Courtney Rogers led an enthusiastic group of 30 adults on Saturday, March 8th, around her family’s maple farm on a picturesque piece of land in Warner, New Hampshire. The Sap2Syrup tour was organized by Jamie Wilson of the wonderful Ausborn Sargent Land Preservation Trust.*
Courtney explained that her husband Kalvin is an expert who has been tapping maple trees since he was a boy. His father Philip started as a young child and built his first sugar shack when he was 13 years old in the late 1950’s with lumber his older brother gave him. When Phillip married, sugaring became a family affair and his son Kalvin absorbed Phillip’s passion. You could say that sap runs in their veins. Sadly Philip passed away in 2017 but his legacy lives on.
For years they used those ubiquitous buckets that you see hanging from the lower trunk on maple trees this time of year. Using buckets was a labor intensive method which resulted in an equally delicious product, but now thanks to advancement in equipment for harvesting, filtering, and processing; a season can yield more syrup.
Kalvin taps each of his 4,000 maple trees which are connected by a series of tubes that bring the sap to the sugar house with vacuum action. Courtney explained that she and Kalvin sometimes walk around their 120 acres of land and listen for leaks. I think it’s safe to say they know all their trees intimately.
After our brisk walk in the sunny woods, we were treated to a tour of the sugar house where we met Kalvin, his mom Marian, and his helpmate Roger Andrus. They pointed out all the tubes, filters, and monitors. Kalvin told us that he recently purchased a reverse osmosis machine which takes some of the water out of the sap. The more concentrated sap takes much less time to boil and and uses much less wood. Kalvin used to burn 40 cords of wood each season but now burns only 10. The farm yields more than 1,000 gallons of syrup during the short season (March and April). The water that was separated doesn’t go to waste. Kalvin runs it through the tubes, pipes, and vats at the end of the day to clean them.
After they patiently answered all our questions, we were in for an unexpected treat. Marian handed everyone a tiny cup of still warm syrup. What flavorful, buttery, maple syrup! I could taste the pride and love that went into their 'liquid gold.'
Ines Wishart who is the vice president of the garden club arranged with Courtney for a private tour for the club next March. Keep an eye out next year for the field trip to Rogers' Maple Farm.
Here's the website for Rogers' Maple Syrup: nhliquidgold.com
Here's the website for Ausborn Sargent Land Preservation Trust: https://www.ausbonsargent.org/
*A portion of the walk was on the adjacent Brown Family's Frazier Brook Farm which Ausbon Sargent holds a conservation easement on. The conservation easement protects the Brown property in perpetuity and allows the land to be open to agricultural activities such as sugaring.
Courtney explained that her husband Kalvin is an expert who has been tapping maple trees since he was a boy. His father Philip started as a young child and built his first sugar shack when he was 13 years old in the late 1950’s with lumber his older brother gave him. When Phillip married, sugaring became a family affair and his son Kalvin absorbed Phillip’s passion. You could say that sap runs in their veins. Sadly Philip passed away in 2017 but his legacy lives on.
For years they used those ubiquitous buckets that you see hanging from the lower trunk on maple trees this time of year. Using buckets was a labor intensive method which resulted in an equally delicious product, but now thanks to advancement in equipment for harvesting, filtering, and processing; a season can yield more syrup.
Kalvin taps each of his 4,000 maple trees which are connected by a series of tubes that bring the sap to the sugar house with vacuum action. Courtney explained that she and Kalvin sometimes walk around their 120 acres of land and listen for leaks. I think it’s safe to say they know all their trees intimately.
After our brisk walk in the sunny woods, we were treated to a tour of the sugar house where we met Kalvin, his mom Marian, and his helpmate Roger Andrus. They pointed out all the tubes, filters, and monitors. Kalvin told us that he recently purchased a reverse osmosis machine which takes some of the water out of the sap. The more concentrated sap takes much less time to boil and and uses much less wood. Kalvin used to burn 40 cords of wood each season but now burns only 10. The farm yields more than 1,000 gallons of syrup during the short season (March and April). The water that was separated doesn’t go to waste. Kalvin runs it through the tubes, pipes, and vats at the end of the day to clean them.
After they patiently answered all our questions, we were in for an unexpected treat. Marian handed everyone a tiny cup of still warm syrup. What flavorful, buttery, maple syrup! I could taste the pride and love that went into their 'liquid gold.'
Ines Wishart who is the vice president of the garden club arranged with Courtney for a private tour for the club next March. Keep an eye out next year for the field trip to Rogers' Maple Farm.
Here's the website for Rogers' Maple Syrup: nhliquidgold.com
Here's the website for Ausborn Sargent Land Preservation Trust: https://www.ausbonsargent.org/
*A portion of the walk was on the adjacent Brown Family's Frazier Brook Farm which Ausbon Sargent holds a conservation easement on. The conservation easement protects the Brown property in perpetuity and allows the land to be open to agricultural activities such as sugaring.
Courtney points out a tap which connects to one of the black tubes that lead to the sugar house.
When the walk continued to the Brown family's land, Jamie Wilson of Ausborn Sargent Land Preservation Trust explained how the conservation easement protects the land forever.
GGC Vice President Ines Wishart heading back to the sugar house
Note the five black tubes where the sap enters the sugar house.
The five black tubes feed the sap into the 'releaser.'
Kalvin Rogers took time to patiently explain the sap to syrup process.
Roger Andrus in the steamy sugar house
Marian Rogers explains the last filter before the maple syrup is bottled.