News Mention - nny360.com - Family-Owned Maple Equipment Shop Opens in Colton
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Four relatives building new maple equipment/service shop in Colton
By ANDY GARDNER
agardner@wdt.net
agardner@wdt.net
COLTON — Four relatives who have been in the maple industry for years are opening a new maple equipment retail and service center.
“We have a deal with CDL USA. They’re a sugaring company that originated in Canada. Now they have a USA division, all things in regard to sugaring, anything from spouts and fittings to new evaporator systems, reverse osmosis,” Micah Murray said. “Jason, my stepfather, he worked for CDL. He was the service manager there” and left the company around five years ago.
Along with their planned inventory of CDL equipment, they’re going to have a service shop inside the store where Hill can repair not just CDL equipment, but maple gear made by any manufacturer. They see a void in the local availability of maple equipment servicing, which often means making a four-hour round trip to the nearest service shops, or sending the equipment out to the manufacturer.
Kyle Murray said right off the bat they plan to offer membrane washing, which usually can’t be found locally.
“A lot of people send their membranes out. Now they’ll be able to do it right here,” he said.
The quartet are aiming to help anyone who wants to either make maple products just for fun, or to grow to a larger operation and get into the maple industry.
“We’re trying to grow and progress these syrup operations around here and grow the maple economy around here,” Micah Murray said.
“This area has a lot of small production. Some people get into this business and say, ‘hey that was fun, let’s grow it,’ Kyle Murray said.
The four of them have a commercial maple syrup operation that has grown over the last 40 years. It started with Corey, Kyle and their father when the two were children, with a few taps and “a homemade set, a barrel stove we made. The syrup we made was black and tasted good. We didn’t filter it or anything, Kyle Murray said.
Last maple season, they tapped 6,000 trees and produced 1,500 gallons of maple syrup. They sell most of their maple products to local businesses who sell it retail and to restaurants who use it in their cooking. That includes the Red Pine Cone, the Raquette River Pub and Boyce’s General Store.
They also ship some around the United States, and even as far as Europe and Asia.
“People in the area vacationing. People will call the next year to get more syrup. I think they’ve gone as far as Japan, Germany,” Kyle Murray said.