CDA MAPLE

08/29/2026

Modern maple syrup production is heavily dependent on the use of chemicals. Proper use of these materials increases efficiency and syrup quality of everything from tubing sanitation to pan cleaning. With their regular and repeated use, we can lose sight that these materials pose serious risks to hum...

08/15/2026

This morning the air was cool and it was a gentle reminder that winter and cold will be here before we know it! Although I dont burn wood to make our maple syrup anymore ( would need around 15-30 cord per year), wood is our primary heat source for our home and supplement heat for the sugarhouse. You could not pay me enough money to not have a wood stove in my home. Who else still uses wood as their primary heat source?

08/14/2026

Maintaining, improving, repairing the maple tubing infrastructure can be a year round job once your operation is large enough. This woods with about 2000 taps has around 4 miles of 3/4" mainline supported by high tensile wire. Then there is about 8 miles of 5/16" tubing that collects sap from 2-5 trees before it enter the mainline. This whole system has to be kept air tight and under vacuum once the trees are tapped in January. The kink caused by this large beech tree falling on this mainline will need to be cut out and a new piece of pipe installed.

08/12/2026

The word farmer and the word vermont are not two different words in my book, they are one in the same. People come from all over to experience the beauty of Vermont that has been carefully crafted by farmers for hundreds of years. Every year the traditional dairy farm numbers shrink in alarming rates. Im inspired by anyone at this point willing to put there hands in the ground or tend the land in some way. Spread this video around and make sure everyone knows and appreciates our farmers!

Episode 1 of The State of Farming - produced by Monument Farms, in ...

08/01/2026

A tribute to the past! Even though we utulize the latest technology to produce our maple syrup in the most efficient manner possible it is fun to teach, and talk to people about how hard it really used to be to put syrup on their pancakes!

07/31/2026

Just a typical Friday afternoon as a VT sugarmaker!

07/31/2026

Finally back in the woods! Helping with a pipline install for a neighboring sugarmaker. Installing a pipline system in a new woods is very labor intensive. Lots of walking the wood lot before equipment is brought in, then lots of walking to layout main lines, then lots of walking and cutting to clear brush so the wire and pipe can be strung up tight with a downhill grade, then lots of walking to install tubing lines and fittings, then after the system is completed we then trudge through the snow to tap all the trees! Needless to say sugarmakers get in a lot of walking/hiking throughout the year.

07/27/2026

I may not be a certified forester, a professional logger, or a log truck driver, but I do know and can see the repercussions of another important industry fading away in our state. I went to forestry school have worked for and with loggers, am friends with them and the people who try to make a living hauling logs, dirt, and manure. If the people who are crafting our laws and regs do not wake up the vermont way of life that is already slipping away will be gone altogether. All types of agriculture, forestry (harvesting wood and sugaring!) are vital to maintaining vermonts economy, image, tourism, and most importantly its people. Most vermonters may not work in the woods, fields, or milk cows anymore but they value and cherish the people you still do. Support local and stay informed!

When Finch Paper announced it will stop buying roundwood from Northeast suppliers, a Vermont forester with fifty years in the working landscape saw a structural collapse decades in the making — and a

07/19/2026

Summer time shenanigans! Sugarhouse self serve is still open with syrup, candy, sugar, and a limited amount of grill rub!

07/19/2026

We need more people in montpieler who will actually stand up for rural landowners and businesses! Thanks Benson For VT Senate for doing so!

Tim Angell, his wife Janet, and their children and grandchildren, operate White Rock Farm and Lumber, a dairy farm in South Randolph and sawmill in Royalton. The family goes back on this farm many generations. The farm has grown to bring family members in and the sawmill just expanded too. The family makes a lot of community contributions and many young folks in their area had their first jobs on this farm.

There have been recent changes in the markets for dairy and forest products that require serious attention from legislators in January. This family business, and many more like it, need markets for the milk and beef they produce and the forest products coming from their land and sawmill to be a viable option for the next generations to stay here. I am committed to legislation that is helpful to rural businesses so they can continue to be successful and innovative stewards of the land.

Visit bensonforvtsenate.com to learn more about my positions on the issues, and if you are able, please contribute to my campaign. Sharing these posts is helpful too!