July 2nd, Monday – Goodrich Maple Farm – A Totally Different Kind of Sugarhouse

So today was another up and out since we were due at the holistic chiropractor by 9:30 am. Believe me if it wasn’t doing so much good, I would never, ever be up so early.  Hey, we’re retired and this is too much like getting up and going off to work!

So the day started out hot not warm but hot and here we are at 8 pm at night and the temperature is still above 85 degrees and the humidity is equally high.  This weather is really crazy.  Thankfully, it is supposed to break on Friday with thunderstorms.  Go figure, our travel day.  Yet, when I think of it, it will probably be the first travel day that we’ve had inclement weather.  It is what it is.

Doctor visit finished, we stopped home to check on Marti and make sure the AC was keeping him comfortable.  It was nice walking into Graybeard and just letting the cool air wrap its arms around us.  We spent a few minutes with Marti, took him for a walk, then we bade him goodbye and off we went sightseeing.

We visited the last three places we had in mind today.  The first was Goodrich Maple Syrup Farm¸ then we went to Joe’s Pond, and finally Cabot Cheese.  Tonight, let’s go to Goodrich Maple Syrup Farm.

Now I know what you may be thinking, the same as I was, isn’t one maple syrup farm the same as all the others?  After all we had already been to Bragg Farm.  Truth of the matter is the two are as different as day and night.

Yes, both produce the same 4 grades of Maple Syrup.  But that is the only

thing they have in common.  So, come on along and share our day with us and learn what separates the two.

A short drive from our home and the sign at the side of the road told us that we were at the entrance to the Goodrich Maple Syrup Farm. 

Up into the parking lot, up the walk to the gift shop and sugar house, in the door and we

we were welcomed by both a sign and one of God’s beautiful people named Sarah (silly me I forgot to get a picture of her).

We did learn that Sarah is one of three daughters but the only one that is actively involved full time in the family business today.  She is a veteran and a college graduate with her masters in psychology.

So what separates and sets this sugar house apart from all the others?  Well, before I get into that, a little history of the farm.  We discovered that Goodrich began in 1980 with two people, Glen and Ruth Goodrich,  boiling sap in a pan over an open fire in their yard.  But, though, it started out small it didn’t stay that way for long.  This farm would in time revolutionize the Maple Industry.

Move now to the 1990’s and it was obvious that a new and larger facility was needed.  Long story short, Glen with the help of two others built a timber frame structure that was put together using the old-time honored practice of using only wooden pegs.  There are no nails or screws used in its construction.  Glen also cut the trees down and made the wood planks for the beams, post and planks from  some of the trees on his farm.  This is the current sugar house.

This is a picture of one wall of this structure that is the main sugar house.  It is a most impressive structure to say the least.  Even more so when you realize it was completed by three people in just three months.

Let’s look next at the overall process of making Vermont Maple Syrup.  As the placard below explains it takes a knowledge of the trees themselves and a commitment to carefully cultivate them.

Now we come to the first thing that sets this farm apart.  The collection of their sap which is not done with buckets but with the use of vacuum pumps and plastic tubing.

This is a picture of the plastic tubing that they use and run from tree to tree.

This is a picture of the tubing running from tree to tree.

Once collected the sap is transported to a storage building adjacent to the actual sugar house.  This facility can hold up to 25,000 gallons of sap.

From here on there are big differences from the traditional way in what they do with the sap.  Here we go.  The sap moves from this building to the basement of the sugar house where it undergoes a process called reverse osmosis (RO).

From the RO machine in the basement the sap is pumped upstairs into the evaporator.  This stainless steel line on the right is the line that brings the sap up.

Regarding the evaporator.  It was designed by Glen Goodrich and today is marketed and sold to other producers of maple syrup.  This new and revolutionary design along with the RO process allows the sugar house to produce a record shattering 150 gallons of maple syrup every hour!

This is a picture of the actual evaporator.  The concentrate enters through the uppermost compartment, then it travels down close to the fire, next to the boiling pans and finally

it enters this tank where it is ready to be drawn off and graded.  If we move to the other

side of this tank we can see what the sap is drawn off into.  It is here that it is graded.  Sarah explained that once the process starts it means long days of 12 to 18 hours with no time to take a break.  She stated you go until the run is finished.  She also told us that

it is really up to the sap to determine the grade.  You can start out with a light amber but that can change anywhere along the process.  Once the syrup is in these tanks it then goes through a series of filters – like the ones below – before it is moved next to a holding

tank on the main floor.  When this tank is full it is pumped downstairs into 40 gallon containers where it is held until it is needed either in the store or by wholesellers.

Bottom line the Goodrich Maple Farm to date has won over 800 awards for their Maple Syrup.

Once finished with the tour of the sugar house, it was time to visit the gift shop.  You just know that we weren’t going to get out of here without a little lightning of our wallets!

We absolutely loved our visit here.  It was indeed totally different from Bragg Farm which we visited last week and we were so glad we took the time to stop here.

Tomorrow we’ll share some more of our day with you but for now it is time to bid one and all a goodnite.  It’s 10 pm and the heat is finally beginning to break.  Tomorrow, though, looks like another scorcher.  We hope you to had a super day and that you had a chance to do something you truly wanted to.  Thanks for sharing our day with us and now we leave you with a thought to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before