Local farm celebrates Kentucky Maple Day
LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Maple trees are quite common in Eastern Kentucky. SouthDown Farm owner, Seth Long said he believes Letcher County has potential to be the maple syrup capital of Kentucky.
“According to the UK Timber Survey there’s 6.9 million maple trees ready to tap today in Letcher and surrounding counties. That’s a lot of possibilities,” said Long.
He said the rough Eastern Kentucky terrain is filled with maple trees so for the past ten years Long and his family have tapped into the maple syrup business. Utilizing the resources in their own backyard.
“It’s a good draw for people. I think in so many ways personally, regionally and locally it’s a good economic stimulator. That we think really should be a part of Eastern Kentucky,” he said.
He explained the ins and outs of the 330 trees that are tapped on their farm and how the sap turns to syrup.
“It’s coming to us out of the hills at about one or two percent sugar, and we need to get it to 66.5% sugar to make maple syrup,” he added.
The sap flows from the hills through a tubing system into a 400-pound stainless steel milk tank. Where it then is moved to the evaporator which is designed to boil the water out of the sap.
“That means I can take maybe a hundred pounds of maple sap and boil it down and I’ll get maybe a gallon of maple syrup out of it. That’s how much water we have to boil out of this here,” Long added.
Making use of a resource that people across the country are enjoying from our own backyard.
“Being good stewards of what the Lord has given us to use. You know we have property and it’s not traditional, but we love agriculture. It’s not traditional agriculture but it is agriculture right here in the hills of East Kentucky,” he added.
Saturday, February 4 is Kentucky Maple Day.
SouthDown Farm is hosting an event to celebrate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Click the link " target=“_blank”>here to find the address and more information.
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