Templeton Farm

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Templeton Farm
3410 Center Road
East Montpelier, Vt. 05651

802-223-0169
802-461-5352
[email protected]

2020 sugaring season for Templeton Farm

04.10.2020

The 2020 maple sugaring season came to a close last Sunday for us under the cloud of the coronavirus. I will outline the highlights below:

  • Season began on March 1st and ended on April 5th which is about the average length
  • We harvested sap from 2700 taps this year and produced 1211 gallons of syrup, this is by far the best year we have ever had in 34 years of sugaring, we consider 1000 gallons of syrup a good year, last year we only made 784
  • Sugar content was down quite a bit from the usual 2% to 1.6%, thank God for reverse osmosis which extracts a portion of the water from the sap and concentrates the sap so we don't have to boil away so much water.
  • Once the pandemic and social distancing kicked in only Seth, Sherry and I were in the sugarhouse boiling. Natalie and the girls are usually always there but they needed to stay home. Our wonderful friends who help us so much were also not around. We began boiling almost every day to stay ahead of the sap and we kept at it day after day. The whole social aspect of our operation disappeared which was very strange and not as much fun.
  • I have included a few pictures, girls at the sugarhouse are from left to right Breanna, Hayley the girls cousin and Sofia enjoying a sample of maple syrup
  • Second picture is our new sugarhouse mascot aptly named "Maple" a beautiful golden retriever puppy of Dennis and Diane's. I was thinking of all the past dogs who once blessed our sugarhouse but are not with us anymore, Sundance, Molly, Chip, Bailey, Lilly and Ellie

As always we want to THANK all of you who helped us out this season. As I've said many a time we could not do all we do without your help. We will remember this year as the year of the coronavirus and God willing we will not have to endure something like this again. May you and your family stay healthy.

Take Care,

Bruce, Sherry, Natalie, Seth, Breanna and Sofia