Doug Bragg of Bragg Farm Sugarhouse is optimistic about this year's maple season. The weather in Vermont is cooperating with freezing nights and warm, sunny days, and Bragg is already spending most his waking hours boiling sap in the sugarhouse.
Bragg Farm is the only public sugarhouse in Vermont that still relies 100 percent on traditional sap buckets and wood fires to produce maple syrup. With 2,220 sap buckets and 50 acres of maple trees, the farm produces about 700 gallons of maple syrup each season.
The family began producing maple syrup in the 1700s, when Bragg's ancestors relocated to Warren, Vermont from Brookfield, Massachusetts. The farm was moved in the 1960s to East Montpelier, where it's been ever since.
Bragg Farm is open year-round and includes a gift shop and ice cream parlor. The farm is located on Route 14 in East Montpelier and offers free guided tours to visitors. For more information, visit www.braggfarm.com.
If you're interested in visiting a variety of maple sugarhouses around the state, come to the 9th annual Vermont Maple Open House Weekend March 26-28. For details, visit vermontmaple.org.
100% buckets,... wow, that's a lot of work. My son has some buckets yet but mostly pipeline now. I like your shot of the buckets on the maple trees marching off into the distance!
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ReplyDeleteWow, thank you for sharing this with us. Love the pictures as well!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a LOT of work - but I'm sure it is all well worth it!
ReplyDeleteClearly great minds think alike north and south of the border! We spent this weekend trying to find an old producer who's syrup we love...to no avail unfortunately. But locals are predicting a record smashing year in the north east...and that's great because we LOVE maple syrup!!!
ReplyDeletePS...we think the old producer may have gone to the Great Sugar Shack in the Sky.
ReplyDeleteHi Cedar -- I think it must be something you have to be really passionate about. It's really impressive that the Braggs still produce syrup the traditional way. That's great that your son is a maple producer. Looks like it will be a good season.
ReplyDeleteThanks Erin! It was tough photographing inside the sugarhouse because I didn't use a flash or a tripod, and the light was tricky in spots.
Hi Kerri -- You're right, it definitely must be worth all the work. It's more than a full-time job to to do this, and the maple producers are really dedicated.
Hi Susan -- Sorry you couldn't find the old producer you were looking for last weekend. I hope you find another maple sugarhouse that is just as good.
Hi -
ReplyDeleteGreat piece on the Bragg family.
We took a family trip and ended up at the Bragg sugarhouse, tasting the super yummiest maple creemees ever invented. They're very friendly there.
Brian
GardenVT -- Thanks so much. I'm glad you had a nice time at Bragg Farm. Yes, they are really nice, and their syrup and creemees are so good.
ReplyDeleteGood morning... as I mentioned before, I grew up in the sugarbush Valley and I went to high school about 20 miles from home in Montpelier. Bragg Farm is very familiar... LC
ReplyDeleteHi LC -- Sugarbush is such a beautiful area, and it must have been a fun place to grow up. I'm glad to hear that Bragg Farm was part of your childhood! It's a great spot, and the Braggs are such nice people.
ReplyDeletemmmmm...I can smell the sap boiling now!
ReplyDeleteWonderful Erica! Hopefully I can stop by a sugarhouse or two while I'm in Vermont! NH has a maple syrup sugarhouse open week-end this week-end too. Maybe I'll scout one out.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great farm to highlight. I love the old cans. Now most of them use plastic buckets.
Sharon