The Making of Maple Syrup: Part I

By: Amos P. Eno
Posted on:01/21/2016 Updated:01/09/2018

Sixth generation sugar maker Kevin Bacon showed us how to tap a maple tree on our visit to his farm last week, where we learned a lot about this sweet, sustainable natural resource.

Last Friday LandCAN’s Director of Development & Outreach, Melissa O’Neal and I, Amos P. Eno, Development Assiastant & Grant Administrator, visited Bacon Farm Maple Products in Sidney, Maine to learn more about this sweet, sustainable natural resource. Now owned and operated by Kevin and Shelley Bacon, the farm has been in the Bacon family for six generations.

On that crisp winter morning with bright white snow under foot and clear blue skies over head, Kevin gave us a tour of two of their sugar bushes. Sugar bush is the term used to describe a grove of tapped maple trees – each one of which can have hundreds of taps – and most sugar makers, like the Bacon’s, have several groves with thousands of taps combined.

During the tour, Kevin showed us how to tap one of those maple trees, which you can see in this video.

Stay tuned for more from this series on Kevin and Shelley Bacon, their farm operations and the maple sugar industry as a whole. See Part II here.

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About the Author

Amos P. Eno is the Development Assistant and Grant Administrator for the Land Conservation Assistance Network. This blog will help you understand why we do what we do and inform you of the current happenings in our focus area.