How We've Made More Syrup Each Year Since 1999

The sap has been flowing in steadily over the past few days and we've gathered enough to begin to boil to make the delicious sweet stuff, and so begins another maple season! 

Every year, we keep track of how much syrup we make so that we can compare it to the prior year. The official records are scrawled onto a few pieces of scrap paper and tacked to the wall of the sugarhouse. The first year we kept a record was 1999 and we made 189 gallons of syrup. Last year we made 2,069.5 gallons! It's a reminder of the good years, the bad years and, most importantly, how far we've come.

Meadowbrook has been able to adapt and embrace the changes in the maple business through adoption of new solutions and this has lead to our growth.  Donnie leads the charge in being an early adopter of innovation and is truly a remarkable business person. When we think of innovation we often think of technology, but it also means being open-minded to new solutions, creative when it comes to solving problems, and thinking of new ways to be more productive. We, and most sugarmakers in Vermont, have made a lot of changes over the years that have added up to make a big impact on syrup production. We switched our trees from buckets to pipeline, saw the benefits of saving fuel and time with the reverse osmosis system, and another great example is the Tap Track system by Vermonter, Jason Gagne that we installed last year - we've made more syrup using it and decreased our workload.

Like the records on our sugarhouse wall, it's important to remember our history. The time when we put buckets on the trees and collected the sap by walking tree to tree is fading away, but the passion that goes into making maple syrup is still going strong. We appreciate and recognize the innovative minds in the maple syrup industry that have produced great solutions to help us to be more efficient, to evolve, and to help Vermont to continue to be the leading maple syrup producer in the U.S. 

We are looking forward to what we hope will be our best year yet!