The Parsons Family Syrup Making History
written by Dave Parsons, owner of Harwood Heritage Gold
How our Maple Syruping Began (1898 - 1940s)
Lots of Syruping Updates (1950s - 1990s)
Deciding to Continue the Family Tradition (2000 - today)
Deciding to Continue the Family Tradition (2000 - today)
In 2002, my wife and I were at a place with the existing operation where a major decision had to be made. Were we going to fold and get out of the maple syrup business or begin to invest money into newer equipment to produce a better product more efficiently. We made the decision to invest money into the business. The production of making syrup was in our blood and we could not stop what my forefathers had begun. We realized it was a part of our heritage that we wanted to continue. Spring just wouldn't be spring without the smell of boiling sap or the taste of fresh maple syrup.
That year, we bought new welded stainless steel pans to replace the old English tin ones, which were in pretty bad shape after many years of use. I reconfigured the arch to fit the new raised flue pan system. Our boiling efficiency increased along with our ability to keep the equipment clean. We also purchased an automatic draw off that helps prevent burning the pans or scorching the syrup (which happened a few times with the old system). The boiling point of syrup changes with the barometric pressure so slight adjustments are made throughout the day. We also bought a filter press which has improved our ability to remove impurities in the syrup. We filter the syrup coming off the evaporator through two cone filters and one heavy felt filter, then it goes through the new filter press.
A new canner also greatly improved the canning process. We were able to transfer hot syrup right from the filter press into the canner, maintain the temperature of the syrup and can it hot into a variety of containers. A few years ago we began to can our syrup into various fancy glass jars in addition to our standard plastic jugs. Once it has gone through the filter press, the syrup really sparkles in the glass. We have enjoyed seeing the various colors of syrup in the jars and have used several as sun catchers in windows throughout the farm house. Finally we purchased a new tapper which made it easier and less dangerous to tap the trees.
In the winter of 2005-2006, we put in an elevated permanent tubing system in the sugarbush to replace the old tubing. With the old system, mainlines and tubing always ran on the ground; now the mainlines and tubing are all elevated. The lateral lines taper toward the mainlines and the mainlines are sloped to a collection center. The collection center houses a vacuum pump, a collector and a transfer pump. Whenever the temperature reaches above freezing the pump automatically goes on and runs continuously until the temperature dips below freezing. The transfer pump sends the sap to the holding tank.
With a vacuum pump on the main lines, we were able to collect more sap than ever before. Unfortunately, we were not able to process the sap in a timely manner. Sap has to be processed as quickly as possible or bacteria begins to grow. With the old wood fired evaporator, we could not process the sap as quickly as it was collected. Sad to say, we had to dump hundreds of gallons of sap. We did make about one hundred and sixty-five gallons of syrup, but if we'd had the right equipment, we could have made over four hundred gallons of syrup.
Decision time again... We needed to process greater amounts of sap more efficiently. So, we sold the old King evaporator and ordered a new oil fired evaporator and a new reverse osmosis machine. This machine removes a significant amount of water before boiling even takes place. Unfortunately, we couldn't house all of this new equipment in our little old sap house built by my dad in the 1960's. In the winter of 2006, we worked hard to renovate our old milking parlour, a building which had been primarily used for storage since we sold our milking cows in 1985. We now have the room we need for boiling, processing and storage, all under one roof.
The following spring of 2007, we were just barely ready for the first sap flow. Our learning curve was intense, but it was a pleasure making syrup in our new evaporator! In March, the Charlevoix Chamber of Commerce and Petoskey Chamber of Commerce helped us to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for our new "Harwood Heritage Gold" maple syrup operation. One week following this we held our first annual open house. Over 200 people came to see our new maple syrup operation, enjoyed maple treats and took tours to see the maple syrup process.
Later in 2007, we bought more acreage with maple trees. I had to clear a lot of dead trees, and as this project was nearing closure, I was cutting down a tree and it hit me on the head. Luckily, I had on my hard hat, but the tree knocked me down and injured my neck. The injury went undetected for five weeks, when it was discovered that I had blown out the disc between two vertebras, injured the tendons and ligaments, and had a broken neck. I had surgery to replace the disc and a fusion of two vertebrates. Needless to say, this put me way behind. I was very doubtful that I would have the woods fully tapped and producing sap by spring. But many friends came to our rescue – they helped bull doze downed trees, pull out tubing, dig trenches for electrical lines, attach the drops for tapping the trees, clear brush... the list is endless. We also had help from Dan Tassier, a friend and fellow maple producer from the Upper Peninsula. He laid out the tubing for the entire sugar bush and supervised the ongoing process. Without everyone's help, having the new sugar bush operational would not have happened until the following year.
We continue to make little improvements, but our 'state-of-the-art' maple syrup operation is in full swing. My dad passed away in 2001, but I wish he could have seen these latest updates to our maple syrup making process. He would be amazed at the amount of syrup coming from his sugar bush around Harwood Lake. Our decision to carry-on with the family tradition begun over one hundred years ago has been the right one. My dad always said to look to the future, to keep abreast of new technology and to embrace it. We look forward to continuing to provide quality Harwood Heritage Gold maple products for years to come on our centennial farm.
1898 - 1940s | 1950s - 1990s | 2000 - today
