MALTA, N.Y. — Did you miss your maple fix this spring? You’re in luck: this year, you can do your leaf-peeping with a side of maple! New York’s Fall Maple Tour will allow you to visit a number of local maple producers October 9-18. The producers in the Upper Hudson region will open their doors to visitors looking to enjoy the region’s maple assortment and experience how New York’s delicious maple products are made. And the producers will ensure the safety of visitors by following recommended Covid-19 safety precautions.
Sugar Oak Farms, located at 50 Atkins Road in Malta, has participated in the Spring Maple Weekends since 2015. Father and son Erich and Paul Ruger have been doing maple for 12 years. Paul says they are a two-person operation so making maple syrup is “both the best and worst thing.” In the spring, during production season, seemingly every aspect of life is maple, and by the time the season is over, “we’re a little tired of each other. But the remaining 10 months of the year give us time to get away from each other!” Paul joked. On a serious note, Paul says it’s a great dynamic, because there are certain things [Erich] enjoys doing that [Paul doesn’t] and vice versa. Erich mainly focuses on production while Paul takes care of everything on the backend, from accounting to marketing and planning.
As for the Fall Maple Tour, Paul said, “We are super excited for the Fall Maple Tour, given that Maple Weekend this spring was cancelled and we didn’t get to share the maple experience with anyone.”
For more information about what Sugar Oak Farms has to offer during the Fall Maple Tour, visit https://www.sugaroakfarms.com. If you can’t make it to Sugar Oak Farms but want to visit another maple producer during the Fall Maple Tour, find the list of other producers at upperhudsonmaple.com.
–Upper Hudson Maple Producers Association