Atlas Twp.-When the Canada geese are just returning from down south and the ice on lakes is still thick, township residents Jim and Faith Aseltine know maple sap, in all its sweet, gooey glory, will be on the move.
‘Mother Nature decides,? said Jim, 76, who has been tapping sugar maple trees on his rural township farm for about 40 years.
‘If it’s too cold or too warm during the day, the sap just stops running. Still the whole process is just basic’labor intensive’but really pretty simple to do.?
For the past four decades, the Aseltines fire up the sugar shack stocked with neatly split firewood, ready the wood-fired maple syrup evaporator and head to acres of rolling forestland that surround the farm.
‘They’ve been tapping maples on this ground for more than a century,? said Jim. ‘The Cumming and Powell families were here long before we started tapping. Few of the real old trees are here, though’it takes about 35 to 40 years for a sugar maple to become a decent producer of sap. Also, the maple trees need to be about 14 inches in diameter and have a bushy top’that helps send more food to the roots. Wind damages trees too, we lose a few (trees) each year.?
Utilizing the traditional spile or tap, Jim thrives on a Michigan tradition’coaxing about 350 maple trees, scattered about 20 acres of rolling ground, to yield sap. Selling a few bottles of pure maple syrup and hosting some parties which include all-you-can-eat pancakes cooked on a wood-fired stove’Jim keeps the process low-key and private, calling on a few friends to assist in the labor.
‘It’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun. It’s just not profitable to do this for a living,? said Jim. ‘Only 10 percent of the sugar maples in Michigan are tapped’unlike about 100 years ago, when it was a big business in the state.?
While the Aseltines keep the operation as historically significant as possible, using tin spiles in the trees, the wood-fired evaporator in the sugar shack (referred to in French-Quebec as ‘cabanes a sucre,?) and a few tin sap buckets (‘Just for show,? says Jim), some modern sugaring items are now part of the process.
Plastic five-gallon sap buckets comprise the majority of containers, cordless electric drills are used to tap trees rather than traditional ‘brace and bits? and a hydrometer is now used to test the density of the boiled sap.
However, regardless of the equipment, methods, or traditions, Jim just chuckles and scoffs at predicting how the trees will yield in the spring.
Etched in pencil on the rustic bare wooden walls of the Aseltines? sugar shack are the number of gallons, ranging from a low of 12 gallons to a high of 78 gallons, of maple syrup produced each year’an indication of the unpredictability of the sugaring business.
‘There’s just no telling whether it will be a good year or not,? said Jim. ‘It’s all up to God.?