First generation maple sugar producer Paul Zononi of Paul’s Sugar House in Williamsburg, MA, has been sugaring since he was 8. He taught himself by fashioning a tap out of a strip of metal from a can and tapping it into a maple. He boiled the sap in an outdoor fireplace behind his parents’ house and produced his first maple sugar. Like many sugar producers, he has been addicted to sugaring ever since.
In 1971, he built his own 12-by-16-foot sugarhouse in Williamsburg and has been in business since 1972. The sugarhouse has been upgraded multiple times. He boils down the sap in a 4-by-12-foot Lapierre Hurricane Force 5 evaporator, using slab wood bought from a local mill.
Besides selling maple syrup, maple candy and maple cotton candy on site, he also ships syrup to fill orders around the country through his website, paulssugarhouse.com.
As of Feb. 22, he and his wife Serena Zononi had been setting taps for three weeks. To handle the recent abundance of snow, they’ve been setting a couple hundred of taps a day wearing snowshoes. “Snowshoes cuts the time in half,” said Zononi.
If there is no snow they can set 500 taps in a day. So far they have set 3,400 taps.
Their sugar bush comprises both land they own and leased land covering 120 acres in nearby Cummington and Goshen. Their farthest trees are a mile back from the road.
On Feb. 22, Zononi was grateful for the first warm day of the season. Later in the day, he’d be turning on the vacuum pump for the first time. A vacuum monitor connected to his phone will beep if there’s a problem with the gauge.
Last year, ravenous squirrels ate holes in the plastic piping the sap runs through and caused the vacuum suction to drop. “Last year there were no acorns. The squirrels came after the maple seedlings that had dropped. This year, so far, there’s no squirrel damage,” he said.
On a follow-up call on Feb. 24 to see how things progressed, however, he found when he turned on the vacuum, there were “problems everywhere.” Hidden squirrel damage had resurfaced.
Last year was also the worst year he’s seen for local maple sugar producers. He usually produces 1,400 gallons a year. He produced only 850 gallons. Too much rain as well as unseasonable early hot weather put an end to collecting sap early. “Once you hit 70º, it’s all over,” said Zononi.
There was also a fungus on the maples that caused the leaves to drop out of season. The chlorophyll in the leaves helps the trees make sugar so that when water rises up in the trees in spring and mixes with the sugar it makes sap, according to Zononi. With the leaves dropped, the sap wasn’t as sweet.
According to the University of California Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) website, the term Anthracnose is given to related fungi that cause leaf drop.
Paul Zononi with maple syrup and the Lapierre Hurricane Force 5 evaporator at Paul’s Sugar House. Photo by Laura Rodley
Zononi is on the board of the Massachusetts Maple Sugar Producers Association and has been a member since 1978. He is a member of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). He is certified by the Commonwealth Quality Program, a Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources program holding producers to the highest standards of safety, quality, sustainability and using locally sourced ingredients.
In his sugar shack is a framed collection of blue and red ribbons his syrup has won at fairs. His syrup has also won awards in the international North American Maple Syrup Council Contest.
His father, the late Victor Zononi, started the tradition of selling Christmas trees. Paul took it over, making it a run of 60 years of Christmas tree selling. Paul buys and sells Christmas trees that sell out quickly. Last year, he sold 200 along with maple syrup. They also make wreaths.
For the past seven years, “The Hilltown Christmas Place” gift shop has been situated next to the sugarhouse. Managed by Serena, it features 70 artisans, crafters and Paul’s maple syrup. It has become a must-attend holiday shopping stop.
Like anyone working with Mother Nature, Zononi is holding off on his predictions for maple syrup production this year, but is so far hopeful.
by Laura Rodley
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