For three generations the Patterson family has been producing Maple Syrup, it was over 100 years ago that Grandpa Patterson first tapped his trees. The tradition was carried on by Father Patterson in much the same fashion, as did his father. They produced enough syrup for their own use and for trading for necessities.
At the time Grandpa was sugaring, there were no tractors or trucks, all the gathering was done with a team of horses and lots of labor. Wooden spiles were whittled from Sumac or another wood with a pithy center. Holes were bored into the tree with a bit and brace and the spiles were driven into the hole. Wooden buckets were set under the spile or they were hung from it. Sometimes three to four times a day, Grandpa and the family hitched Dobbin to the sled and traveled to the sugar bush to collect sap.
Remnants of the old sugarhouse can still be seen today, it was here that the entire family worked to boil the sap into syrup. Wood of course was the only fuel, and it took quite a pile of it. Grandpa was in charge of the work in the sugarhouse to make the syrup, while Grandma was in charge of the kitchen where the sugar was made.
Sugar was at that time poured into molds that formed square blocks of sugar. As it was needed, it was scraped off the block. White sugar was rarely used. All the canning, baking and cooking was done with Maple Sugar.
When father took over the farm he continued to harvest the syrup in the same manner. Times were changing and he did keep up with the times. the Wooden spiles were replaced by ones cast from steel, and those were replaced by less costly ones made of tin. The wooden buckets were replaced with covered buckets of galvanized steel, and a Farmall tractor replaced Dobbin. Father made a bit more syrup than Grandpa but the same loving care went into the syrup.
When Father retired he sold the farm to a son whom also has a love of sugaring. Much has changed in this generation. The demand for syrup and its products has forced production to increase. We still hang a few buckets down by the road but now it's a world of plastic spiles, vinyl tubing, gas powered drills and stainless steel. There is still a lot of TLC that goes into our products along with lots of pride. We have one large evaporator, which is a 6 foot by 19 foot stainless steel pan that is turbo diesel fired, and to keep it supplied takes several hundred thousand gallons of sap. Although we still tap the same trees that Grandpa did, we also lease several other sugar bushes totaling over 70,000 taps.
Each fall we hire several loyal people for tapping and boiling. The sugarhouse is a busy place from November to April. Several times a season the sap flows faster than it boils and we boil around the clock to catch up. The coffeepot never stops during sugaring season; neither does the camaraderie of good friends. After the sap stops and everything is cleaned up we continue the daily process of making various products from the syrup. We only jug our syrup as needed to insure that what is in the jug is fresh and all of our products are made in small batches to insure consistent taste.
We here at PATTERSON FARMS hope you enjoy your visit to our website and we welcome your comments .