New England Public Radio

Winter Warmth Gives Head Start To Some Maple Producers

Recent warm weather has allowed some maple syrup producers in New England to start tapping trees and collecting sap. A coming cold snap this weekend could hold up the process, but Bill Coli of Blue Heron Farm in Charlemont, Massachusetts says warmer winter weather can give syrup makers a chance to get ahead.

Coli says for sap to run, temperatures need to reach the forties during the day and fall into the twenties at night.

“The idea is just to be tapped ahead of that start so you can collect as much sap as you can for however much time Mother Nature allows us to collect sap,” Coli says.

Sugaring seasons have varied widely in recent years, lasting anywhere from late January to mid-April, according to Coli.

 

Top Climbers Converging In Northampton Will Move ‘Like A Squirrel’ Through Trees

One week from today, in Northampton, Massachusetts, thirty-six of the region’s most skilled professional tree climbers will compete in the 27th annual New England Tree Climbing Competition. In her hometown of Petersham, the president of the group, and arborist Bear LeVangie, explained to me how competitors edge past one another in the treetop contests.

 

 

 

LeVangie will be a judge at the New England Tree Climbing Competition held this year at Smith College in Northampton on Saturday, June 13, 2015.

Study: Antibiotics With Maple Syrup More Effective

As the maple sugaring season has wrapped up in New England, researchers in Canada have found a surprising, non-breakfast use for maple syrup. Professor Nathalie Tufenkji at McGill University tells New England Public Radio’s Carrie Healy, her team discovered that syrup compounds can actually make antibiotics more effective.