February 23, 2026 – Town of West Bend, Wi – The light is returning slowly as the days lengthen. The maple sap starts then stops fitfully, depending on the fickle weather to drip with abandon. Yet spring is inching its way forward.
The crisp sound of frosty grass under my boots accompanies me as I make my way to the Century Farmhouse Maple Woods this morning. There has been quite a bit of wind and I need to check that the sap buckets are still hanging properly on the trees.
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The temperatures have been fickle; warm enough to allow the sap to run, cold enough to stop the sap, then too warm, and then tempering to between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit during the day so the sap can run again.
We have a pretty primitive arrangement for syrup production, using old aluminum spiles and sap buckets and galvanized lids, hauling the sap to the Farmhouse in big buckets on a sled when there’s snow and lugging them by hand out of the Woods when there is not.
We used to cook the sap over a fire which gave a luscious, slightly smoky flavor to the syrup.
Now we use an old Nesco roaster or two or three to boil the sap outside on our patio. The older ones are workhorses; their elements keep working long after the newer ones decide to burn out with the constant use.
The season lasts about three weeks or so with intense periods of hauling and cooking the sap, then finishing the syrup in the kitchen, gallon by gallon.
We don’t make much – just enough for… click HERE to finish reading a great story and MORE from local writer and soap maker AnnMarie Craig.
