As a young kid, my father and grandfather sugared, and then eventually my father ended up getting out of it because the dairy farm was too busy, but my grandfather kept at it. It was intermittent throughout my childhood but then as I got older, I decided to tap a few trees myself. One day my grandfather came up from Florida and said that’s not enough, we’re gonna do more! When I went away to college, I stopped doing it, but a couple years later my uncle and I did it together. That arrangement only lasted a few years, and I was out of it again for several years. Then my wife and I got started on it and it’s been four years, going into our fifth now.
It was kinda hit or miss throughout my life, mainly when I was really young. I just have the desire to do it. I like being outside all the time, especially that time of year when it’s nice. Now, I sell commercially and I’m trying to expand all the time without cutting anybody’s throat. My philosophy is, I just wanna get the product out there. Any new market is something at least. Last year I made 250 gallons of syrup, and I’m up to about 160 to 180 gallons that I’ve sold retail and wholesale, I’ve also sold some bulk. I actually have one of my biggest clients right down in New Paltz called Tantillos! I’d like to see more of that, you know, get into that niche type of market.There’s also a restaurant in Glens Falls that I recently picked up, Chicken Shack Restaurant. They called me out of the blue one day; they found my name on the New York Maple site and they’re taking about five gallons a month from me right now. As a young kid, my father and grandfather sugared, and then eventually my father ended up getting out of it because the dairy farm was too busy, but my grandfather kept at it. It was intermittent throughout my childhood but then as I got older, I decided to tap a few trees myself. One day my grandfather came up from Florida and said that’s not enough, we’re gonna do more! When I went away to college, I stopped doing it, but a couple years later my uncle and I did it together. That arrangement only lasted a few years, and I was out of it again for several years. Then my wife and I got started on it and it’s been four years, going into our fifth now. And they’re using it for their chicken and waffles! Instead of using that fake syrup they wanted to use real syrup. So, that was a real nice customer to get. Nowadays, there are a lot of people with money that are buying all the new technologically advanced equipment and getting into it for the wrong reasons. That’s something that really bothers me. There are at least three big places that I know of that are into it now who just have millions of dollars to blow and don’t understand the community surrounding it. I do think that tradition is why I’m still doing it today. If you didn’t grow up with it you don’t have the desire to do it as much. They tell you it’s a disease. It gets in your blood and you just wanna do it. You wanna keep getting bigger, sell more, make more. I don’t know how else to describe it, it’s just the way it is.