Written and Photographed by George Hanstein

I recently got to spend a day with Vern Duesler III and Vern Deusler IV. Vern and Vern own and operate Mud Road Sugar House. These guys are very passionate about all things maple syrup, and I was about to learn about their operation and the history of their business. 

The business was started by two other Verns, Vern I and Vern II. Along with his dad and granddad Vern III started Mud Road Sugar House. There is history and love in every bottle of sweet maple syrup that they produce. They take pride in what they do, and it shows. 

It was a cold January morning when I arrived at the sugar house to meet the Deuslers. I was greeted by the younger of the two Verns. I told him that I was interested in learning about the operation and Vern was more than happy to accommodate me. He had a huge smile and looked every bit the part of a Maple Syrup producer with his Carhart Jacket, orange ball cap and work boots. We went into the sugar house so that Vern could show me around. 

It was still a month or more before the place was in full operation, but the Deuslers were wasting no time in preparing. The shed, attached to the sugar house was full to the brim with wood to be used as fuel for the boiling. The huge evaporator was partially assembled and it was clear to me that the day the sap runs, the Deuslers would hit the ground running. Shortly after we got in the sugar house Vern’s dad, Vern III, pulled up.  Between the two of them, I had access to a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge about maple sugaring.

The Mud Road Sugar house is quite a serious operation. It takes approximately 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. In order to produce the 500 to 600 gallons of syrup they produce they need about 30,000 gallons of sap. The amount of sap to make a gallon is approximate and dependent on a number of things including weather and the soil that the trees grow in. Even with the best conditions and in the best years it takes a lot of work to produce the delicious syrup that the Deuslers produce.  

The Deuslers tap approximately 3,500 trees. They told me that they almost never put more than two taps in a single tree. The taps are attached to lines that run, mostly downhill to collection tanks. Vern III makes his rounds with a tank on his truck and collects the sap from the collection tanks each day.  The sap then goes through a reverse osmosis machine that removes about 70 percent of the water from the sap. This cuts down the time the sap needs to be boiled to reach the perfect sugar content. They bought the reverse osmosis machine about 15 years ago and they both said it saves a huge amount of time and work. Vern IV does most of the boiling and he approaches this job the way a scientist would. He uses a number of instruments to test the maple syrup to make sure it has the perfect sugar content, clarity and consistency. He told me he uses a digital refractometer to check the sugar content. He only draws maple syrup when it is at 66.6 brix. And I thought you just hung a bucket on a tree and got syrup. There is much more to making maple syrup than I would have thought! Vern IV explained that sap needs to be heated to 7 ½ degrees above boiling — and boiling temperature changes according to barometric pressure, so even that has to be checked every day. 

I enjoyed, very much, learning about maple sugaring from the Deuslers, but what I found most enjoyable was seeing their passion for what they do. They love talking about the business, but they really enjoy telling the family story about starting the sugar house in 1965 and how the whole family and many friends are also involved in the business. 

There is no doubt they put in a tremendous amount of work, but as the two told me, more than once, “it’s a labor of love.”

The Mud Road Sugar House is at 261 Mud Road, St. Johnsville, Ephratah, NY. If you have a hankering for maple syrup and wish to see the operation, it is well worth the ride. The two Verns will be more than happy to show you what they do.  

Their website is: MudroadSugarhouse.com. The last two weekends in March are NY State Maple Syrup Weekends & Open houses – come on over!