>msnbc.com news services
updated 2/18/2011 10:22:37 PM ET 2011-02-19T03:22:37
ASHFIELD, Mass. — The sugar maple trees are tapped and their rich sap is starting to drain into buckets across New England and elsewhere, as a midwinter thaw heralds the start of the fleeting syrup production season.
But challenges loom for harvesters, racing against time and the elements to gather enough sap to boil into the sweet delicacy, first cultivated centuries ago by Native American communities.
Despite the thaw, snow piles of three feet in the northern woods and high snowbanks along back roads after the stormy January have complicated the start of sugaring season…
Maryland: About 30 syrup makers are clustered around the mountains and valleys of Deep Creek lake in the western part of the state, The Washington Post reported. Steyer Brothers Farm, the oldest and largest producer in western Maryland, makes about 1,000 gallons of syrup in a good year. The farm has 8,500 taps for maple sap on 100 acres and uses 35 miles of tubing in the process of making maple syrup, the Cumberland Times-News says.
