D2-Grower & Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 6, 2003 Maple Producers: Farmers Of A Different Variety (Continued from Page D 1) they want to be good stewards of the lands.” The local maple production program was conducted at the Chris and Susan Maust Farm near Boynton. The Mausts, along with their teen-age daughter Re becca, have been in the maple production business for several years now. What started out as a hobby has turned into a busier operation. “I love to tell people about maple production and show them how it’s done,” said Chris, an eighth generation farmer on the Maust farm. His ancestor Jacob deeded the property in 1789 but was on that site as early as 1757. Although Chris’ grandfather M. Reiman died before his birth, Chris has followed in his foot steps in the maple production business and his father, the late Robert, a retired school teacher who passed away last year, also helped out frequently. “It’s not a hobby anymore, it’s a family business,” said Chris. He plans to have 2,000 taps on his maple trees this coming season starting in about late January and lasting until March. Maust used to use buckets to carry the sugar water to the tanks but he has since installed plastic tubing to save time and energy. Growing Trees A Tough Job (Continued from Page D 1) ty but if you want a successful crop, it has to be done.” Wholesalers all want their trees by Thanksgiving weekend. “This mean the week before Thanksgiving, rain, snow, sleet, or shine, we will be cutting and delivering trees.” Life constantly repeats the les son of “Don’t count your chick ens.” Bussard has had deals fall through at the last minute or checks that bounced. He remem bers one year when he delivered a truckload of trees to a wholesaler in Indiana. Unfortunately, it was raining and freezing. The trees froze and the wholesaler could not them thawed. Consequently, a dispute ensued. “It’s all part of the business,” said Bussard. The Bussard pic turesque farm with its reflecting pond surrounded by tall hills in vites those who enjoy the nostal gia of cutting their own trees to do so. Sam and Delores also sell trees from the front porch of their log home. Local tree retailers all know Sam and even those who grow their own trees will add some from Bussard’s fields. Another 15 acres of the Bus sard farm is planted in apple trees, a business which blends nicely with Christmas trees. ‘We grow York, Golden deli cious, Fugi, Gala, and Northern Penn State Adopts Landscape IPM Policy STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) Penn State is taking strides to ensure practices used to manage landscape pests around campus pose minimal hazard to people, property and the environ ment. The Office of Physical Plant’s (OPP) landscape department will utilize IPM to manage landscape pests and the pesticides used for their control. The IPM strategy is The tubing simply collects the maple sugar water from thou sands of trees and deposits it into a storage tank, which is emptied into a larger one at the sugar camp, and then a modern evapo rator takes the hours of manual stirring and boiling out of the once laborious process. “Maple farmers are concerned about their properties and want to see their heritage thriving in future generations. They have questions and a workshop like this helps them get some of those questions answered,” said Ly nette Ely, a spokesperson for the Somerset County Maple Produc ers. “This is a remarkable pro gram for local producers.” According to Ely, there are about 30 regular members of the Somerset County Maple Produc ers, but there are several unre corded maple farmers through out the county and in the Amish communities. The total amount could be upward of 100 in Som erset County. “Workshops like these are so essential,” said Ely, “because maple producers have questions about their operations.” In addition to Wolf, Miguel Saviroff, a Somerset County ex tension agent, spoke during the morning session concerning es tate planning for the maple pro spice,” Bussard said. “We sell them locally, and Delores and I used to boil caldrons of apple butter and cider in a copper ket tle. Then, we found an Amish family who was willing to do the boiling for us. We sell the butter and cider through local specialty shops or from the farm.” The apple butter is so sweet, only a small portion of it needs sugar. Much of it consists only of the sweetest apples Bedford County has to offer plus an as sortment of spices. “Marketing apples is more dif ficult then trees,” Bussard said. “I’ve contacted all of the local grocery chains, only to be told I have to have at least $1 million worth of insurance just in case someone gets sick.” “Is it any wonder apples get a bad rap? By the time they ship them from the West Coast to the East, they have lost their taste. Most young people today don’t even know what apples really taste like.” While all the work of the trees would keep most people busy full time, Sam says it is only a hobby. “I’m a truck driver by trade,” he said. He gives tremendous credit to Delores. “Without her, I could never have the trees,” Sam said. “She keeps us all fed, clean, and does her share wherever she can.” part of the campus environ mental stewardship program. According to Ron Eckenroth, supervisor in grounds and main tenance in OPP, many IPM prac tices have been used around the campus for years. “Before, we would assess a problem and sometimes use IPM tactics as ap propriate. Now, we’ll have a for mal policy in place with specific guidelines to follow.” ducer and succession planning for their businesses. Then, Wolf guided the maple producers to the Maust’s wood lot, also described in the industry as the sugarbush, to discuss sug arbush management. “You are probably not growing maple trees for timbering but if managed correctly, you can in crease maple production by doing some thinning,” said Wolf. He advised removing any trees that are competitors, and dead, dying, diseased, defective or po tential future problems. He show ed the participants that a subor dinate tree that might be much smaller in diameter can actually be the same age as a dominant tree that is much larger in diame ter. By removing some of the smaller, more subordinate trees, the dominant ones have more room to develop, which can lead to higher maple production. A series of thinnings can in crease the growth rate of trees by 20 to 40 percent in the next 10 years, he explained. “I’m not advocating that you go and chop down your trees, but it doesn’t hurt to start some where. Start small but start now, and then every single year, make it your priority to have a thinning project,” he said. In managing the sugarbush, maple producers should seek to make the crown, or upper Weaveriand Auction, Inc. Selling Flowers & Produce March thru November Selling Hay, Straw & Grain Every Thursday at 10:00 A.M. Annual Growers meeting at Terre Hill Community Center Wed. Dec. 31 at 1:00 P.M. Coffee & Donuts 12:30 Pesticide credits provided Thanks to all our growers & buyers “We wish you all a Happy Holiday Season.” Weaveriand Auction 1030 Long Lane Road • New Holland, PA 17337 Mailing Addic ss 485 Quarry Road New Holland. PA 17537 Shrubs • Lawn Ornaments Fax; (717) 355-9429 branches, wider and deeper so more limbs can grow. There should be at least 10 feet of space for the crown to expand on both sides. “You chose which trees stay and which trees go, and by doing that, you have more benefit with in your harvest area because you are letting more sunlight to the crown,” said Wolf. Wolf noted that crop trees should be evenly spaced through out the stand of trees. There should be 80 to 120 trees per acre in a mature stand. Ideally, there should be one crop tree every 20 feet throughout the stand of tim ber.
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