Kistler Crest Farm
by Becky Thomas

Ron & Sue Kistler
4049 S. Pere Marquette Hwy
Ludington, MI  49431-9729
(231) 843-3032

Picture this - a little boy gathering sap in a plastic sand pail, something normally used on the beach.  Ron Kistler was that little boy.  "I can remember making syrup, carrying sap in small plastic buckets from the gathering tank," he said.  "That's my first memory making syrup."

Many members have childhoods filled with such memories, but the syrup-making history of the Kistler family goes back much farther.  Their 10-acre woodlot has been tapped since Ron's great-grandfather began making syrup in 1895.   They fired the evaporator with wood up until the 1950s.  "Dad and Grandpa were the first in Michigan to go to an oil-burning evaporator system," Ron stated.

During the 1960s, the operation switched over to tubing; and with the exception of 23 buckets (which happen to be on the "wrong" side of the road), all the sap is collected in the holding tanks.  The Kistlers began using an RO machine approximately twenty years ago and are currently producing syrup in a 5x14 propane-fired evaporator.  The efficiency of their operation is a necessity with a vacuum system, approximately 5,000 taps on the property, and the 1,250 taps they are renting this year.  "We're changing over to smaller spiles now and as we do that, we're gaining more taps each year."

"2004 was our best year ever," Ron added.  Kistlers produced 1800 gallons of syrup last season, while they normally average 1200-1400 gallons.  Since syrup-making is hereditary, Ron said that he and his father do the majority of the work each spring, but not all of it: " My wife and daughter help with bottling."

Sue Kistler also makes the candy, cream and sugar that comes from the syrup; and that she does well. In 2003 and 2005, Kistlers won the sugar contest at the annual meeting.  "Joyce Haigh showed my wife how to make sugar and candy," Ron said,  "So when we've won, Joyce had a twinkle in her eye, too."

Sixty percent of their products are sold out of their home, with the rest sold wholesale to farm markets and other small distributors.  The Kistlers continue to bottle year-round, depending on the need.

A proverb says that history repeats itself; the Kistlers prove that to be true.  Ron and Sue, living out of the house his great-grandfather built in 1881, continue to produce syrup in ways great-granddad couldn't even imagine.