EDEN, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s January – which is not typically the start of sugaring season – which runs from the end of February until early April.
But, as the winters warm up – some sugarhouses are tapping early – to get a head start on the work.
When Glenn and Ruth Goodrich first started working the large maple tree farm in Eden 8 years ago, they did not make syrup until May 1.
This year, they made their first batch December 31.
“We have so many to do now,” Goodrich’s Maple Farm owner Glenn Goodrich said.
The Goodriches say – if everything is perfect, the maple farm crew can tap its 150,000 trees in two months.
“It’s never perfect, the snow can be deep, we have some cold cold days where we don’t go,” Glenn said.
It’s not common practice for smaller operations, but when you have that many trees to tap, you’ve got to start early.
And maple expert with UVM Extension Mark Isselhardt says warmer temperatures in recent years has made early tapping possible.
“Anytime you have a dormant tree – a maple tree without leaves – and that tree experiences a certain amount of environmental conditions, you can have periods of sap flow,” Isselhardt said.
Those conditions are typically below freezing temperatures followed by above freezing temperatures – something the region saw late December – allowing the Goodrich farm to harvest about 100,00 gallons of sap, and make 2,000 gallons of syrup from it.
During the typical season, Goodrich says they can tap 200,000 gallons of sap and make 4,000 gallons of syrup in a day.
“So this little blip was not much but it gave us the chance to test drive our equipment again, and make sure we’re really ready,” Glenn said.
There’s a lot that needs to be done, and it moves fast.
“40,000 taps is a large operation in its own right, for an operation this size, it’s almost hard to wrap your mind around,” Goodrich Maple Farm co-owner Ruth Goodrich said.
And there’s always something new to learn.
“You’re working in tandem with a piece of nature that’s been here for sometimes decades or centuries and it’s amazing to see the changes they’ve seen over the years,” Ruth said.
Especially with a changing climate.
“These kind of unique weather patterns where we get a sustained warmer temperature, we don’t have a lot of data to suggest what impact it has on individual tree health,” Isselhardt said.
But even though early tapping is new territory for the industry, the Goodriches say the early start is helping them keep up with their production – and the demand for it.
“It’s fascinating to watch because this is all relatively new to have syrup coming off this early,” Ruth said.