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Slow Start For Maple Producers

WAYNE COUNTY — The bitter cold of this winter pushed back to the start of maple syrup season for many all across our area. Now, as temperatures start to c...

WAYNE COUNTY -- The bitter cold of this winter pushed back to the start of maple syrup season for many all across our area.

Now, as temperatures start to creep consistently above freezing, producers are ramping things up before the temperatures get too warm.

"Back in the day, we used to have everything ready if the weather broke around the 15th of February," said Kristin Curtis of Journey's End Farm in Sterling Township near Newfoundland.

But even with all the snow and all the sub-zero temperatures, things are still looking up or, in this case, dripping down.

"It doesn't matter how cold the winter gets," said Andy Curtis. "As long as when it gets to this time of the year, the temperature fluctuates a lot."

That way, the sap can drip from the tree and makes its way to be boiled into syrup.

So how does this winter stack up to winter's past? For that, we needed to ask the Curtis family patriarch, Ralph Curtis, who was there when his family started tapping trees, all the way back in the 1930s.

"I can remember one of the coldest winters was in 1933 when we had almost no snow, but very cold weather and the frost went below four feet," said Andy Curtis.

Frost levels this year have only been at most two or three feet in certain places.

As the weather continues to change, the farm hopes to have all of its equipment up and running in the next few days.

That's important, because the area's big open house for all the maple syrup producers is March 21 and 22.

"We'll have the whole rest of this month and maybe into April depending on how the temperatures hold for us," added Kristin Curtis.

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