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Local Teens Start Maple Business

photo provided Young Buck Sugaring business owners David Johnson and Trevor Patterson begin their first sugaring season, joining a Vermont tradition of maple sugaring stretching back to the earliest days of the state.

photo provided Off the beaten path, but in a beautiful part of Starksboro, the two teens have been afforded a unique opportunity to blend hard work with Vermont's own special crop of sweetness.

photo provided Trevor gets ready to put on the equipment that will allow the syrup to flow and the seasons of Vermont to once again herald a change.

Tuesday February 22, 2011

By Cookie Steponaitis

    As the thermometer creeps above freezing and the rays of the sun reach our faces longer and longer each day, Vermonters are certain of two things. First, spring is right around the corner and secondly that it is one of the sweetest times of year as the maple sugaring industry moves into production. Taps, buckets, pipelines, and evaporators are all vocabulary common to the Vermont landscape and a business dating back to the earliest days of settlement.

    Joining the ranks of the Vermont maple producing tradition are two local teenagers who have grown up watching first hand how to sugar and now are ready to step out on their own in business. Opening up under the name of Young Buck Sugaring, VUHS sophomores Trevor Patterson and David Johnson not only planned their business but are tapping their first crop of maple. “I was ten when I first worked a maple line,” shared Trevor Patterson. “While no one in my family is in the sugaring business, I have worked with my boss David Russell and have watched each year as he taps 250 trees and still collects sap using his draft horse team. I decided in September of 2010 to enter into the business and was very fortunate to have an opportunity.”
 Working on a piece of land located off Route 116 in Starksboro, Vermont on the Russell Farm, the two boys have spent not only hundreds of hours, but money as well to tap trees, put in pipelines and work on a sugaring house that has been vacant since the early 1960’s.  “We have been hoping for all kinds of syrup this season,” commented Trevor. “Both Dave and I are excited about this opportunity and once we knew the opportunity was solid, we took advantage of the chance and are excited to see where it will take us.”

    For the Vermonter new to the process, it takes approximately about forty gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup and both teens share not only a love of the process, but the whole tradition of working with the land as well. “It really is a great place to be,” commented David. “It is not only beautiful there, but it is a place to live, work and to be close to nature.”

    Close to nature, vested in their heritage, and armed with an entrepreneurial spirit, Trevor and David are off on a new venture and one that blends the past, the present and who knows about their possible future business prospects. If you are looking for the two teens, or Young Buck Sugaring, they can be found out on the land and they will give tours of their operation on weekends. Contact them for syrup or a tour by calling Trevor Patterson at (802)324-3159 or David Johnson at (802)-349-0276.

    In the meantime, break out your flower catalogs, your pencil and begin your planning. There are now fewer weeks to spring than there are of winter left and soon the sweet smell of maple syrup will be drifting through Addison County signaling the changing of the season and the echoing of a tradition as old as the state itself.

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