It’s maple season at Schoolyard Sugarbush

Tucked at the bottom of a wooded hillside in Newfield sits a pair of blue metal barns. Neighbors and commuters driving by might wonder what goes on inside, their only clues a humble sign on the mailbox reading “NYS Maple Syrup sold here” and the steam pouring from the chimney in late winter and early spring when the sap is running.

If they stopped to investigate, they might be surprised to see the gleaming, stainless steel equipment, automated filtering systems and stacks of boxes labeled “Schoolyard Sugarbush” ready for shipping. This is not a scene from “Little House on the Prairie”; it is a modern maple syrup production facility in full swing.

Although owner Daniel “Dan” Weed has been selling maple syrup for 30 years, 2022 is the first year that all of his company’s products will be boiled and bottled at the West Danby Road facility. It is also Dan’s first maple season without his father, Donald, at his side.

“I learned to make syrup from my father and grandfather,” Dan said. “My father’s goal was to establish something that I could build on, separate from the mills, and eventually pass on to my daughters.”

Making maple syrup was a natural branching off from the family pancake business, New Hope Mills. Dan took over the maple processing when he returned home from college in 1993 and has been expanding the business ever since.

Over the last several years, Dan has been transitioning the company away from its original location in Moravia. As production of syrup grew, so did the need for sap. Dan knew that in order to be financially viable, it’s better to own the land than to lease it. And so, the quest began to find just the right property for Schoolyard Sugarbush, somewhere closer to Dan’s current home in Watkins Glen and, most importantly, somewhere that had the right trees.

“I was privileged to find this place,” Dan said. “It’s hard to find maple woods of this size that are continuous. I know because I looked a lifetime for the right property.”

Even so, not all the sap that goes into Schoolyard’s syrup comes from the woods above the sugarhouse. Some of it is collected at sites over a four-county area, including 25,000 taps within Tompkins County’s borders.

The initial processing is done at those remote locations to reduce the volume that needs to be transported. Dan can monitor the flow of all his taps on computer screens from the production floor. He can tell if a storm knocked a line down or if a tank is full and ready for pick-up.

“Coming out of the tree, the ratio of sap to syrup varies between 50 to 90 gallons to 1,” Dan said. “By running it through reverse osmosis, we can get that down to 7 or 8 gallons to 1. That’s a lot less sap to haul back here for evaporation.”

The reverse osmosis machines are a series of pressurized tubes that extract water from the sap. That water is pure and free from mineral deposits, perfect for cleaning, sterilizing equipment and running through the boiler. It can even be bottled and sold as drinking water, a fledgling market that Dan has not yet tapped.

From there, the condensed sap goes into the evaporator, where it is heated by a steam boiler and further reduced until it reaches optimum density. The syrup is then filtered and either bottled hot for immediate sale or stored in barrels in a cool, dark environment until needed.

“I compare making syrup to husbandry of a vineyard,” Dan said. “How you treat the sap doesn’t dictate the flavor, but it maintains the flavor. It starts by giving the trees what they need and being a good steward of the land. Then, you need to keep the lines flowing, not let the sap sit too long or start going backward. Everything has to be clean and consistent to get the best syrup.”

On the wall behind the boiler is an array of small glass jars ranging in color from palest gold to darkest amber, samples taken from each batch of syrup. The richer the color, the more intense the maple flavor.

Like any agriculture business, harvest season is unpredictable and extremely busy. When the days are warm and the nights are cold, the sap starts running. Even the phase of the moon can affect the flow.

“There’s no way to know the quality of a season until it is over,” Dan said. “One day’s production can make a massive difference. The season could be over next week, or the sap could keep running until the end of April.”

Dan learned a lot from the generations that came before him, but much has changed since then. Technology is very present in the maple industry today, but Dan believes the basics have remained the same.

“There are things we can’t control like the weather, wind direction, barometric pressure, temperature,” Dan said. “But we can stop leaks, prevent bacteria in the tubing, keep pressure in the lines. We just have to do what we can and try not to worry about the rest.”

Even with all the automation, Dan can’t say how many hours he’s put in since the season began in early March. Luckily, he’s not in it alone.

“My wife, Holly, is a teacher, but she’s here as much as she can,” Dan said. “I have nine or 10 staff members who have worked seasonally with me for years. I do miss having Dad around. For an old guy, he did a lot, day in and day out.”

There are things that Dan had hoped to have in place that he just didn’t get to without his father’s help. He’d hoped to have the production and bottling equipment moved to the new building so that there would be room for demonstrations and tours, he’d hoped to have an open house for Maple Weekend this month, and he’d hoped to tap some of the walnut trees on the property to try his hand at walnut syrup. But he knows he’ll get to those things eventually.

In the meantime, Dan’s giving back to the maple community that has taught him so much. He serves as vice president of the New York State Maple Producers Association, helps establish maple programs at local schools and acts as one of the few equipment distributors in central New York. In addition, he’s always available to answer questions or lend a part to a fellow sugarmaker.

“When I was young, I read every book on sugaring available in the library,” Dan said. “I took classes up north at maple school. I went around and asked questions and wrote everything down. At some point, you realize that you aren’t learning much anymore and, instead, you’re getting asked the questions.”

Look for Schoolyard Sugarbush certified organic maple products at Greenstar Co+op and the Ithaca Farmers Market. Of course, visitors are always welcome to stop by the sugarhouse at 1539 W. Danby Rd. in Newfield or their online store at schoolyardsugarbush.org.

Food for Thought appears in the third edition each month of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.