Maple Sugar operation at Ridge Valley Farm
One of the things I am very excited to get to do for the Ambler Arboretum is connect our 187 acres of natural habitat and formal gardens to the greater community. This community includes the students, faculty and staff who work here daily, the students who attend classes here regularly as well as the students faculty and staff from main campus who may not get up this way very often as well as our neighbors in nearby Ambler and our home town of Upper Dublin.
I am also privileged to meet people from across the state and the region and to tell them all about the Ambler Arboretum’s terrific history and wonderful displays. All of this in the hopes of connecting people to our resources and our activities with the goal of creating a community connected to each other and to nature.
To prepare for our upcoming March 24 program on Marvelous Maples, I visited Ridge Valley Farm, to learn about their operation and to see a maple-sugaring operation up close. Jim and Sue Myers are enthusiastic syrup producers that have turned a hobby into a full-fledged agricultural enterprise.
We are thrilled they will be joining us for the free March 24 Marvelous Maples Celebration and hope you will be able to join us as well. We will have syrup tastings, a walk and talk so you can learn how to identify sugar maples and other maples, as well as information and demonstration on how to tap your own trees and make your own syrup. Not only will Ridge Valley Farm be here but our own Temple Ambler Student Organization – the Food Forest Club will be offering activities throughout the event.
We are really excited to host Jim and Sue here. According to the Myers’ their Ridge Valley Farm is a 30 acre farm near Green Lane, PA where the trees grow naturally and are free-range. Although they are not certified organic their maple syrup contains nothing but pure sap. Their trees are never sprayed or fertilized. The syrup is graded according to USDA standards and they are liscnsed by the PA Department of Agriculture. They carry a full line of grades and sizes of syrup as well as maple products such as maple coated nuts, maple granola, maple sugar, maple cream and maple sugar candy.
While they are here they will have products available for sale and will have syrup to taste. And, if the weather is right, they may even have some maple cotton candy available!
