MacDougall's maple sugarworks
It’s spring. Sap’s rising. Time to tap where maples grow.
Each year at this time thousands of acres of hardwood forest across Northeast Canada and the U.S. are criss-crossed with plastic tubes collecting maple sap for boiling down to syrup, sugar, and butter.
Red maple sugar bush
It's a far cry from a generation ago when sap was gathered in buckets dumped into horse or ox-drawn tubs for delivery to the sugar-shack, and when the production of syrup was part of the family farm. Now it’s more likely to be a stand-alone enterprise, if not part of a tourist-draw and restaurant “experience.”
That’s the commercial end. For every one of those there must be hundreds, like Andrew MacDougall who are drawn to the idea of making syrup as sap is drawn from the roots of maples; Sugar (Acer saccharum) or the Red variety (Acer rubrum).
2017: “Set four taps. . . . Boiled 20 L over the outdoor fireplace under the grape arbour.”
Andrew caught the maple fever in 2017, and drilling four taps into Sugar maples on his family’s property, at that time in Beaver Bank. It was no great commitment, but the result, call it a reward, was enough to turn the fever into a chronic condition, a spring-time urge to tap and boil.
In 2018 Andrew and bride, Lesley Borden, settled on a property in Riversdale, Queens County. There, the two would build their own home on the banks of Wentworth Brook, not far from where the stream empties into the Medway River.
2018: “Eight or so taps on our newly-purchased land. . . . Boiled 180 L over the firepit by the road. . . . Very large crowd (for boil).”
There, they could double the sugaring operation to eight taps. But Sugar maples do not grow in Riversdale, only Reds. Not to be thwarted, Andrew drilled, tapped, and boiled about 100 litres over an open fire.
Every year since, the operation has expanded in numbers, sophistication, or both over the MacDougall-Borden 2-acre sugarbush. A dozen trees tapped in 2019, is recorded in a journal highlighting steps along the way.
An email from Andrew, March 3, 2025, reads, “I finished tapping this morning; 75 taps. A new record. A few drops of sap forming.”
plastic tube into tub
Seventy-five taps in 75 trees. They are not large-diameter trees, mostly 14 to 16 inches. “Two or three may measure 20 inches or so.”
2019: “Dewar (brother) tapped a half dozen trees adding good amount of sap to the boil. . . . Spilled hot syrup on legs during transport. . . . Smaller crowd during boil due to house construction.”
How sweet it is?
Common knowledge says the sap of Red maples is lower In sugar content than that of sugar maples, but the difference is slight and can be off-set by other factors such as age or health of the tree, soil nutrients, and larger volume of sap produced.
2020: “February 14. . . . Twelve taps total this year. . . . Three days of boiling on the new barrel arch. . . . Works very well. . . . No crowd for boil as Covid-19 in full swing.”
2021: “Tapped 28 trees this year. . . . Had a proper pan made, 20” by 30” inches with baffles. It worked well. . . . Next year will rig up a float valve.”
Kevin McCormick, who deals with numbers of maple producers through his company, McCormick Maple Syrup Supplies in Cumberland County, told Andrew that 1.8 percent can be considered an average for both species across the province.
Once gathered, sap is carried by bucket, and emptied into a food-grade plastic barrel on a slight rise above the woodshed and arch in preparation for boiling. This takes place as the barrel fills – not every day or week if the weather remains cold enough to keep the stored sap from spoiling.
Andrew pours gathered sap into storage barrel
Ideal weather for a sap run is cold, below-freezing – nights and days in the five to ten range; little to no wind.
2022: “Thirty-five trees tapped. . . . Flooding issue, three feet of water. . . . Collecting a real pain. When it wasn’t the flood water we had to contend with ice.. . . Only tipped the canoe once. . . . The big boil March 26 with about 25 attending.”
This season, 2025, accumulated snow melted slowly. Rains came by fits and starts. The gathering of sap was straight-forward.
Not so every year.
A year ago, and in 2022 ,Wentworth Brook grew restless and jumped its banks, forcing Andrew to paddle by canoe from tree to tree in the flooded bottom-lands harvesting the sap.
“High-tech” comes to Riversdale
Since 2018, 20tth century technology has crept into the operation. First, a re-bar frame was welded together to rest the large steam pans over the open fire.
2023: “Tapped over 35 trees Feb.4 after a cold spell (-25). Had one or two OK runs, and that was about it. Not much sap at all. . . . Ordered more taps for next season.”
The near-syrup would, as before and since, be finished over the kitchen stove where it can be carefully watched to prevent over-cooking or burning. Then, Lesley takes charge of filtering and bottling.
Barrel stove “arch”and restaurant steam pan
A barrel-stove arch (fire-box) was added in 2020, with purchased parts (legs, door, stovepipe adapter). A custom-made stainless-steel pan replaced the large steam pans.
Covid-19 curbed advance the following year. In 2022, came the first flood. Despite the hardship that caused, it was a good year for sap and syrup production once done.
2024: “About 30 taps on (six) small tube systems, this on top of 30 or so on single buckets. . . . Then the flooding. . . . More canoeing to collect the sap.”
Plumbing close-up
High-heat Insulation and fire bricks were added that year. They lined the barrel stove, the bricks forcing heat up, adding stability and perhaps a longer life to the stove. A gravity-fed line and float valve between receiving barrel and stove, were also added to maintain a constant level of sap as water is boiled away.
A matter of fuel
The high cost of fuel – wood, oil, or gas – has driven most commercial syrup producers to adopt reverse-osmosis technology which filters out a portion of water molecules in the sap (they’re smaller than sugar and flavourful “contaminants”), thereby shortening the boiling time.
About a thrd of a cord of softwood fuels the arch
Andrew toys with the idea of having his own R-O system. Some are not very costly, especially do-it-yourself types, with directions for building found on-line. For now, though, it takes about a cord of softwood from their own woodlot to see them through a season.
In an email Andrew drills down: “Overall, the evaporator seems to be working well. I did some math and it uses about one third of a cord of mostly pine to boil 250L of sap. At roughly 18L per hour. Which from what I read are pretty good numbers for a barrel arch.”
Almost syrup is filtered and finished in the kitchen
Does it pay?
Does it pay, some may ask. Not in dollars, says Andrew. “But it gets you out in the woods. . . . You get to know your property.”
With help of hydrometer Lesley boils on stove, down to syrup state; 66 percent sugar
Then there is the social angle. “Boiling brings people together,” Andrew says. So it has been for annual picnics at Riversdale – and for that matter to most all who live in maple country.
The harvest, 2024
After a long dark winter it is time to celebrate. How better than to gather in the sugar woods, smell that intoxicating steam coming off boiling sap, and through the mist know that summer is on its way.
2025 picnic/pot luck
DvL
Notes
Andrew found an on-line seminar for maple syrup enthusiasts offered through Perennia with Cornell University Extension helpful in many ways.
https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/
In answer to emails, instructor Adam Wild wrote: “The interest among backyard sugaring has grown in recent years, and saw a big boost during the pandemic. The Cornell Small Farms Maple Course allows us to support beginning maple producers as they begin their maple adventures or want to expand their operation. The online platform allows backyard sugarmakers to connect and learn from the comfort of their own homes across the world. . . .
“Each year we have 15-20 graduates in the backyard category. During the pandemic it was closer to 20+. I have taught the course for the past six years and it was taught for at least three or four years before that.”