PRESS RELEASE
Imagine a scenic valley tucked between two wooded hills, an ice and snow-covered creek running nearby, and steam billowing from the tall smokestack of a large, low barn.
The sap gathered from the nearby maple trees is being boiled down into thick, sticky, pure syrup, soon to be enjoyed by a family on their pancake breakfast.
A scene from
New England or
Canada?
That is often what comes to mind, but you can enjoy this craft, rich in history, without even leaving
Indiana.
Nestled in the scenic
Southern Indiana hills is our farm, Leane and Michael’s
Sugarbush, Indiana’s largest producer of pure maple syrup. During the early winter months you can find us busy preparing for the maple syrup season and our annual festival.
We have produced over 11,000 gallons of pure maple syrup over the last 26 years.
The first few years saw us boiling the sap in an open pan under a winter sky and bottling the resulting dark syrup in quart canning jars.
In 1982 we bought our first evaporator made especially for making maple syrup and began modernizing our operation.
Since changing over to a larger evaporator in 1988, we have added and now use the most modern equipment available in the maple industry – plastic tubing, vacuum pumps, and a reverse osmosis machine.
The fundamental process of making pure maple syrup has not changed since the Native American Indians made it and later taught the process to the early pioneers hundreds of years ago.
Drawn from the maple trees in late winter, maple sap contains an average of 2 % sugar and drips like water from the tapholes drilled into the trees.
It takes an average of 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
The basic process requires an average of 49 gallons of water to be evaporated from each 50 gallons of sap collected in order to turn it into syrup.
Although our technology gives us far different equipment with which to do this, the process is still the same as that used in the earliest days of
North America’s history.
Our sap is collected through plastic tubing, gently drawn into large tanks with vacuum pumps and then put through a reverse osmosis machine that removes 50% of the water, leaving a more concentrated sap.
It is then boiled in the evaporator until it is 67% sugar, drawn off into buckets, and poured into drums where it is stored until being bottled and heading off to grace someone’s breakfast table with its rich, wholesome goodness.
Even with this modern equipment, one thing has not changed since the Native American syrup making days – it is still labor intensive, requiring many hours of hard work. When syrup season rolls around each year we don’t have to look for help; many area teens and adults call us to see if it is time to come to work!! The hard work fosters a spirit of community, while everyone contributes to and benefits from the sweet success of the season. Our three children, 26, 22 and 18 still participate in the syrup making and festival work.
Several years ago we united our ancient craft with the latest of technology by putting our business on the internet.
Our website includes information about our operation, online syrup sales, information about our festival and links to our favorite area attractions for those wishing to make a family trip out of visiting us.
We also have a free online unit study about maple syrup covering the subjects of Language Arts, History, Science, Math and Art.
Maple syrup making is rich in history and lends itself to the study of many other areas as well.
Our Annual Maple Syrup festival has been attended by many Indiana and Kentucky residents, as well as people from many other states. In 2005, due to an article in the Midwest Traveler AAA Magazine, we had many new visitors from Missouri, Illinois and Southern Indiana. In 2007, the Country Woman magazine did an article on our business from a woman’s perspective in the Jan/Feb issue.
After a long cold winter, a trip to the sugarbush, when the hope of spring is in the air, refreshes the mind and spirit.
We offer historical demonstrations of the Indian and Pioneer methods of syrup making, tours of our operation, a 960 square foot children’s activity building for children of all ages, outdoor games to play, mule drawn wagon rides, tomahawk throwing, candle making, crosscut sawing, primitive craft vendors, traditional live music, and lots of old-fashioned fun and fellowship.
Most popular, understandably, are our delicious pancake and waffle supreme meals served with nothing less than the finest of the year’s fresh, pure maple syrup!
Visit our website at www.lmsugarbush.com for more information and also on FACEBOOK!!!!
Our site is constantly up-dated with new info about the current syrup season.
Our festival dates for 2011 are February 26 & 27 and March 5 & 6. Come and join us for a fun, sweet time!!!
