Michigan Maple Syrup Association 2002
Fall Tour -September 28th

M.M.S.A. 2002 Fall Tour finds us in Charlevoix and Antrim Counties. We welcome all that are interested in the rich history and current events of making Maple syrup. We hope that we can provide you with an opportunity to see old friends, meet new ones and head home inspired by something you see on the tour.

This year's Fall Tour will start at the Korthase Brothers Sugar Bush. The Korthase Brothers Sugar Bush is located at 5108 Korthase Toad. Registration will begin at 8:30 AM with the tour beginning at 9:15 AM. Coffee and doughnuts will be served during registration.

Korthase Brothers Sugar Bush began in 1983, formed by Bruce, Randy and Brian Korthase and resuming a family tradition begun decades earlier by their great-uncle Henry (Hank) Korthase. Using 2 2'x4' pans and 200 buckets and the sap house Hank built behind his stone house, they made syrup for three seasons. In 1986, they began building a new facility, one still under construction, and began using a 5 x 15 evaporator, expanding to about 2,500 taps using tubing and a vacuum, still firing with wood. Each year has brought improvements and new equipment as money and time allowed.

Brian left to devote more time to work, family and other hobbies, but they have enjoyed the companionship and help of many remarkable people including Norm and Cliff McGeorge, nephews of Uncle Hank's wife, Minnie. Without the aid, advice and assistance of Norm and Cliff, they would not have survived!

The second stop will be Chuck and Lori Stanek's at 5726 Stanek Road, East Jordan. Chuck and Lori Stanek are 3rd generation farmers and syrup makers. Charles and Mamie Stanek began making maple syrup on their farm in the early 1900's, supplying friends, family and locals with sweeteners through the scarcity of two World Wars. Later their son, Charlie, and his wife Leona took over the farm and continued to make syrup.

In the mid-1980's Chuck and Lori switched from a flat pan and buckets to an evaporator and tubing. The have been continually upgrading their operation ever since. In 1998, a violent windstorm swept through their Sugarbush destroying many beautiful maples and creating a need to re-work their tubing system, which now numbers about 800 taps. Boiling with wood and relying on the help of their two sons and daughter, they carry on the family tradition.

Our third stop is in Charlevoix at 13750 Clark Road. Tim Matters will be our host. "My first experience with maple was in the 70' s when I helped my high school science teacher boil over an open wood fire in a pan made from a refrigerator door. Since then I've dabbled with hanging milk jugs on trees and boiled with various contraptions including the wood stove, kitchen stove and industrial soup kettle. In 2000, I took the big plunge and built a 34 x 32 shack and bought a used 2 x 6 Grimm. 200 1 was a difficult year, producing more problems than syrup, but last year was much better, producing 50 gallons from 250 taps on both buckets and tubing."
"I wish to thank the Korthase Brothers and Norm McGeorge for all their support. These people represent all that is good in the industry."

Lunch will be served in Charlevoix at the Community Reformed Church at 100 Oak Street.

Our fourth stop will be Maple Acres at 13900 Campbell Road in Kewadin. In 1965, Lyle and Lita Luchenbill were introduced to the "addiction" of making maple syrup by Ramonde Swanson, owner of the farm they had recently purchased. At that time the sugarhouse consisted of and 8 x 10 shed in the woods, complete with dirt floor, no electricity, and 3 flat pans over a homemade arch. Approximately 150 buckets were hung and syrup was finished and then taken to the house for canning. Over the years, Lyle improved and enlarged several times. The present location is the third for them, and they have put additions on both the north and south ends of the building. The RO machine was added in 1980. Taps on the farm and roadside trees total nearly 3,500 and result in about 1000 gallons of syrup. Tubing is taken down each year for cleaning and repair. Probably half the taps on the farm run through underground lines directly into 10,000-gallon underground tanks. The marketing is done mostly from the farm and through mail order, although they do have a few commercial accounts.

Wagbo Peace Center is the fifth and last stop. They are located at 5745 North M-66, East Jordan. Maple Syrup Operation was the first agricultural project that Wagbo Peace Center established. It was started in November of 1993 and, fortunately, the real snow waited until Christmas Day; only days after the roof was on and the floor was poured. Once the snow arrived, it kept coming—a full 4' through the end of February. Then came the cold—an entire month of 18 degrees below! What a challenge it was to lay mainlines and the 1" line for 1/2 mile to the sugar shed. Each joint had to be heated with a propane torch. Despite the hard winter challenges, they were on line and boiling by March of 1994.

The Wagbo Operation is a 2400 tap, gravity-fed tubing system. Sap is pumped from holding tanks in the woods to a 3000-gallon storage tank at the sugar shed, which is located near the house. The sap is boiled in a 5 x 16 wood-fired Grimm Evaporator with a homebuilt pre-heater under the hood in the back pan. The syrup is finished and bottled on an LP gas unit often while surrounded by music from local musicians who enjoy what we call true community.