Kelleys Island, located in Erie County but surrounded by Lake Erie is a micro-climate.
It also is home to number of Sugar Maples.
It was an intriguing site for a sweet experiment.
Last fall, 2021, I explored Kelleys Island after seeing a google earth map that showed fall color identical to that of Sugar Maples. I discovered a significant grove of Sugar Maples located on the Northwest part of the island. Many were located on Kelleys Island State Park property.
Chris Ashley, Kelleys Island State Park Manager, myself, and Les Ober, OSU Educator for Geauga County (shown below):
came up with a plan to determine the season for collecting sap as compared to Northeastern Ohio.
Trees on Kelleys were tapped on March 17th.
Sap was collected on March 24th and 31st.
The sap was boiled into syrup,
blended and bottled in April.
Taps were removed April 8th.
The finished syrup is available for sale at Kelleys Island State Park to campers, with some of the proceeds benefitting the Kelleys Island Pollinator Project.
“It’s Glacially Groovy!”
This was a great collaboration between The Ohio State University, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Ohio State Parks. Now all we need is PANCAKES!
