We hope everyone is as excited about the 2022 Kentucky Maple Day as we are. This annual event is a great way to celebrate and promote Kentucky maple syrup. You can find a list of participating maple syrup producers at https://ky-maplesyrup.ca.uky.edu/ky-maple-day.

This partnership effort of the Kentucky Maple Syrup Association and UK Extension, promotes maple syrup producers from across the state so that customers can readily find them, learn about maple sugaring, and purchase pure Kentucky maple syrup and treats made with maple syrup. UK Ag Communications also did a press release on Kentucky Maple Day which can be found here.

The Boone County Arboretum and Boone County Extension are teaming up to offer a maple syrup workshop on February 12, 2022 in Union, KY. This maple syrup workshop will offer an informative hands on demonstration of tapping maples and making syrup. After you get some first-hand experience in tapping the training will move across the street from the Arboretum to the Boone County Extension Nature Center for a demonstration of turning sap into syrup.

This 2-hour event takes place outside so please dress appropriately. The workshop is free but registration is required. For more information and to register please visit https://bcarboretum.org/events/id/518.

If you are a current maple syrup producer, we could use your assistance! As part of the Kentucky Maple Syrup Project we are trying to connect with current maple syrup producers to further support the growing maple syrup industry in Kentucky!

To help inform current and future maple syrup producers in Kentucky we are conducting studies to better understand how current producers go through the sap dehydration process on the actual equipment producers use. With your permission, we would like for one of our students to meet with you at your place and sit down with you when you are boiling to estimate energy use among other parameters. We also want to conduct cost estimates for starting a maple syrup operation. We will share results with each producer who participates and all data will be collected anonymously without any individual producer identifying information and will remain confidential.

If you are willing to participate and help out the growing Kentucky maple syrup community please email billy.thomas@uky.edu. By participating you can help fill the knowledge gap so current and new maple syrup producers can make well-informed decisions.

It’s not too late to register for the upcoming Kentucky 4-H Maple Syrup Project Leaders Training. We are looking for folks who work with Kentucky youth and want to help educate them about Kentucky maple syrup. This training is open to the public as well as county extension agents, staff, and leaders. The program will take place at three locations on February 10 from 10AM – 4PM Eastern Time. Locations include: Boone County Extension Office, Letcher County Extension Office, and the West Kentucky 4-H Camp. Extension agents and staff should sign up through KERS and others can register by contacting Ashley Osborne at Ashley.Osborne@uky.edu.