The Story Behind the Sweetness

Mark Spence got his start making Maple Syrup in 1984 with local producer Dean Madson, who he would sell his harvested sap to and help boil it down. Mark began with 500 buckets in his uncle’s woods; gathering with a tank behind the tractor after chores were complete on the farm. The sap was transferred to a tank in the back of a pickup and transported to where it would be boiled down in flat pans over a wood fire to make Maple Syrup.

In 1986 Mark bought his own set of flat pans for processing Maple Sap into Maple Syrup, and in 1989 upgraded to an evaporator for a more efficient process.

After gathering from buckets for years, Mark began installing tubing in 1992 and in doing so increased the number of taps from 500 to 1000. In 2008 a vacuum system was added to the woods to increase production and a reverse osmosis system added in the shed to increase efficiency of processing the Maple Sap.

As the years went on Mark’s three sons Brad, Nate & Greg grew up helping in all aspects of the process and came to respect and gain the same passion for making Maple Syrup that their dad has.

In 2015 Mark’s three sons joined the family business and Spence’s Maple Syrup had their largest single expansion to date, increasing to 3500 taps, upgrading the evaporator & reverse osmosis. Today Spence’s Maple Syrup runs 6500 taps and buys sap from several neighbors. The 2022 syrup season will be another big milestone as a larger facility has been built for processing and bottling our 100% Pure Maple Syrup.