It’s March Maple Madness at Maple Valley!

It’s Maple Season and the sap is flowing in the maple woods of all of our cooperative’s farmer-owners and this means it’s March Maple Madness for all us at Maple Valley! 

The Maple Season…

Although the actual maple season only lasts for an average of 4-6 weeks in the spring, a lot of work has been done in the woods leading up to this exciting time. They’ve been checking and fixing the tubing lines in the woods and of course tapping the trees! All of this prep work is critical before the season starts to ensure all systems are ready for when the weather changes and the sap starts flowing. Optimum sugaring weather is when there is a continuous flow of weeks with above freezing days and just below freezing nights. This really gets the sap flowing! Our farmers get a good workout as they walk the slopes and hills of their woods installing lines and drilling and tapping trees. 

All hands on deck!

Sugar season becomes a family affair on our farms with everyone pitching in during the March Maple Madness. Our farmers are passionate about creating a high-quality, organic maple syrup and doing it in a way that is sustainable for the maple woods and their land. One of our Amish maple farmers shared, 

“To me, organic means a traditional, healthy product to sell to the public. It also means protecting my property. This is something we care about a lot because we want our great grandchildren to be able to carry on the tradition.”

The maple making process has begun in the sugar house and the air is heavy like a humid, sweet sauna. It’s warm and delicious smelling in there, much like walking into a bakery in the early morning and the smell of all that freshly baked sweetness assaults your senses. Some of us on the Maple Valley team went on a little visit to one of our farmer’s sugar shacks and saw one of the first batches of the season being boiled and filtered.

How does it go from the tree to barrel?

We’ll get into the details of the maple making process in our next post, so stay tuned for that!

For now, the rest of us can just sit back and reap the delicious rewards of all their hard work in the woods and in the sugar house by enjoying some Maple Valley syrup, sugar or candy!

Organic Banana Maple Bread

I whipped up some moist and delicious Organic Banana Maple Bread using my Grammy’s recipe and Maple Valley sugar. You can find the recipe here – enjoy!