The historic Marion Veterans Affairs Medical Center sits on 105 acres in Northern Indiana and is home to more than 50 maple trees.
Those trees sparked an idea among the facility’s Nutrition and Food Service staff about harvesting their own maple syrup which originated with gardeners Nicholas Jones and Aaron Robinson.
“Aaron and I used to have discussions about how to make VA more sustainable, and one of the main topics we came up with was tapping the maple trees to make maple syrup,” said Jones in a VA release.
With the support of the Green Environmental Management System program, they began the project through sustainability funding. A generous donation from Charles Purcell with American Legion allowed the team to buy a 275-gallon holding tank and a 35-gallon collection tank.
“There is a short 3- to 6-week window of maple syrup collection. It must be freezing at night but above freezing and sunny during the day. It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup,” explained Lindsay Bartrom, Nutrition and Food Service chief.
Once the trees were tapped, they immediately started producing sap. A 3-gallon bag is attached to the tree and the sap is then collected.
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The sap is then boiled down to pre-syrup, which takes several hours. When 30 gallons of pre-syrup has been stored, it is cooked in a steam kettle. After 12 hours of cooking, it is filtered multiple times and then hot-sealed in 1-gallon jugs to prevent spoilage.
“So many of our staff members have voluntarily assisted in this process and making it a great success,” Jones added.
Rex Cunningham, a veteran residing in the Marion Community Living Center, joined Jones for a sap collection and taste-tested the final product.
“It was great. It’s amazing we are using trees on our property,” he said. “It took so much effort to get approval, and Mr. Jones deserves all the credit. He puts so much time in and comes in on the weekends because the bags fill up fast.”
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The medical center’s goal in future years is to produce enough pure maple syrup to replace what is being purchased from vendors. Any additional maple syrup produced will be donated to the veterans' food pantry or incorporated into inpatient meals.
The hospital served homemade waffles and maple syrup as a special breakfast meal to debut the new syrup for inpatients.
The team collected approximately 825 gallons of sap this year and has produced 17 gallons of maple syrup.
Originally constructed as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Marion VA has been serving veterans since 1889.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.