Kate was born and raised in Littleton and was introduced to sugaring by her parents who generally leased sugar bushes from other farmers that had grown tired of the business.  Kate set her sights on working with Belgian horses and training as a dental hygienist. While it’s always good to have a day job, the outdoors is her passion, and she raises enough vegetables each year to feed the neighborhood.

Sean was also born and raised in Littleton and started in the excavation business with his dad Frank as soon as he was big enough to master the controls. Together, the father-son duo has walked hundreds and hundreds of acres of land for clients and built roadways and homes across the north country as Dodge Contracting, Inc. Frank and Kate conspired on the design and construction of the sugarhouse while Sean was on the west coast in the winter of 2015. When they both stopped answering calls from Sean, he got suspicious that some project was underway without his oversight. 

Frank is credited with giving Kate’s dream some legs as he has during his entire career working with clients to fulfill their projects.  We are proud to have Frank as our “founding father.” Its his ingenuity and problem solving that make sugaring possible.  Its no small feat that he manages the woodpile to ensure we can keep the fire burning from the beginning of the season to the end. Stop by in the fall and see what eight cords of seasoned hardwood looks like!

Sean and Kate had walked the sugarbush many times and they both knew of its potential.  There is always a lull between the deep snows in February and the glint of hope with the warming days in March and it provides the perfect excuse to be out in the woods. Since its too early to “get in the ground” for our construction business, the lure of experiencing spring and gathering sap, friends & family together brought the construction of the sugar house to fruition.  The season is short (typically 4-6 weeks) so a lot of planning is done the rest of the year.

The first year was an exercise in “back to basics” and we used sap buckets and metal spouts that were probably older than we are. By season two, most of the sap buckets were replaced with tubing and gathering stations. Now, the sugar bush is 100% tubing with about 40% of the sap flowing directly to the sugar house and the balance transported by totes. All the sap comes from our own orchard and is carefully monitored to produce the best quality maple syrup.  Maintaining full time day jobs and 1,200+ taps require the boiling and production from late afternoon to about midnight, it’s easy to see that making maple syrup is a labor of love!