A camp on the banks of the Green River

Since 2019

Growing a good thing

In 2019 we bought 34 acres on the Green River where a small syrup operation was already at work. We didn’t start from bare woods — we took something good and set about making it bigger and better. Since then we’ve expanded production, upgraded the equipment, and earned USDA organic certification.

Today we run more than 2,600 taps, with plans to grow to around 3,000. That’s a scale two people can still do right: we know these trees, we walk these lines, and we boil every batch ourselves.

The process

Wood fire, our trees, nothing else

Our syrup is boiled over a wood-fired evaporator, the way maple syrup has been made in these woods for generations. It’s more work than oil or gas — somebody has to split, haul, and stoke all that wood — but we wouldn’t make it any other way.

And one thing we want you to know plainly: every drop we sell comes from our own trees and our own hands. Plenty of bottlers buy syrup in bulk from other producers and put their label on it. We never have. If it says Green River Maple Camp, we tapped the tree, gathered the sap, and boiled the syrup.

The whole operation is certified USDA organic — the woods, the handling, all of it.

Where we come from

Shepherd roots

We were both born and raised in Shepherd, Michigan — a town that takes maple syrup seriously. Shepherd has held its Maple Syrup Festival every year since 1958, and the town’s sugarbush is a point of local pride. Ron has served as president of the Shepherd Sugar Bush and sits on its board today.

So while the syrup is made in the north woods, every order is packed and shipped from Shepherd. The two towns split the work the way our year splits: the camp on the Green River in sugaring season, and home in Shepherd the rest of the time.