If you’re looking for a healthy, filling, and tasty snack (or “nacky” as our younger son says), you have to check out YUMMMM Bars. They’re perfect for our busy and active lifestyle, and our kids love them!

We got to know Vicky, the woman behind the bar, after she started ordering our maple syrup for use in making these wholesome snacks. She left the corporate world on a mission to create a bar with healthy ingredients that would not only arm you with energy, but also taste great. We would say she succeeded, but encourage you to try one and judge for yourself!

This small business is located in California where you can sometimes find Vicky selling her bars at local farmers markets. But don’t worry, they are also available to order online from her website – check it out here.

In honor of both National Dog Day as well as “throwback thursday”, please enjoy these pictures of our namesake, then and now. Nova the dog will be turning 10 in November! We all have high hopes that the magical powers of maple syrup will help her live forever! If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting her, you know that her favorite toy is a tennis ball, and her favorite place to be is working in the woods with us.

Our Reverse Osmosis (RO) machine is the workhorse of our sugar shack. Each season it processes hundreds of thousands of gallons of sap, taking out 95% of the water and concentrating the sugar content twenty fold. Our machine has nine membranes in series, each one taking a bit more water out of the sap. We always take proper care of our membranes with daily rinses and frequent soap/acid washes, however over time a few of ours have degraded for various reasons. We just received four new Hydranautics 8×40″ membranes for the 2022 season. The membranes at the end of the line are worked the hardest. The sugar content rises into the double digits and our booster pump raises the pressure up to 650 PSI. We currently have three different types of membranes, all of varying ages. This week we’ll do a performance test and retire four of the worst performing membranes and then re-order the remaining nine in the most efficient order. Having efficient membranes allows the machine to operate at a lower pressure, increase pump throughput, and extends the longevity of the membranes. Our RO is just large enough for our operation, the additional performance should really help this spring!