Maple syrup season is fast approaching

Even though it’s been a warmer than normal winter, County maple syrup tappers are not ready to boil sap.
“Every year when the weather gets warm, people speculate on when the sap is going to run,” said Kristi Brannen of Spring Break Maple and Honey. “We do not know the answer to that, but what we do know, is it will run at some point.”
    Two years ago, the Brannens started boiling in February, but it does not look like that will happen this year.
“The sap is not running in this area yet,” said Brannen. “In other parts of the state there are some people that have tapped and some are boiling and some are not.”
The Brannens normally begin their boiling mid-March and this year, it looks right on target.
“Our first boil will come in March, but we are not sure what day,” Brannen explained. “It does not harm the trees to tap early and our best year was the year we started making maple syrup in February.”
Spring Break Maple and Honey tap 3,000 trees on 80 acres and the production last year yielded just under 800 gallons of syrup. The Brannens began the business in 1998, after many years as hobbyists. The Brannens installed a tubing system that collects sap from the trees and brings it to their sugar house.
Maine Maple Sunday is March 25 and Spring Break Maple and Honey will be open to the public Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We will have a guided woodlot tour at 1 p.m., taffy on the snow and a maple candy demonstration,” said Brannen. “People will also have the opportunity to see our new vacuum system and new evaporator in action.”
For more information on Maine Maple Sunday visit www.mainemapleandhoney.com, www.getrealmaine.com or www.mainemapleproducers.com.
“As for the taste and the grade of the maple syrup, we will not know that until the season is well under way,” Brannen explained. “Many people speculate on how the season is going to go and how the syrup will taste, but what we do know is that it will depend on the weather for the next five to six weeks once the saps starts to flow. Below freezing nights and warm days will make for a good season.”
Spring Break Maple and Honey is located at 3315 U.S. Route 2 in Smyrna Mills and is open Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Call toll free at 1-800-281-0021.
“During maple season if you see steam rising from the building, we are open,” added Brannen.
Charlene Bradbury, who co-owns Bradbury Maple Farms in Bridgewater with her husband, Boyd, said she doesn’t expect to begin production before mid-March.
“We’re right about on schedule for tapping; we’re going to start tapping trees hopefully within the next few days,” she explained to Star-Herald reporter Scott Mitchell Johnson. “But normally our maple syrup making season (boiling of sap) in northern Maine doesn’t start until around March 20.
“Two years ago we had very little snow and a very early season, and while they were tapping the first week in March, the sap was running so much that they had to stop tapping and start boiling,” she said. “That was very unusual. This year’s winter has been very mild and there’s been very little snow, but you really need to have several days in a row of mild temperatures (preferable in the 40s during the daytime and down in the 20s at night) — more than just one or two — in order for it to really get flowing enough to make it worthwhile to get started what with the evaporator and all the apparatus that’s involved.”
Bradbury said the last two years have yielded high quantities of maple syrup.
“The past two years have been our highest in production, but it’s just like growing potatoes … we have no control really. The weather controls it all,” she said. “We’re optimistic — and certainly hopeful — that it will be a good year, but we’re just going to take whatever we get one day at a time and hopefully in the end we’ll have about the same as we did last year which was in excess of 700 gallons.”
The Bradburys have owned the business for 28 years, but the property actually dates back more than 75 years in the family history. They have more than 3,000 taps on their trees across 80 acres. Sap flows through an intricate network of tubing into a building where, after several processes to remove water, it becomes syrup.
As the Bradburys keep an eye on the weather, Charlene is currently booking educational tours.
“Some teachers are already scheduling visits,” she said, “and we will be having our open house events the last two weekends in March and the first two weekends in April. We’ll also be participating in Maine Maple Sunday (March 25).
“This is always a good time for us and our family,” she said, “and we encourage people to stop by and learn more about the process.”
Bradbury Maple Farms is located at 202 BootFoot Road. For more information, log onto www.bradburymaple.com, e-mail info@bradburymaple.com or call 429-8306.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator and maple syrup expert Kathy Hopkins in the Somerset County office in Skowhegan said most sap harvesters began tapping two weeks ago, and some are already boiling sap into syrup. She predicts a healthy maple syrup season, barring sudden and extreme warm weather, which could force an early end to the season without the usual snow cover that helps keep the environment cool and constant in the woods.
“It’s a little early,” she said, “but if it stays with temperatures like this, we’ll be good.”
Last year Maine produced 360,000 gallons of maple syrup.