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 •
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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.