Sugaring On Johnson Hill Road

by Bea Peterson

Every year it seems Dick Ogden finds another way to take more of the work out of making maple syrup. This year he added a steamaway cover over the evaporator. It improves efficiency by 75 percent.

Smoke and steam coming from the sugar house is a sure sign of early spring and the maple syrup season. Dick Ogden operates this house, assisted by his brother Walter, on Johnson Hill Road in Hoosick. (Bea Peterson photo)

 Dick already has a reverse osmosis machine in place that removes 57 percent of the water from the sap before he even starts boiling. They boiled on February 19 and 28. Now with this weather they are boiling every day. Ogden expects conditions to improve when the temperature drops, keeping the two of them busy for a while yet.

Walter and Dick Ogden, both retired, have cut their maple syrup boiling time to about three hours a day with the addition of a steamaway cover over the evaporator. (Bea Peterson photo)