Alice in Dairyland, Maple Ambassador, and State Representative attend
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
The 2022 Wisconsin Maple Syrup Season and Maple Month (March 15 – April 15) officially kicks off when the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association (WMSPA) holds their First Tree Tapping event. This year that kick off was held at Leafy Grove Maple, N602 Leafy Grove Rd., just outside of Merrill on March 19, 2022, and Julia Nunes, Wisconsin’s 74th Alice in Dairyland was there to tap the official first tree. 2021-2022 Wisconsin Maple Ambassador, Michelle Stangler, and Calvin Callahan, Wisconsin State Representative for Assembly District 35, were also there to support the maple syrup industry.
Following the First Tree Tapping Ceremony, Leafy Grove Maple offered tours, demonstrations, and maple-inspired refreshments.
Established in 1997 by Ray and Pam Melander when they purchased a 40-acre sugar bush property, Leafy Grove Maple has grown from 200 maple trees tapped their first year in spring 1998 to more than 1,350 trees tapped this season. Initially the Melanders collected sap with plastic buckets they got from a local bakery and Perkins Restaurant. Now their 1,350 trees are on a custom-built vacuum system similar to a dairy vacuum pump and milk pipe line receiver system to gather the incoming sap, instead of the traditional labor-intensive process of collecting and emptying buckets hung from the trees.
Like most maple syrup operations that started small and then grew, the Melanders also started out cooking sap into syrup in an open pan over a wood fire. Today they process the sap into syrup in their newly-built sugar house using a 2×6’ oil-fired evaporator and then bottle the syrup in the bottling room. They then sell their pure Wisconsin maple syrup locally.
According to Leafy Grove Maple, Wisconsin ranks fourth in the nation for maple syrup production, with 265,000 gallons produced in 2020. Leafy Grove Maple collected 19,500 gallons of sap in 2020, which resulted in approximately 485 gallons of sap for the year.
For more information or to purchase maple syrup directly from Leafy Grove Maple, contact Ray or Pam Melander at 715.536.3114.