This is an excerpt from a story published on Homestead on the Run.
“We like to tap trees close to the trail. We’re kind of lazy.”
Rich Metzler made this declaration in the midst of collecting sap from over 200 maple trees tapped on his property the previous day. Within an hour we’d have over 250 gallons ready to be cooked down to maple syrup. And that’s just the first pass.
Needless to say, the Metzler family is anything but lazy. Every spring they band together and produce an average of 350 gallons of syrup. With a typical ratio of 40:1, that takes 14,000 gallons of sap. Between the prep work, sap collection, processing, and cleanup, it adds up to hundreds of hours of hands-on work throughout the weeks-long season.
Granted, it’s not uncommon to see evidence of syrup production while driving through back roads in early spring. According to the USDA, Wisconsin produced 300,000 gallons of maple syrup in 2021. And that doesn’t count the many rurally-living Wisconsinites that usher in spring by tapping their own trees for personal use.
But what draws them to it? Is it an easy means to natural sugar? A lucrative side hustle?
With an invitation to join Rich and his family this year, we were about to find out.
