Once upon a time in a small little town, a young man became interested in making maple syrup. At the time, he was attending a Tully Ag & FFA class. The teacher happened to have a sugarbush in Lafayette, where the young man would help empty sap buckets. From there, his interest grew. He decided to try his own hand at making syrup and tapped a handful of trees in his parents’ backyard. He carefully hung a bucket on each one and waited for the sap to run. He boiled the sap and made his very own syrup (we even have the first boiling pan hanging in our sugarhouse!). Turns out, once you start making syrup, you get this thing called “maple fever” and well, he never let another year go past without making more.

That young man was Dave Williams,

of Dutch Hill Road.

 

Dave eventually built his first sugarhouse

(pictured), which still stands in the woods

behind what used to be his parents’ house.

Some of you may have even seen it on tours

past. Imagine a hard winter, not unlike this

one, where your only way into the

sugarhouse was by snowshoe…

The years passed and Dave had a couple

of young men of his own. As a family,

they continued the tradition of making

syrup year after year. Each season, the

sap tanks got bigger and bigger and the

boys grew taller and taller.

The younger generation graduated school

and moved on with their own interests.

But March would still bring them all

back to the sugarhouse. It was about

this time that someone else entered

the picture – a young lady. She’d hang

out a bit at the sugarhouse and ride along

on sap runs with the boys. She was a local girl, with absolutely no knowledge of maple syrup. It must’ve been the syrup though (oh, and one of the boys ) that made her stick around…because she just never left.

In 2013, the youngest boy and the young lady were married. Nate and Cristy were living in “the city” doing what young kids do (really, I have no idea what this was – going to the movies?). Christmases would come and go and each year, all they wanted was to move back out to the country of Tully, NY. To be back in the great wide open and believe it or not, closer to the family maple operation. In 2014, after a rollercoaster of “yes, no and maybes”, they were able to secure a piece of land on Woodmancy Rd. This was the first official step of the second generation working to grow and carry on the business Dave had started way back when.

They walked the land. They ordered maple supplies. They went to work. They probably asked “what did we get ourselves into” and pulled out their hair a couple of times. But maple season came, as it always does, and the first official syrup from our Woodmancy Woods was born. They still have a bottle of that first syrup in their cupboard, for old times sake. Once the season was finished. they bottled lots of bottles and looking at them all in a moment of panic, exclaimed, “how are we going to sell all of this?!” But somehow, they did.

Having a little (lot) “maple fever” of his own, Nate worked hard to expand just about every year since. They were eternally blessed with a “meant to be” moment (that took five VERY long months of paperwork) in which they were able to purchase that house in the country the had always dreamed of, with acres of literal untapped potential. This expansion (along with the others) brought them to about 7,500 trees.

Nate and Cristy watched the family business grow with each and every tap. More and more syrup was made. But people wanted maple candy. So they made candy (disastrously, at first). Then people wanted granulated sugar. So they made sugar (disastrously, at first). Then it was cream. Then seasoning. Then BBQ sauce. And more. Because they hated to be bored.

As their line of products grew, so did their family. A little girl and a little boy. Their pride and joy. The third generation is now learning and helping in their own way. Of course, maybe they’ll be a police officer (like Dad wanted to be when he grew up) or a zookeeper (like Mom wanted to be – really). But maybe, just maybe…that sticky syrup will bring them right back home each season. And maybe, just maybe we’re building something sweet for them to add to their own stories. 

But no boys or girls hanging around the sugarhouse until they’re at least thirty.