Around this time each year, as the sun’s rays become stronger and the temperatures start to rise, I look toward the red maple trees for signs of bud break, hoping it will soon be time for sugaring season. The maple industry has changed rapidly in recent years, with the advent of pipelines, reverse osmosis to remove excess water in the sap concentrate, and vacuum systems to gently draw sap from trees.
Edward H. Jones
As sugaring begins, this is when I am most proud of my maternal grandfather, Edward H. Jones, who was Vermont’s commissioner of agriculture from 1924 to 1944 and oversaw maple production, among other duties.
An old newspaper clipping I saved notes that Jones was “plucked from between the handles of a plow” to serve as commissioner under eight Vermont governors.
Jones recognized the need for cleanliness in making the higher grades of maple syrup, with advice like “gather sap from clean, covered pails” and advertisements proudly stating “fully guaranteed under the pure food laws to contain nothing but the product of the maple.”
He was also a leader in developing maple cream as a commercial product and he shipped his Valley Mead Farm goods from Waitsfield, Vt., across the United States.
“We have made real progress in the direction of producing better-quality farm stuff and getting it to market,” Jones used to say.
Jones promoted maple products, and the maple industry, by transporting a miniature sugarhouse via train to conventions and expositions nationwide for sugaring demonstrations.
Maple syrup advertisement
Although it has been rehabbed, the small structure is still being used by my ninth-generation nieces and nephews.
With the total maple production in the United States at 3,167,000 gallons in 2014, Vermont dominated with a 42 percent market share (followed by New York and Maine with 17 percent each), which translated to 1,320,000 gallons produced; in 2013, the total revenue of syrup was more than $44 million from our little state!
I sincerely hope that each of us can visit a sugarhouse this year, smell the sweet aroma as the sap boils, and enjoy some “sugar on snow” with plain doughnuts, sour pickles and deviled eggs. It may sound a little strange — until you try it — and then you will see why it’s a longstanding Vermont tradition. Moreover, you might think about my grandfather, who was looking into the future so many years ago, and contributed to Vermont’s success in maple production.
In recognition of his agricultural leadership, friends established the E.H. Jones Foundation Scholarship at the State School of Agriculture (now part of Vermont Technical College).
With a family history like mine, I should have followed in my grandfather’s footsteps, instead of becoming a Christmas tree farmer, and then I could have enjoyed even more of Vermont’s “gold!”
This article was also published in the Stowe Reporter.