Farm Sugarhouse
Sugaring is a special art handed down from generation to generation, and Vermonters take pride in producing the highest quality maple syrup in the world!Rowell Sugarhouse in Walden, Vermont is the sugaring operation featured in this article. It's a family affair with native Vermonters, Norbert and Gloria Rowell with an occasional helping hand from their children and grandchildren. Sugaring season only lasts about 6 weeks each spring, but visitors are always welcome at their authentic sugarhouse which is open year'round... Norbert & Gloria say to come as you are!
Sugaring time begins when the cold February winter weather and snows start to give way to the March thaw and Vermont sugar makers put on their snow shoes and drill the new "tap holes" into the sugar maple trees that produce the sweet maple sap. Before a tree is mature enough to be tapped, it must be about 40 years old, "a foot through", and about 60 feet tall. With the buckets hanging on the trees or the plastic tubing (pipeline) tapped into the trees, they're ready for the warm days and freezing cold nights that will make the sap "run". (It doesn't actually run...it only drips, and a "good run" means that the sap from the tap hole is dripping faster.
During sugaring season, each tap may produce, drip by drip, some 40 quarts of pure maple sap. Norbert said that he expects to have 2,600 taps this season. During this time every run is hauled to the sugarhouse to be boiled. If you get a chance to visit a sugarhouse at this time of year, you will see great clouds of steam coming from the cupola. As you step in the door, you will be treated with the heavenly aroma of sweet maple and lots more steam. You'll hear the fire crackling as you step closer to the arch, which is the center of attention. You'll look into the evaporator and see the sap boiling under tremendous heat in a foaming, rolling boil that looks for all the world like animated cotton candy. When you're at the sugarhouse, ask Gloria, who does all the boiling, for a taste of fresh, hot maple syrup...no one can resist!
It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to produce just one gallon of pure maple syrup. The sap is collected in the sugarbush into stainless steel holding tanks. It is then transferred to a tank behind a 4-wheel drive tractor for it's trip to the sugarhouse. It also takes an awful lot of firewood! To make 564 gallons last year, they burned 30 cords of wood. (A cord of wood is 8 feet long, 4 feet high, and 4 feet wide). At Rowell Sugarhouse, when Norbert brings a load of sap from the sugarbush it is piped to overhead storage tanks in the sugarhouse. From there it is piped to the preheater which sits on top of the back pan of the evaporator. The sap is already piping hot by the time it goes into the evaporator. It works it's way through a maze of compartments until it finally comes to the draw-off end of the evaporator where it is carefully tested for density. It is there that the sap that originally entered the preheater is officially declared to be "maple syrup"!
It is only then that the valve is opened and the fresh, hot maple syrup is "drawn-off" and is ready to be graded and sealed into the jugs that we bring to our table!
Traditionally, Vermont sugarmakers have produced more maple syrup per year than any other maple producing state. Vermonters take pride in the fact that Vermont maple syrup is the best in the world! We have to follow a very strict Maple Syrup Grading Law, and Vermont Maple syrup is required to have a heavier density (be thicker) than the United States Standards and it's also required to be free of preservatives.
You have a choice of "flavors" to suit your individual taste:
- Vermont Fancy Grade - Light amber in color with a delicate maple flavor.
- Vermont Grade A Medium - Medium amber color and a more pronounced maple flavor.
- Vermont Grade A Dark - Dark amber color and a robust flavor.
If you would like to know more about sugaring, and the maple syrup and candies that are available, let us know, and we'll make sure that you get the information that you would like. Meanwhile, here are a few photographs and descriptions, click on the small photos see them enlarged!
Rowell Sugarhouse in Walden, is an authentic Vermont sugarhouse. Located on Route 15, visitors are welcome year'round. Norbert and Gloria welcome you to their nearly 500 acre farm in "Walden Heights" with a beautiful view of Mt. Mansfield!
One of Norbert and Gloria's grandsons, Ed, checks the sap level in the bucket attached to the tap made in the sugar maple tree. Emptying the buckets by hand into the tractor's gathering tank is one of the first steps in the journey the sap makes to becoming maple syrup.
In the heart of the sugarbush are stainless steel gathering tanks that collect the sap which is being transported by plastic pipeline from each tap. Each "drop" connects to a larger collection main line which drains into the 1,000 gallon holding tank.Norbert personally checks each holding tank and empties it several times a day during good runs. The sap is then transferred to the 320 gallon gathering tank that is pulled behind his John Deere 4-wheel drive tractor. The sap is now on its way to the sugarhouse!
Bart, the black dog in the bottom left corner of the picture, often accompanies Norbert on his frequent trips to the woods when he goes to "draw sap".
Norbert is seen delivering a load of sap to the sugarhouse where it will be transferred to the overhead holding tanks. The sap is temporarily stored in these overhead tanks until it's time for it to enter the preheater on it's way to becoming maple syrup. Notice the steam rising from the cupola...if you could be here right now, you would smell the wonderful aroma of maple!
Gloria, who does all the boiling, is testing the nearly finished maple sap with a hydrometer. There are strict standards that dictate when she can declare the boiled maple sap to be Officially Vermont Maple Syrup.
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