16-02-2025
A colder winter brings hope for WV's maple farming
PHILIPPI, (WBOY) — West Virginia's growing liquid gold industry of maple syrup has begun, with the start of the eighth annual West Virginia Maple Days kicking off Saturday with dozens of sugarhouses and supporting businesses across the state.
This year, 12 News visited Gray Farms in Philippi, where the Gray family has been making maple syrup for the public for 14 years, but has had the love and passion for it for generations.
Owner of Gray Farms, Michael Gray, explained why it's important to educate people on how maple syrup is actually made.
'There's a lot of people out there that don't know the process, that think you just poke a hole in the tree and you get syrup, that's not how it works,' Gray said. 'Pretty much, you've got water that comes out for the tree and we'll just evaporate the water out to make the sugar concentrate which is syrup, there's no additives, everything's, you know, coming from the tree.'
What started out as an average of 50 taps has now grown to 645. Maple farmers usually want a six to eight week tapping season during freeze-thaw cycles, and it's where weather can either make or break a good season.
'I think we got three weeks of production last year,' Gray recalled. 'This year, we're two weeks in—two thirds of what I produced last year—so we got nice cold trees coming next week, so I'm looking forward to another two or three weeks hopefully this year.'
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Last year, 12 News reported on warming temperature's effects on maple making in the Mountain State, but with this year's colder winter, farmers like Gray and Keith Heasley, owner and operator of Heasley Homestead, have seen a change.
'A different year than last year, obviously much colder, our season started much later, maybe three weeks later, so we've only been in it for about two weeks now, but so far so good,' Heasley said. He added they're currently about a fourth of the way into their yearly production.
'We've had a couple really good runs, you know, making 50-60 gallons in a day, for us is a good day, and we hope to get another dozen of those and we'll be set.'
The next and last maple day will be Saturday March 15, you can go here to see the sugarhouse nearest you.
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