BOWDOINHAM

A little more than two weeks from

Maine Maple Sunday, it’s time to start celebrating the passion that goes into making maple syrup.

For Del and Linda Temple of Bowdoinham, it’s something to look forward to every winter. The Temples tap maples on their own property and at other locations where they’re given permission. The Temples have around 45 taps out in town, making for a busy hobby — but one they enjoy.

“People say why do you this?” said Del Temple, laughing. “I say I have no idea.”

“It’s something to do in the winter when it’s cold out and you don’t want to stay in the house all day,” added Linda Temple.

The Temples creatively collect their sap. They have a container in the back of a pickup truck to make stops at the maple trees they have tapped around town. Linda will ride around the Temples’ property in a four wheeler to collect sap, and uses a snowmobile when the weather calls for it. Creatively collecting sap allows the Temples to make more syrup.

“There’s not a good orchard where you can concentrate here,” said Del. “You can get five or six trees in one spot and five or six more down the road.”

Del and Linda are retired now, but making maple syrup has always been a hobby. Del was 10 when he first started collecting sap. He said weather plays a major role in how the maple season goes.

“Mother Nature calls the shots in this game,” said Del.

Colder nights and warmer days with sun help sap flow, according to the Temples. Once they get the sap to their sugar house, the sap is put through a reverse osmosis machine to take out water content. The sap then goes into an evaporator where it is boiled.

A good day for the Temples is collecting about 300 gallons of sap. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup. The Temples can turn out about 60 gallons an hour for the boiling process. Del jokes that his family can consume a lot of syrup, but since 2004 the couple has sold some of their product.

“We’ve always made enough for our family, we’re not a business,” said Del. “It just got so big we had enough to sell.”

The evaporation process can make for some 10-hour days, but the couple insists they enjoy it. They decided, when they started bottling their product, to call it Real Good Maple Syrup.

“It’s our oldest granddaughter’s fault that’s the name,” Del said with a smile. “One of them said to the other granddaughter ‘well, it’s real good maple syrup, what are we going to call it?’ They both said at the same time, ‘that’s it!’”

The Temples have a number of locals that stop by their sugar shack on Maine Maple Sunday. A line two wide wraps around the shack to get a glimpse inside.

They also serve ice cream with maple syrup. Del’s personal favorite is a Maine wild blueberry ice cream with maple syrup.

And it’s not just their syrup they share with others — they share their passion and knowledge by teaching a maple syrup making class for Long Branch School in Bowdoinham.

Real Good Maple Syrup, located at 326 Post Road in Bowdoinham, will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Maine Maple Sunday, March 25. They will have syrup and other maple products for sale, as well as free ice ream cups with warm maple syrup. There will be quick sugar house and sugar bush tours. For more information, email [email protected].

For more information about Maine Maple Sunday, visit mainemapleproducers.com/about-maine-maplesunday.

chris@timesrecord.com

Sap Sunday

• FOR MORE information about Maine Maple Sunday, visit mainemapleproducers.co m/about-maine-maplesunday.