Maple Sugaring in NJ

I received an email update from filmmaker Jared Flesher on our first snowy day in NJ. He has made a number of environmental films with a particular focus on New Jersey. (see earlier posts about them) His email was a little update on his documentary, Sugar House Yantra. It is an interesting film about tapping maple trees for syrup, but it is about a lot more than that. I saw it at the Montclair Film Festival last October.

The subject is Charlize who started tapping maple trees 35 years ago. She was working as a construction worker, then a shop teacher, then a home builder. But in her seventh decade, she found it possible to express her true identity as a transgender woman. Now retired, Charlize works her farm, Sweet Sourland, in New Jersey. Here, in addition to producing syrup and raising sheep, she pursues a lifelong passion for creating art. Her specialty is colorful geometric designs painted on unusual canvases such as glass and wood. 

The film will have a free screening and Jared and Charlize will be there at Stockton University's Campus Center Theater on January 20 at 4 pm. Before the movie, learn how Stockton University is working to produce syrup in an even warmer climate by relying on red maple trees instead of sugar maples. Charlize has been one of the project's advisors. Stockton University. Another screening will be at Rutgers University on January 27, 2024, in partnership with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NJ. (see his website for info)

Jared writes:

On my first day of filming Sugar House Yantra - December 20, 2021 - maple syrup farmer Charlize Katzenbach remarked that never in 35 years had she started tapping maple trees before the Winter Solstice. But on this day the sun had not yet set on autumn, and here she was out drilling tap holes. In our modern era, the sap starts running before winter has even properly arrived.

It’s not completely clear what impact climate change will have on maple syrup farmers in North America, but many signs point to bad. According to the United States Geological Survey, “Changes could lead to lower rates of syrup production in the U.S., with some areas in the southern half of sugar maple's range becoming unsuitable for production.”

According to another study, 89% of producers have experienced the negative impacts of climate on maple syrup production.

One of the scenes I wanted in my documentary was of the sugar house on a snowy winter day. That iconic shot of small-scale maple syrup production. But never in two years of filming was there enough snow.

It’s too late for the film, but during last Saturday’s minor snowstorm I returned to Sweet Sourland Farm and snapped some snow photos. For me this felt like finishing the job.

Though most people - even those living in NJ - don't associate our state with maple syrup, it does exist here. Below you can see the natural distribution of the sugar maple, Acer saccharum. and notice that Central Jersey's location is on the southern edge.

Here are some places to try maple sugaring in NJ - perhaps as a family event.