Our Story

It all started in 1995 with Linda, me, four pails and a turkey fryer for boiling. I was looking to make enough syrup for our family of three.  This worked well for a year or two and then the idea of making more syrup for family and friends came along.  So Linda and I were up to 25 pails.  Along with the added pails came some problems with boiling.  Next came a 2×3 flat pan. This worked so well that I added 25 more pails.  After work I would collect and boil.  These were long days and nights, but the seed was sown and I was hooked.  I would make enough syrup to give as gifts and also sell a little.

At this point I was looking at retirement and thinking ahead.  So we bought a 40 acre parcel with plenty of sugar maples.  Two years after buying the property, a good friend, Ted, and I put up a  24×40 building for pursuing this addiction.  A year later in 2007, I retired.  We picked up another 350 pails and bought a 2×8 Dallaire evaporator with a stainless hood.  Up to this time I had never seen an evaporator work and knew nothing about them.  To the rescue comes Peter Roth from the dealership where I bought it, Roth’s Sugarbush in Cadott, Wisconsin.  Once it was set up, Pete came by and we had a test boil with water.  He spent quite a bit of time with me even though this was during our deer hunting season.  The real test of the new evaporator came in the spring of 2007.  Three friends, Ted, John, and Jack, came over to help collect and boil.  We had a time: wood was cut too big, not enough fresh air in the building, liquid level too deep in pans.  The list went on and on.

Fast forward through those learning years.  Jack and John passed on and Ted moved to Montana.  We’ve picked up an automatic draw-off, filter press and reverse osmosis machine, everything we need to make a quality product.  More friends have come into the picture to help: Bob, Jimmy, Bill, Mike and many more friends that come just to see what’s happening, to help for awhile, and to have a cold one with friends.