Old Woods, New Era.
These woods have a long history of making superb maple syrup. Town records show that sugarmakers first made their way to Mount Cabot in 1860.
In 2005, Biff Wyman and Heidi Wells started Mount Cabot Maple to continue the Mount Cabot legacy of fine maple sugarmaking. Drawing from many years of experience, they boiled and bottled their first batches of award winning syrup.
Joined in 2011 by Ben Prinkki and Bridget McKee, Mount Cabot grew to nearly 8,000 taps in the decade that followed. Biff was a pioneer in the maple industry by being among the first to ditch plastic containers and start bottling syrup in the same fine Italian glass we use today.
In 2016, a devastating Forest Tent Caterpillar infestation defoliated thousands of Maples on Mount Cabot. While many trees might have survived a singular attack, the voracious native species returned again the following year and sealed their fate. Though the quality of our syrup is unwavering, production has since declined 62%. Scores of young trees are cropping up beneath the now open canopy, but it will take our lifetime or more to see the forest back to its true height.
2020 began a new chapter in Mount Cabot Maple history. Morgan Hill grew up on the same slopes as these sugar maples, where as a kid they watched Biff Wyman and Carl Lindquist break trails with their wood and rawhide snowshoes on their way to tap on land then belonging to their grandparents, Nancy and Win Wilbur.
Morgan held on to that early love of the forest, and since returning has cultivated a small but mighty team of stewards and sugarmakers to guide this fine tradition into a new era.
With an ever evolving vision to diversify our farm, we now offer agritourism experiences like saphouse tours and tastings, opportunities to lodge and camp out, and are working to launch a non-traditional celebration venue in the years to come. We also planted a kiwiberry vineyard supported by the UNH Hale Lab, and are pursuing streamlined agroforestry practices like a shiitake log yard with the help of Interlace Commons.
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Morgan Hill
Captain
Raised on the same slopes as our sugar maples, Morgan found their way home in 2020 to carry on the sugaring tradition and become a dedicated steward of the land. Morgan loves the incredible variety of activity that maple sugaring provides, from markets and deliveries to plumbing and woodworking. A passionate goofball, Morgan loves discussing the alchemy of sugarmaking with visitors to the saphouse, and can often be found chatting on the phone with friends or customers.
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Franconia "Franco" Jones
Commander
Franco is an experienced permaculturist and organic farmer with an effervescent spirit at home in the woods. Franco flew through her first season at Mount Cabot, learning every skill from Red Tooling to Fire Tending, and always having the sense to ask “is this normal?”. Her concept of what makes “ a lot” of maple syrup has been permanently altered, and she is often responsible for producing vast amounts of Dry Maple Sugar between rounds of woodsplitting. Franco can often be found tending to four-legged or soil-bound friends.
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Ryan Baxter
First Mate (alumni)
Ryan is our best-dressed woodsman, and a professional trail maker when he’s not taking gentle yet enormous strides through Mount Cabot’s high-adversity-index sugarbush. He can often be found wearing exactly the right kind of wool for this weather, and has a whimsical glint in his eye for reasons we have yet to ascertain.
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Jordan Applewhite
Lieutenant (alumni)
Jordan crushed her second season on Mount Cabot Sugarbush and recieved the accolade of Gear Dragon for always finding exactly the right caribeaner or tool-securing method to get fixes done right. She is a powerhouse community organizer and makes the best homecooked cuban food this saphouse has ever seen. Simply to good for this world, she can often be found canvassing or volunteering to make the North Country a better place.
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Caedan Dibble
Post Master (alumni)
Caedan followed their dream of being authentically queer and working in harmony of the woods, and with one fateful google search of “queer maple syrup,” found their way to us. With an equal commitment to having fun and hustling hard, they quickly earned the title of Post Master for their speedy installation of supportive posts to secure maple tubing - and for never failing to send a goofy gif or selfie - the most important post one could receive! They share a spiritual love for the natural world in which we embrace reciprocity with our land, making offerings of fresh maple syrup in gratitude to trees. Out of the woods, they are busy learning organic farming practices and enjoying time with nature.
