The 2021 maple syrup season at Waterfall Farm came to an end on a spring like day on March 10th. The syrup on the last day was so rich and sweet we were afraid it might awaken the bears from hibernation. If they had gotten a whiff wafting up the mountain they might have torn the doors off the sugar house to get at it.

The season began on January 27th during a brief thaw where the snow melted allowing our merry band of tappers to get out there and tap the trees. As soon the trees were tapped the temperature dropped like a rock and it began to snow. The world remained frozen and we didn’t see any sap until February 5th when the temperature squeaked up into the 40s for a few hours and gave us enough sap to “sweeten the pan”, but not a drop more. Then we had to hurry up and wait until February 9th when temperatures began to cycle between freezing and thawing and the maples’ sap cut loose from the trees at such regular intervals that we were boiling nearly every day. From there it was a race to the finish on March 10th when we had our final boil- our season ended by an extended forecast of spring-warm temperatures with no freezing in sight.

Mother nature pulls all the strings of winter and this year she showed off all her most intricate moves. This was the coldest winter that we’ve had in a number of years, and you may have noticed that the flowers and new green of spring have been late to show themselves this year. If you pay attention in early spring, you will see that red maples are among the first native trees to bloom, offering a red blush dappling the landscape. The bloom time of the red maples is dictated not by a single warm stretch, but by the cumulation of warm and cold days throughout winter. We stacked a lot of cold days this winter, and this is why the bloom was late. In recent years, our season has ended because the red maples bloom, so it was a new twist this year to find our finally in simple warm weather with no blooms around to speak of. Blooming trees are a season-ender because the blooms cause the chemistry of the sap to change yielding off flavor syrup. This year, our season was ended by warm weather simply because that warmth will sour the sap in our lines.

We truly appreciate all of the enthusiastic interest in our syrup, as well as the warm wishes and kind words that you all have showered up on us this season. A lot of you are new to us this year having found us through the October 2020 issue of Our State magazine. Welcome!! We are a small family farm, quietly tucked away on the side of a mountain, and it’s a privilege to share our syrup and our story with you.

Thanks for your patience and for following along with our somewhat awkward system of reserving syrup by the case. This was our first year offering syrup in this way, and we were caught off guard by the landslide of interest that came our way. We are already refining our system so that we can offer a smoother, more straightforward experience for purchasing syrup next year.

At this point, we are officially sold out of syrup.

Over the last several weeks we have been connecting directly with customers who have reserved syrup by the case, and have been doing so in the order that reservations were made. If you have not heard from us yet then I am sorry to say that we will not be able to fill your reservation or waitlist request. We wish we had enough syrup for all of you but make a limited amount of syrup each year. If you hope to get your hands on syrup next year then stick with our newsletter. This is our primary contact point for sharing information about syrup availability and farm updates.

It was a great year to make syrup in spite of Covid19. We missed having visitors but look forward to seeing some of you in the sugar house in 2022.

If you would like another way to experience Waterfall Farm maple syrup and explore the North Carolina mountains then take note!

Just a few miles down the road from our farm in Lansing, NC is one of Ashe County’s gems, Molley Chomper- an award winning cidery that hand crafts scrumptious, delicious hard ciders featuring local heirloom apples and showcasing special collaborations with farms in our area. They take the sweetness of spring, the irrepressible high of summer in the mountains, the sharpness and spice of autumn, and the heat of a fire in winter, and somehow manage to put it all in a bottle. For two years now, they have been making a special barrel aged cider with our syrup called Waterfall Farm Maple. It is a blend of late-season apples including York, Stayman Winesap, and Rome. Post-fermentation, they rack the cider in oak barrels and top them weekly over three months with Waterfall Farm maple syrup. This gentle secondary fermentation transforms the maple syrup yielding a rich, sub-acid and near-dry cider with notes of oak, vanilla, and baked apple. You can drink it right away, or it will age well if saved for a cold winter night. This is a dry cider, and the addition of sugar from the syrup in the secondary fermentation bumps this cider to 10% abv which technically makes this an apple wine rather than a cider.

Molley Chomper features other delectable farm collaborations to explore such as Old Orchard Creek Blueberry, Carpenter Hill Raspberry, and Honey Lavender to name a few. They also have more traditional hard ciders that are endlessly delicious and smooth such as Mountain Maelstrom and Bent Apple.

If you’re in the area and spoiling for adventure, you can visit their taproom and enjoy a socially distanced beverage fireside on their covered patio, or visit one of their many stockists throughout North Carolina. If you’re stuck at home and spoiling for adventure, fear not, they ship!