Webinar Schedule and Participant Guide
Dates
Live instruction for 2023 has concluded. You are welcome to complete this course on a self-paced schedule and join our next live session in Fall 2024. All webinars are recorded and posted here in your online classroom to watch anytime. Once enrolled in this course, you will retain access to all materials indefinitely and may return to participate in future live offerings of the course as well. Please join us!
To access the webinars during our next live session, you will simply need to click on the webinar join link that is posted in the Weekly Resources section of this course. This link only works on the appointed day and time for the webinar, so while you can try clicking it sooner, it won't open the webinar meeting for you.
You may also join our webinars from a mobile device by installing the official Zoom app from your preferred app store. Then, when it's time for a webinar, simply open your Zoom app and enter the 9-digit meeting ID that will be posted along with the webinar link.
Weekly Webinar Topics
Week 1: Is Sugaring Right For You?
Topics covered: Course expectations, student introductions, top reasons to make maple syrup, history, and questions to consider before starting.
Week 2: Sap Collection
Topics covered: Strategies for collecting sap including buckets, bags, and tubing including vacuum and natural gravity systems. Considerations for sap quality will also be covered.
Week 3: Turning Sap into Syrup
Topics covered: finishing syrup, grading, flavor, cooking sap on wood, gas, and oil boilers, reverse osmosis, and ways to increase efficiency.
Week 4: Sugarbush Evaluation and Management
Topics covered: Sugarbush ecology, evaluating the tapping potential of land, strategies to manage for optimum productivity and health.
Week 5: Planning and Growing Your Sugaring Operation: Marketing and Pricing of Maple Products
Topics covered: increasing yield, leasing taps and buying sap from nearby landowners, contracts and common pitfalls, marketing, business planning, and pricing maple products.
Week 6: Creating Value-Added Maple Products
Topics covered: Making maple candy, cream, sugar, cotton candy, maple popcorn, and other products.