Nova Maple Syrup

This leak checking video was produced by one of our interns during the 2021 season. Originally planned for internal training use, we decided to make it public for anyone interested. It gives a basic overview of our sugar bush leak checking procedures at Nova Maple Syrup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTG7jttBOiY

Last September we partnered with oilcreekbrewingco to swap oak barrels for aging. They made an amazing smoked stout which was aged in this oak whiskey barrel. Over the last six months our maple syrup has been sitting in that same barrel, absorbing all of the great flavors. We finally opened it for bottling earlier this month, the results were spectacular. We only have 70 of these limited edition bottles, get them from our store before it’s too late! https://novamaple.com/pro/bourbon-barrel-aged-maple-syrup/

Now that the 2021 maple season has wrapped up we'd like to share a slideshow of "one second every day". We were able to make about 80% of last year's crop, despite only 3 weeks of sap flow to work with. We tapped our trees in January, but temperatures stayed below freezing all of February and we were not able to boil until March. Rising temperatures without any dips below freezing and low precipitation dried out the trees, and sap flow slowed down to a trickle after mid-late March. Once we heard the peepers and saw the buds on the trees it was time to call it quits. We've started to pull taps now so that the trees have time to heal before next season.

We recently got a shipment of merchandise delivered that includes some new color combinations of hats as well as a long sleeve shirt. Check out the pictures below to see what's now available to order on our website (https://novamaple.com/store)!

For Jake's birthday (today!) I commissioned a friend of ours to create this sketch of our sugar shack. We love how it turned out! Cruz Dragosavac completed it on an iPad and recorded the process in a time lapse video as well (watch it on IG or our YouTube channel). Cruz is a talented graphic designer and illustrator - we highly recommend you check out his work on Instagram. His work is also available for purchase on Society6. -Hailee

Yesterday was a big day for sap! The sun and warm temperatures really got the trees flowing and we had over 35,000 gallons of sap delivered from our other 3 properties. That doesn't include the 10,000+ gallons pumped from this property. We also ended the day with 3,500 gallons in the sap truck because we didn't have room to unload it. We have been using webcams for several years to keep an eye on tank levels in order to prevent sap from overflowing. We also have webcams in the pump houses so we can see the vacuum level for each property. This year we're experimenting with wireless vacuum monitors at the end of each line. Stay tuned!

Over the last few weeks we've been busy updating all of our product photos. The original "placeholder" images ended up being used for five years, these new ones were long overdue! All that was required was an $85 light box, iPhone camera, and lots of Photoshop experience from our previous game development business. Check out some of them in the gallery below!

We want to thank all of our loyal customers for helping us achieve a new milestone this month! We've been watching our product sales ranks on Amazon over the last week and they finally reached the #1 product for both maple sugar and maple cream in the Maple Syrup category! Our gallon of syrup currently ranks #60. It's been a steady climb for the last five years, but this is proof that if you produce a great product at a great price you will attract and retain great customers! Looking forward to upcoming season so we can re-stock our almost bare storage fridges!

Checkout our new sweat pants, available now on our web store and in person at the sugar shack! These comfy fleece sweatpants have a key pocket inside the waistband, side pockets, drawstring waistband and elasticized hem. https://novamaple.com/product/sweat-pants/

Meet Hot Dog (top), our newest cow! Both Steak (bottom left) and Cheeseburger (bottom right) and doing great and have put on several pounds over the last year, mostly from the hay grown at our Greenville property. The old guys aren't quite sure what to think of their new young friend, but they seem to be getting along just fine.

Our driveway is gravel and winds through the woods for about 4/10 of a mile before opening up to our farmhouse, barn, and sugar shack. We took a moment to capture the beauty of the changing leaves on this sunny fall morning.

Tired of running out of maple cream in our one pound tubs? For some reason we never got around to setting up a larger size, until now! Checkout our seven pound maple cream bucket today! https://novamaple.com/product/maple-cream/