March 20, 2006
A drop in the bucket | The owners of Snell Family Farm discuss maple syrup and marketing
By Whit Richardson
Standing next to a maple tree in her front yard, Ramona Snell lifts one of the tree's dull, gray, discarded leaves from the ground. "These are the sugar factories," she says ˆ the place where the maple syrup-making process begins.
The more sunlight those leaves captured last summer, the sweeter the syrup that Snell Family Farm in Bar Mills will produce during the sugaring season that's now underway. The process of capturing the clear sap that begins running in February and March as the days warm involves a certain "mystique," Snell says. "You're taking something that's liquid when it comes out of the tree and turning it into this beautiful syrup. That's alchemy, I guess."
It's also an important business. Maine produced 265,000 gallons of maple syrup in 2005, making it the second-largest producer in the country behind Vermont, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Snell Family Farm usually contributes about 100 gallons to that amount every year, depending on the quality of the season, placing them among the smaller producers in the state. The Snells sell some of that syrup at the farm's roadside stand or at the farmers' markets in Saco and Portland they visit twice a week during the summer; they will even ship a small amount out of state. But the majority of the farm's maple syrup will be unloaded over the course of a single weekend at the end of March, a day that has become integral to the survival of many small maple syrup producers in the state.
"Maine Maple Sunday" was developed by the Maine Department of Agriculture in the mid-1980s to create interest in Maine's maple-syrup producing farms, or "sugar bushes." On Maine Maple Sunday, close to a 100 maple syrup producers across the state open the doors to their sugar shacks and welcome the public to taste raw sap and learn how it's turned into maple syrup ˆ most also offer pancake breakfasts so visitors can taste the finished product.
This year, the celebration falls on March 26, and over the course of the weekend the Snells estimate they will sell 70% to 80% of the season's total production. While maple syrup was the Snells first cash crop when the family began sugaring close to 27 years ago, it is now just one item among the farm's diversified portfolio. And though it does provide a revenue stream ˆ albeit a small one ˆ during a time when the farm is not producing anything else, it is probably the least profitable enterprise the farm pursues, says Ramona Snell.
During sugaring season, which usually lasts four to six weeks, the Snells collect close to 4,000 gallons of sap from the 300 taps they distribute throughout Bar Mills and Buxton. The sap is boiled down to produce approximately 100 gallons of syrup, which the farm sells for $42 a gallon. That means an average maple syrup season would bring the farm around $4,200. "And that's four to six weeks of fubbing around," Snell says. "So, we're not getting rich are we?"
No. But John Snell Jr., Ramona's husband, says the biggest benefit of producing maple syrup is not the money it brings in, but the visibility it offers the farm. During Maine Maple Sunday the Snells will welcome close to 2,000 people to their farm for pancakes and a sugaring lesson. The next time one of those people is looking for vegetables during the summer or apples in the fall, the Snells hope they will remember their visit. "There are lots of things besides the syrup itself that make it valuable," he says. "Part of it is the promotional value for the rest of the things we do on the farm."
The more sunlight those leaves captured last summer, the sweeter the syrup that Snell Family Farm in Bar Mills will produce during the sugaring season that's now underway. The process of capturing the clear sap that begins running in February and March as the days warm involves a certain "mystique," Snell says. "You're taking something that's liquid when it comes out of the tree and turning it into this beautiful syrup. That's alchemy, I guess."
It's also an important business. Maine produced 265,000 gallons of maple syrup in 2005, making it the second-largest producer in the country behind Vermont, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Snell Family Farm usually contributes about 100 gallons to that amount every year, depending on the quality of the season, placing them among the smaller producers in the state. The Snells sell some of that syrup at the farm's roadside stand or at the farmers' markets in Saco and Portland they visit twice a week during the summer; they will even ship a small amount out of state. But the majority of the farm's maple syrup will be unloaded over the course of a single weekend at the end of March, a day that has become integral to the survival of many small maple syrup producers in the state.
"Maine Maple Sunday" was developed by the Maine Department of Agriculture in the mid-1980s to create interest in Maine's maple-syrup producing farms, or "sugar bushes." On Maine Maple Sunday, close to a 100 maple syrup producers across the state open the doors to their sugar shacks and welcome the public to taste raw sap and learn how it's turned into maple syrup ˆ most also offer pancake breakfasts so visitors can taste the finished product.
This year, the celebration falls on March 26, and over the course of the weekend the Snells estimate they will sell 70% to 80% of the season's total production. While maple syrup was the Snells first cash crop when the family began sugaring close to 27 years ago, it is now just one item among the farm's diversified portfolio. And though it does provide a revenue stream ˆ albeit a small one ˆ during a time when the farm is not producing anything else, it is probably the least profitable enterprise the farm pursues, says Ramona Snell.
During sugaring season, which usually lasts four to six weeks, the Snells collect close to 4,000 gallons of sap from the 300 taps they distribute throughout Bar Mills and Buxton. The sap is boiled down to produce approximately 100 gallons of syrup, which the farm sells for $42 a gallon. That means an average maple syrup season would bring the farm around $4,200. "And that's four to six weeks of fubbing around," Snell says. "So, we're not getting rich are we?"
No. But John Snell Jr., Ramona's husband, says the biggest benefit of producing maple syrup is not the money it brings in, but the visibility it offers the farm. During Maine Maple Sunday the Snells will welcome close to 2,000 people to their farm for pancakes and a sugaring lesson. The next time one of those people is looking for vegetables during the summer or apples in the fall, the Snells hope they will remember their visit. "There are lots of things besides the syrup itself that make it valuable," he says. "Part of it is the promotional value for the rest of the things we do on the farm."
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