Vermont Maple Sugarmakers Families Uphold the Tradition of Making Pure Vermont Maple Syrup

Danville,VT—The Gadapee family has over 50 years of experience making maple syrup and love carrying on this Vermont tradition. Keith Gadapee said, “We also take pride in maintaining our maple sugar trees and consider maple sugaring as a way to protect Vermont’s ‘sugarbushes’ or stands of maple trees.” Sugaring is very much a family operation as Larry and his two sons Keith and Kevin plus wives and grandchildren all help. “We love talking to people who visit our sugarhouse and explaining how maple syrup is made” Keith stated.

The Gadapee’s have about 4000 taps and heat their wood-fired arch with 25-30 cords of wood per year. They produce maple syrup, maple cream, maple candy and maple sugar and sell their products from their home as well as mail order and can also be found at the Caledonia Farmer’s Market. They can be reached at 802-684-3323 or by e-mail at gadmaple@together.net.

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Troy, VT—“The family tradition of making maple syrup is very strong for us”, stated Corinne Morey. She and husband Todd make syrup on their farm and have about 1500 taps. Their two daughters are the 6th generation of the Morey family to produce maple syrup. They sell from their house and can be reached at 802-744-6350.

Todd and Corinne both work for the local school system and have to work tapping trees and boiling sap around the school calendar.

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Fairfield, VT—The Branons are well known in Franklin County because several branches of the family are sugarmakers. Tom and Cecile purchased the family farm from his family and have been growing the size of their maple sugarbush and currently have around 42,000 taps on their land in Fairfield and Bakersfield. Tom’s sister and brothers and Tom and Cecile’s four sons all help them tap the trees and boil the sap. Friends and neighbors often help out as well.

Even though the Branons are a high-tech operation with vacuum and reverse osmosis they still use buckets on some of their trees and gather that sap with horses in order to show visitors how “it used to be done”.

In 1997, Tom and Cecile became members of the Vermont Land Trust in order to protect a portion of their land from ever being developed. They also have organic certification on their syrup from the Northeast Organic Farming Association.

In addition to maple syrup, the Branons also make maple cream, sugar, jelly and Cecile’s famous maple grilling sauce and they can be reached at www.branonmaple.com or 802-827-3914.

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Westfield, VT—Watching Jacques Couture make maple syrup at his dairy farm in Westfield, Vermont is watching a man doing something he loves. His eyes are intent as he walks around the evaporator where his sap is boiling, watching the sap move from pan to pan, changing from clear sap to golden syrup. He moves smoothly from checking the density of the syrup to adding wood to his arch which heats the sap, always watching, and fluid in his movements.

It’s not easy these days keeping a farm viable but the Couture’s have succeeded so well that they were named the 2004 Vermont Dairy Farm of the Year. Their 100 head dairy is one of the Cabot Creamery farms, providing milk made into award-winning Cabot Cheese. In addition, after raising six children, they added a B&B to their farm although, as Pauline Couture said, “with that many children I guess we have been doing B&B business for years”.

Jacques is the past president of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association. (VMSMA) (www.vermontmaple.org) a trade association for the maple syrup producers which was founded in 1893 to protect and promote Vermont maple syrup. Like many Vermont sugarmakers, Jacques loves to talk about maple syrup and patiently answers questions from visitors to his sugarhouse. The pride that he feels about the product that he produces becomes obvious when he talks about it and explains how sap from sugar maple trees becomes Vermont’s first agricultural product of the year.

The Coutures produce about 2000 gallons of maple syrup each year and sell it all from their small shop attached to their 1890’s home as well as from their website (www.maplesyrupvermont.com) and their catalog.

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Jeffersonville, VT— Members of the Marsh family began producing maple syrup in Vermont during the late 1700’s, following patterns first established by native Americans. The “sugaring” process has changed dramatically since then but the love of working in the woods and making maple syrup has been handed down to Rick and Diane Marsh in Jeffersonville, Vermont. They are now the 5th generation of their immediate family to produce maple syrup at their present location and are teaching their children so that they to can follow in their footsteps with the family business.

Rick Marsh loves the peace and quiet of working in his sugarbush near Mt. Mansfield. He chuckles when he talks about the gamble of producing an agricultural product and the challenge of having Mother Nature control your economic future. “There’s no quicker way to loose money”, Marsh says, “but the ability to produce such a great food product as Maple syrup is worth the work and the risks.”

In addition to providing sap for maple syrup, a healthy and diversified maple sugarbush (some call it a maple orchard) helps to maintain land throughout Vermont. “You get to know the individual trees on your land so well that you miss the ones that are gone and are proud to see new healthy saplings grow into tall and healthy trees that will be used for maple sugaring for generations to come” Marsh explained.

Rick and Diane Marsh produce award winning maple syrup, candies and maple cream and sell them along with many other fine Vermont products in their retail shop, on their website (www.vermontmapleoutlet.com) and through their mail order catalog. They also handle specialty orders including wedding favors and corporate gifts. They take pride in the products they produce and are always ready to explain the process to inquisitive visitors. They have a small sugarhouse with a large collection of modern and antique sugaring equipment in their store to demonstrate how maple syrup was in the past and is now being made. During the springtime they produce their maple syrup at their new main sugarhouse.

“We hope to be making pure Vermont maple syrup for years to come,” said Diane Marsh. “It’s wonderful to be part of such an important Vermont product and to help continue the history of our family and the state.”

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Westfield, VT—Steve and Amy Wheeler are a bright, energetic couple with more ideas than time as they run their successful maple businesses and raise two young sons. “Jed’s Maple Products”, named after one of their sons, is the name of their maple syrup and maple products business and they also have a maple equipment business named after their other son, Jonah. Steve and Amy both graduated from the University of Vermont with degrees in mechanical engineering and physical therapy.

They do about 6000 taps and have a wood-fired evaporator. They come by their passion for maple naturally. Steve is a fifth generation sugarmaker and his parents still sugar in Derby, Vermont. Amy also sugared with her family in southern Vermont while growing up.

They recently added a commercial kitchen next door to their sugarhouse to produce their many existing products and to develop new maple products. Although they love to make maple syrup they are equally as excited about the maple specialty foods that they produce. Their signature product is Jed’s Maple Mudd, a gourmet maple peanut butter sauce. They also make salad dressings, maple pepper, maple nuts, maple candy and cream, lollipops and marinades. “We love to come up with new maple products!” said Amy “and just have to find time to experiment.”

Jed’s Maple Products can be found at www.jedsmaple.com and a catalog is available at (866)4PURE VT (866-478-7388)

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Cabot, VT—Marcia Maynard and Ken Denton have been sugaring for six years and boiling in their new sugarhouse in Cabot for three years. They are both first generation sugarmakers but speak about the syrup they produce with the same passion as those who have been making syrup for years. Their three daughters have worked alongside them and though now away at college they return home in the spring to help with the sugaring. Their land from has been sugared for generations, at one time having three sugarhouses on the property.

Marcia and Ken have organic certification for their syrup and feel that this is very important their customers. They see sugaring as a traditional use of the forest and a way to help Vermont keep it’s rural landscape. Ken is a Vermont Game Warden and he and Marcia have an interest in managing their property for both wildlife and sugaring.

In addition to maple syrup they also produce maple nuts, popcorn and granola. Marcia and Ken can be reached at Cabot Hills Maple, (802) 426-3463.

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