Maple sap starts here, collected from hundreds of trees
Ralph Carpenter stokes boiler pan
The final Maple Syrup treasure
Bob Weaver 2023
Ralph Carpenter lives in the deep wilds of Jakes Fork, off US 33/119 at Letherbark. He is not a back-to-lander, never leaving his deep roots in the Calhoun woods.
This week he was sap'in maple syrup, he and his helpers boiling the sap down in wood-heated stirring pans. Currently it takes about 55 gallon of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
Carpenter is among the last standing "people of place" in the Calhoun woods from his generation, digging deep into the sod to collect its bounty, also having an immense collection of artifacts from years gone by.
Sampson's (above) perfecting the art
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