Sap’s a-runnin’

BrixStone Farms maple products may be sampled during an open house on March 26. Courtesy photo.

By Kevin Howell

Signs of spring are returning at area sugar bushes, including BrixStone Farms near Bear Lake. The farm’s sap is running, filling jars with sweet maple goodness. The public is invited to take a 25-minute tour of the sugar shack and taste pure maple syrup at Brixstone’s open house, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 26, at 11240 Milarch Road, Bear Lake.

“We want to have a public place where people can see the process and tour the facility,” owner Keaton Foster said. “It’s the Tree-to-Table experience.”

A bonus offering at the open house: ice cream with hot maple syrup.

Runs in the family

Established in 1903, the former Apple Valley Orchards focused primarily on growing apples and raising cattle. When current owner Keaton Foster spotted the farm on Milarch Road, he saw stands of maple trees on hilly slopes and knew it was where he wanted to land.

“I grew up maple-ing in Wisconsin,” Foster, a Michigan State University graduate, told me. “I was living in New York for four years and learned the commercial side of the maple world, but I wanted to move back to the Midwest, to find a place where I could do maple and sell it roadside.”

He saw the farm listed for sale online and decided to learn the apple business and produce maple syrup. Foster said the farm’s new name, BrixStone (pronounced Brick-Stone), is a hybrid of the word “brix” ⸺ a unit measurement of the sugar content of fruit and maple syrup ⸺ and the word “stone,” another name for the pit found in the area’s renowned stone fruit, such as peaches and cherries.

Under previous ownership, the farm received verification as a Michigan Environmentally Assured Farm (MAEAP), and Brixstone’s owners are proud the farm received re-verification in 2020.

Tapping into liquid gold

“We bought it (in 2019), and in summer 2020 we started running the (sap) lines here,” Foster said. “We had about 1,100 taps the first year, for the 2021 season, and this year we have 1,900. The goal is to get to about 4,000.”

Sap collecting has graduated from buckets on tree taps and manual hauling, to installing plastic tubing from tree to tree and letting the sap flow to the sugar house, for boiling.

“With this modern tubing system, we can put a real small 5/16-inch hole in the tree; it’s minimally invasive, much smaller than what they used to do with the buckets or other systems,” Foster explained.

“Tubing is a great labor-saver and keeps everything clean, no mice or squirrels getting into buckets,” he continued. “It’s a closed system; we don’t handle the sap at all. It goes into a tank; a machine puts it up into another tank then over to the evaporator. It’s seamless, in that sense.”

Foster said he has about 10 miles of tubing running through his sugar groves. He also incorporates a vacuum system to help draw sap from 800 to 900 trees.

“We get about 30% more yield that way,” he said.

Collected sap goes through a reverse osmosis system that draws out more water before boiling. A side product is purified water used to clean equipment.

On a good day, Foster told me he can collect 3,000 gallons of sap, which makes 30-45 gallons of syrup. That covers quite the pile of pancakes. He sells his syrup at his farmstand, along with peaches and more than 15 varieties of apples. He also distributes syrup to local stores such as Saddle Up Gas and Grocery in Bear Lake, Bear Lake Market, EZ Mart in Onekama, Redeemed in Manistee and Onekama’s Portage Point Inn. In fall, BrixStone’s syrup is also sold at various farm stands.

Maple specialty products

Foster said the maple syrup industry is growing about 17% a year. He and other maple producers are finding unique uses for their real maple syrup. Bear Lake’s Saddle Up makes and sells BrixStone maple breakfast sausage. Iron Fish Distillery, of Thompsonville, began using maple syrup from Griner Family Sugar Bush, of Copemish, in bourbons and bourbon cocktails. The distillery also sells Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup. St. Ambrose Cellars, of Benzonia, uses Olds Brothers Maple Syrup, of Kingsley, in its honey lineup and popular X.R. Cyser beverage.

Area craft brewers sometimes include maple syrup in their beer recipes. Corey Wentworth, head brewer at Ludington Bay Brewing, of Ludington, said in the past he has used the syrup in darker beers, such as porters and stouts. Andy Thomas, owner-brewer of Starving Artist Brewing, located east of Ludington, includes maple syrup in a seasonal brew.

“Indeed, as soon as the sap starts running, we will do it again,” Thomas said. “It’s called Big Trouble In Little Can. It’s a 16% stout with maple syrup, coffee and chocolate.”

Back at BrixStone Farms, Foster will offer new products: granulated maple sugar, maple candies and pancake mixes. Maple goodness … it’s not just for breakfast, anymore.

Directions to BrixStone Farms:  From U.S. Highway 31, south of Bear Lake, take 11 Mile Road west to Milarch Road. Turn right at the stop sign (heading north) on Milarch. As you reach the bottom of the hill, the farm is on the left (west) side of the road: 11240 Milarch Road.

Kevin Howell is a Mason County freelance writer. He loves the Michigan woods, lakes and, especially, Michigan craft beers ⸺– not necessarily in that order.