jriddle@thealpenanews.com
News Photo by Julie Riddle
Dwarfed by his product, syrup farmer Gary Shepherd stands next to a vat of 5,000 gallons of pure maple sap at Bonz Beach Farms near Onaway recently.
ONAWAY Northern Michigan trees offer a rich bounty to those willing to tap into their potential.
To Up North maple farmers like Gary Shepherd, March means a mad, syrup-making scramble before spring fully arrives and the sap stops flowing.
Inspecting what he calls his favorite tree on a recent, chilly March morning, Shepherd pointed to small scars where the tree was tapped in recent years.
In a decade, the scars will be gone, but the tree will remain one of hundreds of thousands of maple trees that dot northern Michigan woods, proffering their amber riches to breakfast plates in Michigan and across the country.