Better Farm Goes Sugaring
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Our neighbor, Dale Felder, has a beautiful sugar bush down the road which he maintains for the simple joy of creating his own syrup. Each year he gives away dozens of jugs of the stuff to his family and friends. Amazing, no? This is peak season; so when we heard Dale was busy sugaring out at his family's property down Burns Road, we jumped at the opportunity to lend a hand (and sample some delicious syrup, obviously).
Four of us paid a visit to Dale's sugar shack, where he and Craig were up to their eyeballs in sap. Dale explained the process of tapping trees (both with buckets and tubing), separating the sap from water, filtering, and bottling. We got a tour of the facilities and the sugar bush. Because we're at peak season out here, you could hear the sap rushing through the tubes and dropping into buckets like an open faucet. Then Dale sent us out into the woods and put us to work!
Special thanks to Chris Menne, Corinne Weiner, and Butch Mockler for helping out with the sugaring process.
