Since Mother Nature didn’t exactly cooperate with all of our ideas for the Maple Issue, we weren’t able to show you the actual process of turning sap into maple syrup. So when Mapletree Farm owner Dean Wilber informed us he had gathered about 1,000 gallons of sap to boil one day last week, you bet we were going to stop by and check it out. After putting all that sap through his reverse osmosis machine, Wilber had 300 gallons of concentrated sap, which turned into a little more than 20 gallons. Top left: Wilber pours fresh syrup through the pre-filter. Top right: It’s always a good sign when you see steam billowing from a sugar house. Above: You need that fire rip-roaring to get the sap boiling.