About
A REAL VERMONT SUGARBUSH
Welcome to Mount Mansfield Maple Products. Our maple farm is nestled within the foothills of Vermont's Green Mountains near the base of Vermont's tallest peak, Mount Mansfield. We harvest maple sap from over one thousand acres of the most loved and well cared for maple trees in the world. We are stewards of these woods, and appreciate that without these magnificent trees that our livelihood could not exist. Our farm includes beaver ponds and mountain streams, rolling pastures and thick brush, old growth forests and new, cliffs and hollows and a breathtaking views from the top of our sugar bush at 1,500 feet of elevation.
We work hard to cultivate a healthy habitat for wildlife and it is common to spot deer, bear, mink, otter, beaver, fisher cat, bobcat, wild turkey, geese, ducks, heron, woodpeckers and songbirds of all variety within our borders. From the harvesting of maple sap to the distribution of our products, we strive to have a minimal impact on our environment. We seek out technologies to make us more energy efficient at processing maple sap and use clean burning natural gas to cook our confections and bottle our syrup. We use the heat generated by our cooking to heat our shop in the winter and open the door to let in cool air in the summer. Whenever possible we utilize recycled and post consumer sourced materials for our distribution and reuse and recycle everything we can.
The maple trees are spread out all over the property ranging from 650 feet of elevation at the lowest point to over 1450 feet at the highest. We utilize a tubing system to transport maple sap from the trees to the sugar house and every season tens of thousands of gallons of sap travel through many miles of pipeline. Small 5/16" diameter line runs from tree to tree and these dump into larger diameter mainlines to handle the flow of entire sections of woods. Some areas of the sugar bush are made up of gentle rolling hills, while others are made up of steep rocky cliffs.
We have a network of roads and trails with which to access all areas of the property. The primary mode of transportation changes with the season with snow machine being the ideal choice in the winter and four wheeler in the summer. Running through our sugar bush are beautiful mountain streams and in several places we have open fields and beaver ponds. This diverse environment really forms a wonderfully complete ecosystem that is just perfect for wildlife and recreation.
In addition to our own trees we also lease trees on a couple of neighboring properties. Located on one of these properties are the ruins of an old open air maple sugaring operation. You can still see the remnants of the old stone arch and the pans and buckets rotting into a century of leaf matter. We deeply love every inch of all of the forests, fields, ponds and streams and it is truly amazing for us to be able work this land and watch it change and evolve throughout the seasons and over the years. Our sugar bush is a living breathing organism in itself, constantly in motion as it seeks out its own natural balance.
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THE MAPLE SHOP
Our shop has about 14,000 square feet of warehousing, production and distribution where we produce our award winning confections and pack and ship to destinations all over the world. We have ten full time employees who pour their hearts and souls into this place. It is their enthusiasm that is the real secret to our success!
Mansfield Maple wasn't always this busy though. In 2009 when Chris founded the company there were no employees, or square footage, or anything really. He had a small stockpile of maple syrup that represented his share of the family's maple syrup crop and that was it. He decided to start a mail order business and bought a book on website programming. It took two months of late-night coding to get something up and running on the internet. It was a simple, no-frills website with maple syrup as the only offering. That first month he made sixty dollars in sales and Mansfield Maple was in business.
Within a year and a half the business grew. Chris and Lindsay bought a house and converted the entire lower level into a maple kitchen, where maple candy was developed and added to the website. Within another year and a half, and with the business literally pushing them out of the house, they decided to take a huge leap and rent some space and hire an employee. Since then Mansfield Maple has continued to grow, with the addition of more products and employees. We've also branched out a little bit and found success in providing maple products to wholesale customers. Now you can find us at specialty food shows across the country where we offer our amazing maple products to retailers, food manufacturers and restaurants.
There is really no secret to our success. We provide exceptional products with unmatched customer service, over and over again.
