The 800-acre piece of land, located on the town borders of Unionvale, Millbrook, and Dover Plains, was farmland during the Civil War. Afterwards, farming on the property came to a halt, and an unusually high concentration of maples sprung up. Initially purchased for vacation purposes in 2006, Turner was informed by neighbors that the 800-acre property contained approximately 20,000 maple trees.
Having no prior knowledge of maple syrup production, Turner consulted the Cornell Cooperative Extension and learned methods for sustainable syrup production. The area was left untouched until 2007, when the property was bought by Robb Turner, a former Wall Street banker, and his wife, Lydia. The couple decided to use the land to find a maple syrup company.
The company was called “Crown Maple,” and the farm was named Madava Farms, after the Turners’ daughters, Ava and Maddie. The Turners tapped their first trees in 2011. The property has at least 40,000 maple trees and a 27,000-square-foot sugarhouse.
Crown Maple is the only syrup producer that uses a reverse osmosis filtration system, which removes 80% of the water content from the sap and filters out impurities. The facility also contains one of the largest maple syrup evaporators ever built. In an effort to ensure that the syrup production process has a minimized environmental impact, the equipment is cleaned using steam from the evaporation process. This reduces the amount of water used, which is both ecologically and financially beneficial The finished syrup rates a 67 on the Brix scale, higher than the standard 66%, but below the legal limit of 68%.
According to en.wikipedia.org; Source of photos: internet
