survey

Talks from Ohio Maple Days 2024

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To meet the requests of many Ohio Maple Days attendees, we asked Keith Libben and Zach Smith for their presentation slide decks.  And we received.  Thanks to the both of them for tying a ribbon on their talks and making that content available for us.  For a full Recap of our 2024 Ohio Maple Days, check out last week’s post here.

Keith Libben from Ohio Department of Agriculture (you can find his contact information here) talked about NRCS cost-/technical-assistance programs revolving around energy efficiency and maple operations.  Best of all, his talk featured some fantastic success stories of real Ohio maple producers tapping into the program and upgrading their sugarhouse by leaps and bounds.  Click Here to View Keith’s OMD 2024 Slides.

Zachary Smith from University of Vermont spoke about marketing strategies on the producer side of the maple enterprise equation.  I point out the producer side because Vermont will be returning in 2025 to focus more on the consumer side of the marketing equation.  You can view Zach’s slides HERE.  And of course, if you have questions to follow-up with Zach and his team, I guarantee that they would love to hear from you.

Additionally, here is a QR code that will take you to a survey being conducted through UVM currently – tell them all about your perspective on the human and social aspects of life as it is flavored by your experience as a maple producer.  We all know maple is about more than just maple – this survey is an attempt to capture just what we mean when we say that.

January Backyard Maple Workshop

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Please check out this January 24th workshop for Backyard Maple Production hosted by our very own Jake Nicholson and Jim Downs.  Beginning at 12:30 and running through the afternoon, attendees will be introduced to the backyard basics of tapping maple trees and boiling sap into delicious maple syrup.  The workshop will be hosted down at Canter’s Cave 4H Camp in Jackson County, Ohio.

Registration is required and attendees can sign up anytime from now until January 20th through the Woodland Stewards website.

 

We also wanted to share this Sustainability-focused survey for maple producers from the good folks at University of Vermont.  Please scan the QR code below to participate.

Here’s a bit more information from Mark Cannella.

Maple producers are invited to join a first-of-it’s kind study exploring the human side of maple production. This new survey asks producers to share their personal experiences and community interactions related to maple sap and syrup activity. It includes topics on community connections, trust, cultural significance, tradition, health and well being. 

This research is part of a larger project that is exploring all the ways that the maple sector represents or works towards “sustainability”. The larger project is identifying measurements that best reflect maple sustainability in relation to people, communities, forest health, economics and environmental impact. Once established, these sustainability indicators can be monitored over time to assess how the people and systems touched by maple are doing.

Ohio Maple Days Announcements

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We are excited to announce that Ohio Maple Days will be returning IN-PERSON on December 11th after a necessary virtual COVID-19 interruption earlier in January.  Mark your calendars for December 11th in Ashland, Ohio, and get ready to rendezvous with maple producers from around the state to hear great talks from excellent speakers, browse a selection of maple vendors, and reconnect face-to-face with your maple community.

Switching Ohio Maple Days to a one-day main event and moving from January to early December is not exactly going back to the way things were pre-pandemic, but the decisions were collectively made after much discussion between Gary Graham, the Ohio Maple Producers Association board, and the rest of the Ohio State maple team.

Please read the following letter from Gary Graham expressing his delight in the 2+ decades of organizing Ohio Maple Days, and his optimism for the future of Ohio Maple Days moving forward.

Stay tuned for registration details in the next month or two.  Check back next week to participate in a survey that solicits your topic preference for maple programming at Ohio Maple Days and other events in the future.