*Member Profile by Becky Thomas*

Richard & Karen Mort
Northville Maple Syrup
8585 Five Mile Road
Northville, MI 48167
248-437-8900

With no actual grove of maple trees, how is One a producer of maple syrup? Well, for Richard and Karen Mort of Northville, Michigan, they rely on their neighbors — kind of like asking for a cup of sugar (except they want a bucket of sap).

With his neighbors and a few trees behind his house, Richard says that he maintains the 175 taps himself. “And when it’s running really well, I can get very busy,” he says. With one small tractor, a couple of 5-gallon pails and many buckets on the neighbors’ trees, the Northville Maple Syrup operation is quite unique. The sap is boiled down in a 2x6 evaporator pan that is natural-gas fired. Neighbors are then paid for the use of their trees through a percentage of the syrup produced. Whatever is leftover is then sold out of his house. “I just like to make enough to cover my expenses.”

Unfortunately, last year wasn’t very successful. “I only made 10 gallons of syrup,” he said. “It’s barely worth getting everything dirty. Whether you make 10 or 100 gallons, everything still needs to be cleaned.”

Visitors to the operation have included Brownie and Cub Scout groups, as well as the Detroit Free Press. “It’s not your typical sugar shack,” Richard says, refer ring to the oversized garage where the evaporator sits.

When asked how he got into the business, Richard explained a little about his childhood, and spring days spent up at his grandparents’ property in Traverse City. “He [Grandpa] had an old cook stove to boil the sap and I’d run around and help him,” he said. “He actually made wooden spiles, and the syrup was very tasty. Grandpa never used a hydrometer or anything — he just looked at it and tasted it.”