2018 - More taps, more tubing, more snow!!  This year we were busy preparing inside the sugarhouse almost as much as we were outside.  We have a "new to us" H2O evaporator that barely fit through the door!  We sold our 2 1/2' x 8' wood fired evaporator and now have a 6' x 16' oil fired one.  We bought it from a fellow sugar maker and watched them work with it at their sugarhouse.  This was helpful to us while we learned to run it at our sugarhouse! Everything went smoothly and now the R. O. runs a few hours before we fire our new one up!  The time we saved not cutting and splitting firewood, was spent outside putting up more tubing and taps on two new leases.  This year we had approximately 3200 taps and we were able to harvest about 65% of our crop in about eight weeks.  Our finished syrup total was 720 gallons.  We started boiling at the end of February.  By the end of March, we had no snow for the Michigan Maple Syrup Weekend and the fifth grade field trip.  Then, April arrived.  With it, came 18" of snow in  the beginning and just for good measure another 30" in mid April.  By the time the final snow melted we were done boiling.  As always we are grateful for the blessing of this crop and the opportunities that come from it.  Now it's time to sell it all!  Thank you to our "farm supporters"...we are thankful for all of you!  Remember, we love to share the farm with you so call or stop by!

2019 - Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”  These words are so true!  Seasons and time pass day by day and become memories we treasure.  Let’s start with the maple season.  In February we tapped the trees in snow shoes because of the snow depth.  We had a great year yielding higher sugar content and lots of sap.  This was our second year on our big evaporator and it worked well.  The R.O. worked hard to keep up with it.  We boiled over 1,000 taps of our own, plus we bought sap from individuals again.  Our season began on March 15 and lasted until April 12.  It was a solid month of work with only two days of not boiling!  Overall, we ended our season with 1,535 gallons of syrup!  Michigan Maple Weekend was also a success.  The weather was ideal and we had a great time with those who visited us at the sugarhouse.  Since the end of the season, we have been working on our commercial kitchen and hope to have it completed soon.  As far as the other “matters under heaven”, we are SO proud to announce our daughter Jillian’s high school graduation.  She graduated fourth in her class with honors!  Her plans are to attend Lake Michigan College in the fall to study and become a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer.  Our prayer for her is continued success in her education and a faithful life to God wherever she may go.  We will miss her (and her help) very much!  Our son Evan has changed his major in college to Secondary Education and will now be attending Saginaw Valley State University in the fall.  Nathan and I are officially empty nesters.  We will look forward to the remaining “seasons” of life and the visits we can share with our children.  Meanwhile, check out our summer schedule of events on our “Contact Us” page. Or as always, meet us at the farm.  We have LOTS of maple syrup and maple products for you.  See you soon!

2020 - Every year has its own story.  We call it history.  We recall to ourselves the highlights, the memories.  The year 2020 is yet another example of this.  Thus far, our family had to say good-bye to a wonderful man.  Sally’s dad, James Van Norden II passed away in February.  He always wanted to know, “Was the sap running yet?” “How much syrup have you made so far?” “Wow” he would say, “That’s great!” Sadly, we couldn’t answer his many questions this year but the memories of years past with him are sweeter than ever before.  With so many things in the world changing before us at this time, we must keep our faith in God.  We want to share two scriptures with you.  The first is from Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  And lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him.  He shall direct your paths.”  The second is from Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth our her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of the drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”  The first tells us what we SHOULD do.  The latter one tells us the result IF we do it.  We will be blessed.  Blessed is exactly what we were this season…again.  At times we had some fear of our health, what would we do if??!  Well, we leaned on our own understanding didn’t we?  Pushing that aside, we prepared and did what we could.  As the COVID-19 numbers increased, we pressed on and got the equipment ready.  We finished the commercial kitchen and passed inspection.  We tapped the trees.  We put our trust and hope in Him and waited.  The trees didn’t cease yielding their “fruit”, the sap flowed.  It flowed generously and we made beautiful syrup, 1743 gallons.  We boiled our taps and then for 10 days of the season, we also did “shares” with a friend for a total of 11,000 taps.  We acknowledged God with thanksgiving.  He continues to direct our path.  He knows, so we follow Him.  Some of our shows this year have been cancelled as was Michigan Maple Weekend.  We will sell what we can! One last thought…dad would've been proud.

2021 - This syrup season, just like our past ones has its own uniqueness. We boiled for a total of 8500 taps. Our harvest was approximately 50% just like many of our fellow producers in this beautiful state we get to call home. We took over a lease from our friend we did shares with last year that has 4000+ taps and we also helped another friend with her woods that has been tapped in years past. The sugar content started at 2% and towards the end of the season went down to 1.1% which means we went from 40:1 average down to 80:1. We had one very long day/night of boiling until 4am. Our total for the year was 1690 gallons of syrup. We are so blessed! Looking back and giving credit where credit is due, first and foremost to God. We believe that without Him none of this would be possible. Our abilities to go out into the woods and work and our health are blessings from Him. Towards the end of the season, we came down with Covid. Nathan was hospitalized a few days because his turned into pneumonia. We know of some who did not make it through Covid. Our prayers of comfort to their friends and families. Through this all, we can’t forget to say thank you to our crew Andrew, Cameron, Kirk and Mike. We also want to thank the land owners who allow us to tap their trees. Thank you to Paul, Matt and Doris for bringing us sap from your trees that you tap. You are all a big part of our yearly success. Working together in beautiful northern Michigan. Of course we say thank you to all who support our farm with your purchases. When we count our blessings, you are all included. Now as 2021 continues on, let’s all enjoy it. Summer, under the shade of the maples. Autumn, when the maples become a breath taking picture all their own. Winter, standing with the pure white snow on their branches. Then before Spring again, Lord willing, we will find ourselves out in the quiet woods, in awe of it all. God is good. So is His creation, He said so as He spoke it all into existence. We see it, live it and believe it.

2022 - What a year! Together with our great crew and God’s blessings we logged more hours in the woods than ever before. Our friend Cindy owns a large woods that has been tapped in years past. It was tapped last year on a smaller scale but this year with many hands we were able to get the 3500+ taps up and running. The tubing had extensive damage from fallen trees and squirrels over the years. We still have a few things to work on as far as vacuum goes next season. We tapped a total of 9500 trees and boiled sap from a total of 10,500+ trees with sap purchases. In the sugarhouse we have made a few changes. Our 3200 gallon tank is now a permeate tank and we have a new 6500 gallon tank for sap. We also added a second RO. We have the RO’s and evaporator running simultaneously and it’s great! No more shutting off one or the other to “catch up.” We boiled 203,000+ gallons of sap and made a record of 3951 gallons of syrup. Sally only got the truck and trailer full of sap, stuck once. It happened at 1am and by the time we retrieved our tractor (15 miles away) without a trailer (because IT was stuck) we successfully freed it all by 5am. Not too bad all things considered. As always, we could never do all of this without our amazing crew. We enjoyed hosting another Maple Weekend in March and had the 4th graders from RC Elementary School here on a field trip. Many visitors stop by in the “off” season. We give tours and enjoy their company. On May 20 you may have heard a tornado hit the town of Gaylord. The remnants of that storm brought not the tornado itself, but baseball size hail to our farm and our neighbors. A LOT of damage was done to siding, windows, roofs and vehicles. Thankfully nobody was hurt from the hail. We will be doing repairs through fall. We will also be going to craft shows throughout summer and fall so check out our “Contact Us” page for dates. On a sad note, Sally’s mom passed away in August 2021. On a happier note, Evan and Jill are both finishing up their studies in college and will graduate in April 2023! We are proud of them and thank them for coming home on their spring breaks to help with the syrup season. Overall, time keeps moving forward. We live, we learn and we are grateful. Our God never ceases to amaze, care and bless us. Each new day we are given, we try to live it with honor and love to Him and to our fellow man. (Matt. 22: 36-40) Lord willing, with our 12th season in the rear view mirror and our 13th season approaching fast, we will do what we can and leave the rest to Him. Thank you always for your support!