow as we gained elevation. The snow banks grew into small mountain ranges. There were no houses, just access points to some state land that surrounds the area. We drove past a small pond that had some camps buried in snow. When the narrow road got narrower and the snow banks kept growing I figured we were starting to see why it was still for sale. It was still for sale because it was on the other side of some portal that had brought us to the North Pole!

We parked and got snow clothes on the kiddos and climbed over, no exaggeration, 7 foot tall snow banks. I think I made a joke about all the exercise I’d get shoveling the snow, Katie sort of smiled. We trudged into the woods happy to stay on top of the snow. We made a small loop and sure enough, the woods were thick with what we were looking for; the sugar maple tree! There were a lot of them. We only saw a small bit of the land as we were all working hard to get around but we knew we should try to buy this thing.

We made a few more exploratory trips, called some real estate agents and banks. We might have even drilled a few holes to check the sugar content of the sap. We saw some good numbers! I found the corners of the property and did all the things you should do before buying land.

The buying process took much longer than expected. We even promised a gallon of maple syrup to the seller every year for the rest of her life if she would stick with us as buyers! After a whole summer of learning how to buy land we finally closed on the parcel late in August. We were relieved and felt nervous excitement as we knew the work was just beginning. I now had to get it set up to sell sap. I had to run the tubing to as many maple trees as I could before winter set in. We had to find a buyer for the sap. We had to build a structure to house the vacuum pump and releaser. We had to get a sap tank delivered and build a roof on it. We hired help where we could but our family of 4 did the majority of it. We had some very nice people come to help with the setup who graciously donated their time.

That first year was a whirlwind of unfamiliar ground for first time buyers like us. What got us through it? It might have been some luck and our ability to work hard. It might have been all the help we got from the people on the team we assembled. The one thing I’m fairly sure of that enabled our acquisition is the strength of our family and our desire to run a maple business.

We certainly did not get everything right. We have messed things up and missed out on opportunities but that is how it goes. Maple sugaring is one of the most volatile and competitive forms of agriculture, but in a way that is what lures us in. I can’t think of anything better for a combat vet like myself to do. Sugaring ain’t combat but it is certainly attention grabbing at times. Sugaring has a similar sense of urgency. The production and income producing period is only a few weeks out of the year so you better not mess it up. Your shit better be wired tight. We ended up selling all the sap while not breaking any equipment, not going bankrupt and staying married. It was a success!

We are happy to own land and I hope you enjoyed reading a little about our first year in Walden VT. Our second year on the land sounds a great blog post of its own. We’ve expanded the tubing, built a pump station and we are staring the construction of a sugar house right in the eye. Stay tuned!