Haigh Sugar House Farm
by Becky Thomas

Joyce Haigh
5737 Benton Road, RR1
Charlotte, MI 48813-8665
(517) 543-3555

As an honorary lifetime member, Joyce Haigh has really “paid her dues” to MMSA. She has been involved with the association  (and the Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival) for years and has continued that tradition into the 21st century.

“We’ve been making syrup for almost 50 years,” she said. Joyce and her husband bought the family farm, which includes a grove of maple trees, from her husband’s grandparents. “It’s a family operation; we lost my husband in 1999, but the kids help.” Having six children within a 1/2 hour's drive of the syrup operation really keeps them close.

Haigh Sugar House Farm boasts 3000 taps on both rented and family land, nearby and over in Bellevue, Michigan (approximately 600 taps). With a 5 x 16 pan, they boil the sap over fuel oil heat. “We’re the only ones in the area with an RO machine,” she added, “That can reduce boiling time by 50%; and last year, we were always finished making syrup by bedtime." Last year was an “outstanding year,” according to Joyce, with 550 gallons of syrup produced. From that, Joyce creates sugar, sugar cakes, chocolate covered creams, and fudge. She sells the products out of her home, at some craft shows and simply by word-of-mouth.

She remembers when they began the syrup-making operation: “The boys (now 61 years old) were in high school then. We were at the dinner table on a Saturday,” she said, "They began talking about the sap running in the springtime and making maple syrup." That was the beginning. “I was left to do the dishes,” she said, “They all went to check on renting an evaporating pan!”