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The Pride And Joy Of Maple Season Meet Young Entrepreneurs

photo provided Brad Correia loves this season and being with family while sugaring is at the top of his list.

photo provided Derek Campbell speaks of sugaring as his pride and joy, loving every minute of the hard work!

photo provided Boiling in the sugar shack is in its fourth year as a business for Brad. He plans on expanding his Addison business after high school.

Tuesday March 25, 2014

By Cookie Steponaitis

For Derek Campbell, Jordan Fleming and Brad Correia, making maple is where it is at. Over the past four years the VUHS sophomores and juniors have welcomed the end of winter as one of the sweetest seasons of the year.  In addition to going to school and working on local farms, all three boys put in some extra late nights and early mornings to work their sugaring businesses.  Some have family help and some are on their own, taking their classwork and lessons from FFA and agribusiness courses and putting it into practice.    Campbell and Fleming produce their product under the business name Mountain Men Maple and have been in business for four seasons. Currently tapping 500 trees on land owned by Dave Jackson, the pair process their syrup in a sugaring house they built with the help of Campbell’s father Eric.  “ It is our pride and joy,” shared Campbell. “ Actually it is very simple to explain. You have to love this business and you have to understand it will not run itself. You put in time and there are a lot of headaches, but it is our joy to see product with our name on it.” Over the past seasons the pair has held at an average production of 53 gallons of product and look to the future with anticipation and expansion plans. “ When we get finished with high school,” shared Fleming, “ We plan on making agricultural based business part of our livelihood. We have a five year goal of expanding to between 2000-2500 taps. This year we made the switch to the new grading system and we evaluate the operation at the end of each season and alter our plans for the future.”
Sophomore Brad Correia has about 150 taps on his family land in Addison and leaves the pipeline in place all year long. While he admits to loving Grade B syrup as his favorite, Correia spoke about a love of the outdoors and being in the sugaring shack and being with family. “ This is the fourth year for me as well,” remarked Correia. “ We only put up about 17-20 gallons of syrup, but every year it is a part of our family life and we simply love it.”
While all three teens had some direct suggestions for mother nature to get the lead out and start the season rolling, they were both excited and realistic about the work load ahead. “We won’t sleep much for the next few weeks,” concluded Campbell, “But that is quite all right. Making maple product is our pride and joy.” The Valley Voice salutes the passion for tradition, agricultural and the entrepreneurial spirit of the next generation, with goals, plans and a link to the land. Perhaps, in the final analysis, that is the sweetest crop from this annual part of winter in the Green Mountain State.

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