Backyard Maple Sugaring with Mike Porter_2021

Humans can make maple syrup, but we can't make the sap run, and so we must wait for warmer temperatures; The taste is worth the wait for sure. The Catskills include the heart of the sugar maple's range. Our mountains might not be ripe for growing vegetable crops, but our well-drained, rocky soils are just right for the maple tree.

 

Catskill Forest Association's--Board President--Mike Porter will discuss the basics surrounding the production of "backyard" or small-scale maple syrup.

Mike is a retired teacher from Margaretville Central School. He taught Earth Science, Environmental Science, Science Research in the High School, Driver Education and several elementary and junior high courses over his 33-year career. In 1988 he was selected as the New York State Conservation Teacher of the Year by the New York State Board of Soil and Water Districts. A life-long resident of Delaware County, Mike is an avid birder and has studied the changes in the avian community over the years.

As a small woodlot landowner, he has learned to manage his property to better enhance wildlife, timber quality and maple syrup production. Mike has been an active volunteer Fireman for nearly 45 years and was an Executive officer for most of that time. He was a member of the Town of Middletown Zoning Board of Appeals and, later, a Planning Board member and Chair. Besides birding, Mike gardens, makes Maple syrup, cuts his own firewood and does woodworking. Currently, he is harvesting trees from his property and preparing his own lumber via a bandsaw mill on the property.