Maple syrup has been produced on our farm in Rome, Pennsylvania, since it was settled by Daniel Russel in 1796. Back then, wooden taps and buckets were used to collect the sweet flowing sap from the trees. Oxen pulled sleds that carried barrels of the sap to a clearing in the woods where it was boiled down in open kettles. The old cabin still stands in the woods to remind us where it all started.

These days, in early spring, the "sweet water" flows from thousands of taps in our maple trees through many miles of pipelines. The sap ends up at our cabin here on the Russell farm where it is boiled down into pure maple syrup using today's technology.