Happy Jack’s brings the ‘happy’ to Powers family

While most of us enjoy the early spring-like weather, one thing warmer temperatures curtail in a year like this is the flow of sap from sugar maple trees. Nonetheless, even having a shorter season doesn’t take the “happy” out of Happy Jack’s Maple Products on Chipman’s Corners Road for its owner, Jack Powers, and his family.

What began in 2010 with a conversation with his friends Bruce and Geraldine Yaw has evolved into a successful business that took Powers from full-time work in law enforcement to what his wife, Jennifer Powers, describes as “something that allows us to have the family life we always wanted to have, but couldn’t when Jack was always working so many odd hours on the force.”

Jack is a 1999 graduate of Groton High School (GHS), where he played football, ran track and was involved in drama club, but it was at the cafeteria lunch table that he met Jim and Cathy Bishop’s daughter, Jennifer.

Jack and Jennifer each had a cousin, who together relentlessly coerced Jennifer to take Jack to her senior prom. She finally gave in, and they have been a couple ever since.

Jennifer graduated from GHS in 1997 and earned a degree in biology at Utica College. Today, she is the manager of the Virology Laboratory at the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab at Cornell University.

When Jack left GHS, he attended SUNY Morrisville for aquaculture, soon realized it was not what he’d hoped for and transferred to Tompkins Cortland Community College for its criminal justice program.

Due to unforeseen family circumstances, Jack was not able to complete his degree until 2003, after which he became a deputy sheriff for Cayuga County for three years and then moved to the Ithaca City Police Department, where he remained until 2019.

In the meantime, Jack and Jennifer were married in 2006, began building a home in 2007 on their land, which had been a part of the Bishop family farm, and welcomed their first child, David, in 2009.

Currently, David is 11 years old, and the Powers’ daughters, Brooke, 8, and Julia, 6, complete their family.

David was born with Down syndrome, and it was then that Jack began to brainstorm ideas for a business he could start that David could eventually be a part of, while also planning for his retirement someday.

It was at that point when the Yaws asked Jack if he would be interested in trying to make maple syrup from their trees.

Jack realized he had his own maple trees also, so in 10 months’ time, he had cleared the land, built a sugar house, acquired some used syrup-making equipment, installed 3,000 taps on his trees and ran the necessary tubing to carry the sap to the sugar house where the production takes place.

Every year since, Jack begins tapping the trees in January, but he explained that weather is what dictates the flow of the sap.

“Forty degrees is the ideal for it to flow,” Jack said. “But you want it to freeze at night to give the trees a chance to absorb more groundwater. Once the buds begin to swell on the trees, the season is over.”

Jack has his Chipman’s Corners sap flowing from the tubes to the tanks, but he also has 4,000 additional taps on land he purchased in Moravia about five years ago.

Jack’s father, Dwight Powers, has been involved in helping from the beginning. Dwight drives the sap truck to bring it from Moravia to Chipman’s Corners and sells the maple products weekly at the Syracuse Regional Market.

As the sap goes from tubes to tanks at the sugar house, it is put through reverse osmosis, which removes 80% of the water before it is boiled to concentrate the sugar. The sap then goes into an evaporator that boils it into syrup.

Once the syrup is made, it is filtered in a filter press and then placed into 40-gallon steel drums for storage. As each drum is used, it is emptied into a reheater, gets refiltered and placed in a canning machine that fills plastic or glass containers, where it can then be used for sale.

David helps by pressing the buttons on the bottling machine, which he loves to do, and he also loads the syrup bottles into cases for shipping. Jennifer, Brooke and Julia help by putting the labels on the maple products.

In addition to regular syrup, Happy Jack’s also produces bourbon barrel-aged syrup, maple cream, granulated maple sugar, maple candy, gift boxes, and maple popcorn and cotton candy by request.

All told, Jack usually ends up producing about 5,000 gallons of syrup a season. While he does hire some seasonal helpers, his heaviest workload happens when the sap is flowing.

“Things are exhausting during that time,” Jack said. “I might get two or three hours of sleep in a three-day span, but you just do what you have to do.”

The rest of the year is spent producing and packing products, which also keeps everyone busy, but Jack couldn’t be happier about the family time gained since he retired from the police force to make Happy Jack’s his full-time commitment.

In Groton and the surrounding area, Happy Jack’s products may be purchased at Bun Appetit Bakery, Bad Apple Farm, Brittany Station, Grisamore Farms, Lansing Market, Anderson’s Farm Market, Walpole’s Variety Store and even as syrup on your pancakes at Casper’s Kitchen, as well as directly from happyjacksmaple.com and on Facebook.

Jack would also like the community to know that Happy Jack’s is also available to help with school or club fundraisers and is always open to new outlets for his products. Contact via the website or (607) 423-2775.

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

Dinner at the Legion

The Groton American Legion Post 800 on Main Street will hold a scalloped potatoes and ham dinner at 5 p.m. until gone April 16. Dinners are $9 each and are takeout only. Call (607) 898-3837 to reserve dinners. Dinners cannot be guaranteed if not reserved.

The Legion also announced its third-annual building fund raffle with $10,000 in cash prizes to be awarded Aug. 28 at 3 p.m. Donation is $100 per ticket, and only 200 tickets will be sold. Stop by to purchase a ticket.

Little Blue Pantry back in Groton

There is a new “Little Blue Pantry” open at St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church, 312 Locke Rd. It is a place where anyone who needs nonperishable food items or personal care products may go and help themselves, and those who wish to contribute items for others may leave them there.

Summer work at scout camp

If you or anyone you know is looking for summer work, the Boy Scouts of America Baden-Powell Council is looking for summer camp staff.

Those hired will get to spend time on the lake at Tuscarora Scout Reservation and then on Cayuga Lake at Camp Barton. Lifeguards, sailboat instructors and a jet ski coordinator are needed.

For those who prefer to stay on land and love the outdoors, staff is also needed for handicraft, nature, outdoor skills and kitchen. Apply at https://www.bpcouncil.org/summer-camp-staff.