Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 4 : Spring 2010 | Page 52

Focus on Business:

Spring Break

Kevin’s great grandfather immigrated to Smyrna
Maine from Canada. During the spring he boiled maple
sap in a cast iron caldron and this was Kevin’s first exposure
to making maple syrup. This tradition was carried on by
his grandfather and his great uncle for many years using the
traditional tap and a bucket. Before Kevin married Kristi
they spent spring vacations on the sugar ridge making
maple syrup. After marriage and children the springs were
also spent on the sugar ridge with their children making
maple syrup. When their children would have friends
over night and pancakes or French toast was served the
following morning many children asked for Aunt Jemima
or Log cabin syrup but they had none.

In the 1990’s an 80 acre woodlot was purchased
with the intention of making maple syrup. In 1998 the
first 75 taps were put in on pipeline, then next year there
were 175 taps and in 1999 there were 900 taps and more
pipeline. In 1999 more maple syrup was made than we
could use so we gave some to other family member and
some friends. It was then that we realized that there was
a great demand for the pure maple syrup. So we began
planning on turning our hobby into a business.

For a business you need a name so we began
searching and we came up with Spring Break Maple Sugar
Farm and applied for a license. Spring Break came from
the break (in the spring) that we have from our logging
business. In 2000 we added vacuum to our pipeline system
and increased our taps to 1500. And from this point on we
had grown to where we are today.

In 2001 we tried our hands at making added value
products from maple syrup. It included maple cream,
maple candy, maple sugar and maple coated nuts. We also
decided to add a beehive. Falling in love with beekeeping
we decided this would be a good addition to maple syrup
so the next spring we were up to 25 hives. Having honey
50 Focus on Business SPRING 2010

for sale meant we needed to make an adjustment to our
business name, so we changed our name to Spring Break
Maple & Honey.

In 2005 we built a sugarhouse roadside and added
reverse osmosis which helps us reduce fuel and labor costs
by 75%. A kitchen was installed for processing maple
syrup for our added value products and a gift shop filled
with our maple syrup, honey and quality Maine & USA
made products too. The gift shop is open from March to
December and always by appointment.

In 2009, two representatives from Leader Evaporator
Co. from Vermont came to Spring Break to help us redesign
our sugar-bush pipeline system. We have since installed
new pipeline using the latest technology which should
increase our sap flow for the upcoming season. Our taps
have increased to 3500 over the years on a vacuum system
to get the maple sap to the sugarhouse faster so we can make
a top quality product for our customers. Our sugarhouse
is open anytime we are boiling during maple season. We
do open to the public 2 weekends during the spring to
celebrate sugaring season. Our visitors are welcome to take
a tour of our sugar-bush, sugarhouse and enjoy ‘sugar-onthe-snow’ which is a special treat for visitors of all ages.

2010 will see us expanding once again as we add
maple sugar candy and maple cream to our wholesale
markets. Maple sugar candy is a special treat for many.
Maple cream also know as maple butter is maple syrup
taken to a creamy consistency and is enjoyed on toast,
muffins, pancakes and biscuits.

Maine maple Sunday will be celebrated on March
28th, so we will open our sugarhouse to the public on
March 27 & 28, April 3 & 4 from 10 am to 3 pm.

Educational trails were installed in our sugar bush
in 2008 and educational signage was installed in 2009.
These trails are self guided and are open 7 days a week. A
guided tour may be arranged by appointment.