Please see the Resources section. We finally uploaded the 2017 newsletter – the 2018 newsletter has been available since the web-site’s beginnings.
There are some opportunities for grants and training still available. For example, there is a forest management grant, and an article on the “Grants & Opportunities” page under “Resources” talks about the Cerulean Warbler, a blue bird whose habitat is shrinking. It likes habitats like our sugar bushes, and careful forest management can help with syrup production as well as help save this beautiful bird! The deadline for the grant is January 18th, 2019 for the winter, and May 3rd for the summer.
It’s time to pay your WVMSPA membership dues. If you are a member, you should have received an email reminder. Here it is again:
Attached is the 2019 application. Please take a moment to renew your membership.Make checks payable to WVMSPA and send them to 100 Fernwood Drive Wellsburg, WV 26070
Many farms have started tapping, including my own, your webmaster/novice-producer. I feel, though, that I tapped too soon. The weather looked promising, but then, voila! It changed. It has not warmed up as expected during the day. We had some freezing days this week, but at least in Gilmer County, the temperatures have not climbed above 35 since Tuesday. I tapped my 30 trees on Wednesday morning (up from 9 trees last year). I have to go back to Maryland if no sap is running soon, but I do have a neighbor who wants to help so he will let me know when it starts running, and collect the sap for me until I get back here, and also cook it down if need be. I hope I didn’t make a mistake by tapping so early! Meanwhile, I have handled many little projects at the house here so my time has not been wasted waiting for sap to run! (BTW I do have some trees in reserve if I have to pull my taps in the event of a warm spell. So I am really in pretty good shape if we ever get good freeze-thaw events.)