ohio maple days

Ohio Maple Days – 2024 Recap

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Maple Days was a great success again this early December with a wonderful slate of speakers, and we matched last year’s attendance despite landing on the weekend of Ohio’s deer gun season to which reason we lacked a score or more of regular attendees.

On Friday afternoon, Ohio State’s David Marrison (Farm Management Field Specialist) and Robert Moore (OSU Agricultural and Resource Law Program Attorney) hosted 42 people in an Estate Planning workshop.  Attendees were coached through the challenging but necessary process of planning for the future.  Intentionally planning one’s own legacy can be a daunting task, but the workshop is designed around just that process – actively planning for the future of one’s farm, or for many peoples’ cases – one’s sugarhouse.  The event received enthusiast reviews from both participants and hosts alike.

December 7th was the Saturday main event.  Things kicked off with a talk from Keith Libben from Ohio’s Department of Agriculture.  Much ado has been made of the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s technical and cost-share assistance for sugarmakers, but this year’s talk from Keith featured some fantastic success stories that producers could easily connect with.  A big thanks to Jen Freeman for assembling an all-star panel that discussed all things filtering, sap storage, and syrup bottling…and I mean all things.  The amount of depth and breadth that was covered in that hour was astounding, and the steady flow of questions and comments from the audience was a great indicator of a great session.  A series of maple-related wildlife updates reminded the audience that wildlife are a true Jekyll and Hyde of the sugarbush.

Bridging the morning session into the afternoon announcements of the John Berry Maple Syrup Contest was a talk on USDA syrup standards and grading.  The interactive elements of that session were a clear testament to the fact that while the basics of grading are well understood, practice makes perfect even for the most experienced of maple producers.  And speaking of maple syrup contests, here’s a rundown of the deserving 2024 winners!

Delicate: No entries qualified, there’s your chance for next year folks!
Amber: 1st – Bruce Kavanaugh, 2nd – Aggie Sojka-Sperry
Dark: 1st – Ohio State University-Mansfield, 2nd – Bonhomie Acres, 3rd – Aggie Sojka-Sperry
Very Dark: 1st – Charles Hammer, 2nd – Bonhomie Acres, and 3rd – Ohio State University-Mansfield

The Dick Schoor Small Producer Award went to Bruce Kavanaugh, and Dan and Kelly Brown from Bonhomie Acres took the Hilton Farley Best-of-Show Award.  A People’s Choice contest was well worth the extra effort to set up, and lots of folks participated.  The Browns with Bonhomie Acres claimed the Delicate category, Dave and Christina Remy won by popular vote in the Amber and Dark grades, and Gay & Galen Smith with Double G Maple took the Very Dark category.  We hope participation in the John Berry Maple Syrup Contest continues to grow as the competition grading now incorporates a phenomenal opportunity to glean feedback on your syrup’s grade, color, clarity, density, and flavor thanks to a new form crafted by Jake Nicholson and adapted from forms used in syrup contests elsewhere.

Zac Smith from University of Vermont anchored the afternoon session with a presentation on marketing strategies for maple producers.  We look forward to hosting the UVM team back in 2025 to talk more about the consumer part of the marketing equation.  Always good to have our friends visit from the north woods.

The afternoon session split led part of the audience through a couple of talks focused on managing a timber sale and safe chainsaw operation and maintenance.  Paul Helser from Helser Woodland Management and Lee Beers of OSU Extension – thank you for a great afternoon session.  The other room explored solar as not only a green alternative option to conventional electricity but also as a way to get power into tough-to-reach areas of the woods.  Les Ober also shared a great talk on handling sap from the logical point of origin – the tree! – all the way to the evaporator.  This talk was similar to the panel session from the morning in that there was at least one tip or trick to be gleaned for even the most experienced maple producer in the room.

It would be crazy not to acknowledge the excellent menu presented by the Ashland University culinary team – from dark beer braised beef to maple candied brussel sprouts and a line-up of desserts to drool over, lunch remains a highlight of the overall Ohio Maple Days experience for all.  As much as we’ve come to count on delicious eats at the conference, we are also glad to offer free hydrometer testing as a mainstay of the event as well.  Almost 20% of attendees brought hydrometers to be tested with many producers bringing upwards of a half dozen instruments.

As a tip of the hat to the next generation, we also want to recognize Ms. Elizabeth Franz who came back to this year’s conference to present her research poster on nitrate and phosphate occurrence in maple syrup.  A big thanks to the maple producers who stepped up to the plate as collaborators in her work last year.  As great as events like Maple Days are, they won’t guarantee a vibrant future for the maple industry in Ohio, but continued involvement of and investment in the next generation will!

Registration is LIVE for Ohio Maple Days

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Friday December 6th we will be offering a Legacy Planning workshop on transition and estate planning featuring Ohio State University’s own David Marrison and Robert Moore.  While this workshop is a part of Ohio Maple Days, it is open to any landowner who wants to participate.  So please consider registering yourself, but also please share this great opportunity with family, friends, and neighbors regardless of whether they are a maple producer or not.  Registration is available here.

Saturday December 7th is a day for everything maple.  Topics this year include an expert panel on filtering, cost share programs, managing a timber sale, marketing for producers and a grading and tasting session to name a few.  Visit with vendors and enjoy a maple themed lunch.  It is always a grand time – Registration is available here.

Ohio Maple Day – Weekend Recap

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Ohio Maple Days was a great success again this early December with a wonderful slate of speakers and solid growth over last year’s attendance.  But before we get to Saturday’s main event, there was a lot of excitement that cannot be overlooked from that Friday.

On Friday afternoon, over 30 people participated in an exceptional value-added maple products workshop in Ashland University’s state-of-the-art teaching kitchen.  Several maple producers – namely Galen Smith, Dan Brown, Jen Freeman, and Fred Ahrens – demonstrated how to make delicious (and yes there was PLENTY of taste testing!) maple candy, maple cream, maple sugar, and maple cotton candy.  Contributions from numerous others behind the scenes must be acknowledged, and I even got to participate by contributing a maple venison breakfast sausage link exhibition at the end.  All participants left full of good bites to eat and full of knowledge, tips and tricks to either get into the value-added products game or improve their already developed skill set.  It is always so much fun to participate in a workshop where the speakers, as well as many of the attendees, are interacting back-and-forth with one another from beginning to end.

Friday evening’s main event was spearheaded by the Ohio Maple Producer’s Association – “One Sweet Gathering.”  Raffles and trivia night carried the audience through lots of maple-themed questions and more participants than not left with one or multiple prizes.  This event has become one of my favorite as it affords us an opportunity to interact with everyone in a low stakes environment – there is no agenda that has to be accomplished, no itinerary that is dependent on staying on time.  Lots of great conversation, laughs, and of course excellent food and drinks carried the night, and OMPA was able to raise a substantial sum for the OSU maple research program – an extremely generous gesture to push for more and better work on their behalf!  Thanks!!

For Saturday’s main event, Aaron Wilson – Buckeye Universe’s State Climatologist – keynoted with an excellent hour-long talk discussing the implications of El Nino’s resurgence on sugarmakers.  Regulatory updates and labeling requirements from Ohio Dept. of Agriculture, the latest on spotted lanternfly, and a primer on tubing and vacuum systems from Mike Lynch of CDL rounded out the morning’s agenda.

The chefs at Ashland University continue to outdo themselves and offered up yet another showstopper of a lunch.  As entrees and desserts were enjoyed, Roger & Suzie Gortner and Paul Snavely from the Snavely Sugar Shack were overwhelmed by congratulations on receiving the Charles Keiter Award.

Saturday afternoon offered a split agenda with a Beginner or Advanced track.  Spot checking attendance in each, most talks were roughly half and half throughout the final sessions.  One highlight for us was sharing the Sugarhouse Videos created at Gingerich Brothers & Sperry LLC, Seldom Seen Farms, and Double G Maple.  Those short videos will be featured in the digital Maple Toolbox which is almost completed and will be available soon.  Other Advanced talks focused on NRCS cost-share programs for enhanced sugarmaking sustainability, crop tree management in a sugarbush, and coupling gourmet mushroom cultivation with your maple woods.  The Beginner track started in the obvious place – how to identify different maple species, and it then progressed through different sap collection methods, a crash course on evaporators and reverse osmosis, before concluding with economic and enterprise planning.

Last but certainly not least, I have to give a shout out to Galen Smith for leading a team of folks to host the John Berry Memorial Syrup Contest.  Bruce Kavanagh took first in the Delicate class, Goodell Family Farms for Amber, and Aggie from Gingerich Brothers & Sperry led the Robust class.  The Dick Schoor Award for best syrup from a new or small producer was awarded to Bruce Kavanagh, and the Hilton Farly Award was won by Aggie Sperry.

We hope you can join us next year (actually this year…Happy New Year!) on December 6 for the 2024 edition of Ohio Maple Days!  SAVE THE DATE!!

Ask Santa for a New…Hydrometer!!

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This year’s Ohio Maple Days welcomed back the free hydrometer testing service that folks had come to expect from Dr. Gary Graham’s days of leading the annual Ohio maple event.

As part of the tri-state (OH – WV – PA) ACER grant, we built out at least 1 full hydrometer testing kit for each state to ensure accurate hydrometers are in the hands of maple producers in order to produce top-quality maple syrup.  A big thanks to Carri Jagger for leading the charge on this initiative, we figured that she and I tested somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-90 hydrometers during Saturday’s program.  These are rough estimates, but I would guess around half the hydrometers tested within +/- 0.2 Brix of perfect.  1 out of every 10 hydrometers read heavier densities than they should have, and the remainder – close to 3 or 4 out of every 10 – read light compared to the standard.

For a bit more complete explanation and how to make sense of the Hydrometer Testing Bookmarks, let’s explore a couple scenarios.

The first scenario is that your hydrometer reads the exact same as our standard testing hydrometer.  This bookmark shows a best case scenario and this is exactly what that means.  We chose to test everyone’s hydrometer against a test solution of 60.0 Brix.  In other words, we mixed a test solution to read 60.0 Brix on our standard hydrometer and checked everyone else’s instrument against the truth of that standard.  Choosing 60.0 Brix as the test line is somewhat arbitrary, we could have chosen 62.0 or 64.0 or 65.7 if we were really feeling inspired.  The bottom line is that within a certain range, an inch is an inch, and if your ruler is really truly measuring 24″ where it says 24″, the same ruler should also be spot on when measuring something 30″ long as well.  The same concept applies here.  Known density is 60.0, your hydrometer reads 60.0, and your glass, paper scale, and hydrometer is in great condition.

Heavy Syrup LLC and Wimpy Syrup & Co. are both less than ideal hydrometer testing scenarios.

Wimpy Syrup & Co.’s hydrometer is reading heavy even though their hydrometer is in good condition from a wear and tear perspective.  The effect of having a hydrometer that reads heavy is that you’ll likely be producing syrup on the underside of optimal density.  In other words, you’ll pull your syrup off early because of the heavy reading and may not finish all the way up at the perfection standard of 66.9 Brix.

Heavy Syrup LLC has the opposite issue.  Because their hydrometer is reading light, syrup will probably get left on the evaporator a tad long and finish at a higher density than the industry standard.  Hence, we can see that the directional error in hydrometer reading leads to syrup that finishes in the opposite direction.  A heavier reading than truth leads to lighter syrup. Lighter readings lead to heavier syrup.  The additional issue with Heavy Syrup LLC’s hydrometer is that the paper scale has become twisted, likely as a result of a glue dot detaching, eliminating any hope of accurate density readings in the future.  Throw that hydrometer away.

Hopefully this post sheds some light on why hydrometer testing is important.  A big thanks to all the producers who brought one or two or five hydrometers to be tested.  We will plan to offer the same service at Ohio Maple Days going forward and add a second testing beaker for sap hydrometers at next year’s event.  Syrup density is one of the key diagnostics to ensure we produce quality maple syrup and accurately reading density is an important skill as a sugarmaker.  If you have a hydrometer that you know is off, toss it in the garbage and ask Santa to put another in your stocking ASAP.

 

Reverse Osmosis 101+

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Ohio Maple Days 2022 did not disappoint.  The food was fantastic, the vendor room crowded, and the presenters shared a wealth of knowledge of expertise across a wide range of subjects.  Joel Oelke, Regional Sales Manager with Leader Evaporator/H2O Innovation, shared an encyclopedic wealth of knowledge regarding reverse osmosis leading up to the lunch hour.  Before we get into a few highlights, be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s conference December 8th and 9th!

At its simplest, reverse osmosis is a process by which sap is passed through a membrane to remove water thereby concentrating sugar.  The pure water pulled out of the sap is referred to as permeate.  The increasingly sugary solution – concentrate.  The benefits are obvious – it saves space on numerous fronts and greatly improves efficiency at the evaporator by reducing time, fuel, and labor.  While the list of pros is long, suffice it to say – reverse osmosis is one of the biggest technological revolutions the maple industry has experienced in the last 100 years.

While reverse osmosis is a true game changer for maple producers, the technology is also one of the most complex and expensive pieces of equipment in the sugarhouse.  It is easy to become intimidated by what’s necessary to implement and maintain a unit, and mistakes chalked up to the “school of hard knocks” can be expensive.  Here are just 5 rules of thumb that I pulled from Joel’s presentation to share in this article.

#1 – RO’s efficiency rating (how many gallons can a unit process per hour) is given at a solution temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit.  Because sap is kept at cooler temperatures to ensure syrup quality, you need to factor the lower temperature into your unit’s efficiency rating.  This is especially important to consider if you are shopping for a new RO unit.  Here’s a simple figure to calibrate your RO’s operating efficiency.  If you purchase a unit rated at 600 gallons per hour but expect to run sap at an average temperature of 40 F, you can multiply 600 by an efficiency downgrade of 0.75 (or 75%) and expect a 450 gallon per hour operating rate.

#2 – A second factor influencing RO efficiency is the concentrate level you are trying to achieve assuming you start around 2 Brix.  The more you want to concentrate your sap, the less efficient your unit will be.  Let’s continue with the example we started above in italics.  If you want to take 2% sap to 8% concentrate, your RO unit will run at the temperature-corrected peak of efficiency and achieve your calibrated 450 gallons per hour rate.  However, if you concentrated to something higher, say a 12% level, your operation would get dinged with an additional 30% loss in efficiency.  Here’s what the math would reveal – 450 gallons per hour multiplied by 0.70 = 315 gallons per hour.  Below is another figure to help you calculate the efficiency factor of concentration.  Remember, you must factor in both penalties – sap temperature and concentrate level – to properly estimate your efficiency rating.  And this all assumes you are running a clean, properly-maintained RO unit!

#3 – The desugaring, rinsing, and washing cycles are what keep your expensive reverse osmosis investment operating at the peak of performance.  Long story short – each cycle is critical to maintaining your unit.  And do not – especially in the wash cycle – generalize across all RO units.  Specific models and manufacturers use different membranes which are tailored to different types of soaps and chemicals as well as amounts of each.  Consulting the manuals and consulting with your RO manufacturer reps – just like Joel – is best practice for getting maximum life and performance out of your reverse osmosis technology.

#4 – Don’t let your improved efficiency get you in to trouble.  What I mean is this – sap that goes through a reverse osmosis unit comes out as warmer concentrate.  So, A) the process of reverse osmosis physically warms the concentrate above the temperature that it went in the machine, and B) you aren’t concentrating just sugar with an RO unit, you are concentrating everything – including microbes and bacteria.  The warmer concentrate coupled with a denser community of “nasties” can get a producer in big trouble if the evaporator is not synced up in work flow and their facility can not properly keep concentrate cool.  Stopping short of laying out any specific recommendations for how to integrate and streamline your sugarhouse sap-to-syrup processing, just know that the clock is ticking extra fast once you start concentrating sap.

#5 – If you properly size, run, and maintain an reverse osmosis unit, you can expect roughly a 3-year payback on your purchase when accounting for saved fuel and labor.  A rough cost estimator predicted a $4 cost savings per finished gallon of syrup using fuel oil in a 110 gallon per hour evaporator.  Obviously there a lot of moving parts for each unique scenario, but the bottom line is this asset does not 10 years to recoup costs.

Hopefully these quick 5 points help you make sense of reverse osmosis and how you might consider incorporating or upgrading an RO unit in your sugaring operation.  Thanks for an extremely informative talk Joel!

Ohio Maple Days & Workshop Registration DEADLINE Approaching

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Registration is sneaking up for the Friday & Saturday festivities surrounding Ohio Maple Days.

In order of their occurrence, Mark Cannella is hosting a maple business workshop representing by University of Vermont on Friday, December 9th.  Mark is offering this half day workshop with a focus on strategic planning, marketing and managing finances toward profitability.  Participants are encouraged to bring any business records and information of their own to apply during the workshop.  There are 4 SAF category 1 continuing education credits offered for the day.  Space is limited and seats are running out – register now!

Friday evening, you do not want to miss out on the One Sweet Gathering fundraising banquet thrown by the Ohio Maple Producers Association.  Register here!

And of course the main event on December 10th, Saturday for Ohio Maple Days.  We will meet again at Ashland University’s John C. Meyer Convocation Center for a jam-packed program on all things maple.  Updates on red maple research from both Ohio State’s Gabe Karns and the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center’s Abby van den Berg.  Add to this other talks on reverse osmosis, marketing and insects impacting maple trees.  A maple themed lunch and a vendor room that features a variety of maple equipment dealers, consulting foresters and other associated equipment help round out the day.  There are also SAF continuing education credits available for the program.  Registration here.

 

 

Ohio Maple Days 2022 Registration Live

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Please join us on December 9th and 10th for a great line-up of workshops, socials, and seminars at this year’s Ohio Maple Days.  Registration is available at the Woodland Stewards website.  Saturday has a packed agenda of research talks, seminars, vendor displays, and down time to enjoy meals engaging with fellow maple enthusiasts.

Preceding Saturday, Friday will feature a half-day business planning workshop with Dr. Mark Cannella (ad below) followed by a banquet and social with maple-themed entrees, drinks, and cocktails galore (buy tickets here!).  Registration for each event is separate, so don’t miss out a great 2-day package of maple education and fun.

December Ohio Maple Days & Grading Workshop

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Don’t forget to register for the Ohio Maple Days meeting scheduled for December 11 in Ashland.  We have a limited number of seats, so don’t delay too much in getting in those registrations.

We are also excited to host a syrup grading workshop on Friday, December 10th.  Please consider making a couple days of it to participate in both the workshop and the main event on Saturday.  Registration for the syrup grading workshop is on the Woodland Stewards website.

See you there!

Registration LIVE for Ohio Maple Days, December 11th

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REGISTER NOW!!!

Join us Saturday, December 11th for a day of all things maple!  We will highlight research from Ohio State’s two ACER research grants and introduce you to some of our research partners from West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  Spotted lanternfly is now in Ohio so learn its impacts and how producers can help.  We will also talk about how to improve your public events at the sugarbush, and a presentation on a new opportunity for selling bulk syrup.  The program runs from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM with registration opening at 8:30.

The full slate of presentations is as follows:

Ohio’s ACER Grants
Ohio Maple Producer Survey – Sayeed Mehmood, Ohio State University
Reds, Silvers, Rilvers and Sugars – Gabe Karns, Ohio State University,

Spotted Lanternfly in Ohio: How Maple Producers Can Help – Amy Stone, OSU Extension

Forest Management Planning – Kathy Smith, Ohio State University

Is Agritourism in Your Future? – Rob Leeds, Ohio State University Extension

Authentic Appalachia – Mike Rechlin, Future Generations University

Tapping Red Maple – Abby van den Berg, University of Vermont, Proctor Maple Research Center

Maple Programming Survey – Please Participate!

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Last week, we shared the exciting news that Ohio Maple Days will be making its IN-PERSON return on December 11th in Ashland, OH.

Ohio Maple Days Save the Date Flyer – December 11, 2021

This week, we want to invite you to participate in a survey to help inform statewide maple programming into the future.  By ranking your interest level across different maple-related topics and providing specific content ideas, we plan to use survey feedback to mold and shape high quality maple programming at Ohio Maple Days and other events – outreach and education that is most useful and most valuable to maple producers throughout the Buckeye State.

Click here to participate anonymously in the survey.