Like all "old timers" in the Mad River Valley, the Long family were producers of maple syrup and like others it was an important part of their income.  Sugaring was a way of life and it made a way for farmers to clear up the previous winters credit and get off to a fresh start and a little money left over for seed, fertilizer and maybe a new pair of boots!

For the most part since the Ed Long farm on Tucker Hill in South Fayston was homesteaded in the eighteen hundreds, maple syrup has been produced from this same maple orchard to the present time. As I grew up. our family lived on the Ed Long farm and we sugared too. When the days would get warm and the nights real cold we would get everything in the sugarhouse ready. We tapped about 800 to 1000 trees set with buckets. If we had to boil at night it was done by the light of a kerosene lantern. The horses were used to draw the sap to the sugarhouse.

Today there are over 11,000 trees that are tapped with state of the art technology!