“that’s how Steve rolls” says Holly. By the end of
February, most of the lines needs were installed and
the placement and plumbing of all the equipment
followed including an evaporator and stainless steel
holding tanks. There was also the installation of a
reverse osmosis which is used to extract 75% of the
water in the sap, concentrating it, to manage a lesser
boiling time. This efficiency was needed because
the Hardwicks also work full time elsewhere.
Finally they finished all plumbing and electrical
installing by the end of March, just in time as the
trees started dripping. With a vacuum pump system
in place and a well planned layout that Steve had
engineered in the woods, the sap began to pour in.
The two 10 gallon releasers would take turns, one
filled with vacuum pressure the other would dump
sap, the sweet nectar about every three minutes,
filling the 1500 gallon tank in about a day. When
they would return from work, they would process
the sap by taking it from 2% sugar content through
the R.O. machine concentrating it up to 12-14%
sugar content to start the boil. Sap to syrup is
about 40 gallons to 1 gallon of syrup. Not every
day makes the same amount of sap, depending on
warm days and below freezing nights which is the
ideal temperatures for sap to run. Thrilled at the
end of their first season of 1000 taps, they turned
their dream into a business making 250 gallons of
syrup. The following year Steve installed another
1000 taps and built Holly her gift shop where
she displays the delicious syrup (and her artwork/
handmade unique gifts). Last year Steve installed
another 1000 with a total of three thousand to date.
In the next few years they plan on piping in up to
3000 more that are still untapped on the property.
You can experience the sweet taste of spring right
here “on the other side” of Eagle Lake once the sap
starts to flow usually around the end of March/ first
of April to the end of April. They will be open on
Maine Maple weekend in hopes the sap will flow.
The Hardwicks offer free tours, some taffy on fresh
snow or tasting of the syrup right off the canner.
So mark your calendars to visit their sugarbush this
spring at 1426 Sly Brook Road, Eagle Lake.
WINTER 2016
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