Meetinghouse Hill Tree Farm

In 2010, when I lost my job for the second time in a year, I needed some way to “contribute to society” and do something I love. As I searched for work, I volunteered one day a week each for the Scarborough Marsh and for Laudholm Farm. They were both a bit of a drive from my parents’ house in Waterboro so I gave them each 8 hours to make the mileage more worth it.

In October 2010, I moved to Rochester and missed the Environmental Community I had in Maine. When I saw a posting that the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (the Forest Society) was looking for Land Stewards, I jumped at the chance. The fact that it came with a weekend of training (Environmental Camp!) was a bonus. I volunteered for a short time at the Cooper Cedar Woods in New Durham before finding my place at the Salmon Falls Forest in Milton, NH.

I have continued to volunteer with the Forest Society, watching my property, learning trail maintenance, chain saw use and rock work, and most recently photographing events. Recently I was asked to represent the Society at “Discover Wild NH Day” at NH Fish and Game last Saturday. I also took a day off work and served at the Lost River spring cleanup on Tuesday.

At Lost River, Jenn, the Land Steward Program Coordinator for the Forest Society had Buffs, a cool, fun multipurpose headband that I guess was made popular on Survivor. These were imprinted with topo maps, the Forest Society Logo, and the logo for a new app they are working on. I really wanted one (or two) but she didn’t have any extras. I remembered I had won a Duck Nesting Box in a raffle with the Wildlife Heritage Foundation at the Saturday Festival and had to go to Concord to pick it up. I could stop by the SPNHF Center and get my buffs as well.

I stopped by Fish and Game first as I did not expect that stop to take long and didn’t want to be pressed for time if I wanted to explore the Forestry Center. When I got to SPNHF Jenn had not been back to the office since Tuesday so nothing was at the desk for me. The receptionist did not know what I was looking for so I ran down my list of people I knew there that might know. One after the other was not in the office but I finally mentioned Dave Anderson.

I am not sure when I first met Dave but I’ve always been impressed with his down to earth teaching style. He writes articles for the New Hampshire Sunday News, the Forest Society’s Forest Notes magazine and the “Something Wild” podcast that plays on New Hampshire Public Radio. Recently I saw an article talking about the Maple Sugar House that he built. I got him talking maple and happily listened to him roll for at least a 1/2 hour.

He told me with pride about his son Cody working with him, cutting and milling the lumber for the post and beam structure and how the family came together to raise the frame while he was recovering from surgery. He was also blessed to have a grandson born the day after – The sugarhouse and grandson born at the same time. He spoke of the difficulty getting the proper permissions from the town. All of his abutters and town old timers approved the project, but it was too close to the property line. He said the red tape ended with the following: Building inspector: “You received a building permit five years ago to build a shed in this area, did you not.” “Technically, this is not a new build; it is a renovation of an existing structure.” It’s much easier to get a rebuilding permit than a new structure one.

Dave and Cody began sugaring in buckets that they received as a gift. This year they had a combination of buckets and tubing. The sugaring equipment itself was purchased from the estate of a Maple Farmer in Vermont. The widow came this spring to celebrate the life of her husband in the new sugarhouse full of working equipment and all the scents that brought back wonderful memories.

Dave also told me about when Cody attended Colby College in Maine. Cody and some of his friends discovered there was a maple grove in the college woods and took it upon themselves to make syrup. They harvested the sap and boiled it down but were exposed when he was finishing the syrup in the dorm kitchen and fell asleep. The smoke produced when it over-cooked set off the alarms and the Fire Department responded. Cody was called before the Dean but ended up giving the Dean a tour of the Maple stand.

Dave opened up my HodgepodgeMaple.com blog while I was there. Today the first post is a list of the 70 sugarhouses I have visited to date. We talked about some of the guys he knew on the list and he made recommendations for me to visit next year. I recommended he speak with Dean Wilbur of MapleTree Farm in Concord. Dean is a wonderful long-time maple farmer and educator and I think they will hit it off. I forgot to mention to Dave that Dean has planted many of his maples with stock from the Proctor Maple Research Farm.

Dave has had “Meetinghouse Hill Tree Farm” at the site in South Sutton for many years now. Once upon a time I asked him where was his favorite special place to explore was and he said, “my tree farm at home.” I can understand.

We talked about legacies. Dave is very proud of his son Cody, and spoke of Cody’s discovery that he wanted to raise his family in New England close to the land. I reminded and thanked Dave that, even if he did not have a son, he has invested in the youth of the area that he will still leave a legacy of Stewardship.

(Photos of Meetinghouse Hill Sugarhouse and Cody Anderson by Dave Anderson)