The number of small (10 to 20 acres) farms in Gallatin County has been increasing over the past several years. Many of these new landowners have approached the Gallatin County Extension Service with questions pertaining to possible income sources that could be derived from their small properties. As a result of these enquiries, the Extension Service hosted the first ever maple syrup workshops in Gallatin County.

The Gallatin County Extension Service, in conjunction with Hartig Park and Wildlife Reserve, conducted two maple syrup workshops. Both workshops were held on a Saturday in January to provide the best opportunity for those who work day jobs to attend. The workshops were promoted via social media on three separate Facebook pages: Gallatin County Extension Agriculture; Hartig Park and Wildlife Reserve; and Gallatin County Earth Day. Both workshops were conducted at Hartig Park.

Naturally, workshop day one dealt primarily with sap collection. During this program, the participants learned to identify sugar sap producing trees, environmental conditions necessary for sap flow, types of spiles (the tree taps used), procedures for drilling and tapping trees, containers for sap collection, and proper sap storage. Each participant had the opportunity to drill and tap a tree.

Workshop day two was held a week later. This day’s program was all about turning the tree sap into a saleable product; i.e., maple syrup. Participants learned about all things evaporation! These points included sap to syrup ratios, pros and cons of various evaporator configurations, the economics of various fuel types needed to boil the sap, and different methods for determining when to stop boiling the sap. Time was also spent discussing methods of filtering, bottling, and storing the finished product.  

Workshop attendance averaged 16 people each of the two days. In terms of evaluation, all the tree taps installed by the participants on day one worked. In just under five days, these taps provided for the collection of over 30 gallons of sugar maple sap. At the conclusion of day two, all 30 gallons of sap was evaporated down to six pints of pure maple syrup. This amount of finished product perfectly represented the 40:1 sap to syrup ratio discussed on day one. All those who participated received a small bottle of the finished maple syrup.

One couple who participated borrowed some of the demonstration spiles and jugs and tapped some of their own trees. “It’s sure gonna be nice to put my own maple syrup on my pancakes!” said that participant.