by Micky Ellenbecker, Purchasing Assistant
Out in the Driftless region, set amongst the rolling hills and picturesque landscape, sits Embark, an off-grid maple farm. Owners Bree and Eric launched their Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup into the world in 2015 and continue to build a business that honors their values. I reached out to them in hopes of sharing more about their journey with you all. They happily obliged, and I’m so grateful! And here we go!
Tell us a little bit about yourselves and what led you to maple farming! Had either of you had previous farm experience?
I (Bree) grew up on a small organic farm, and have spent my life in the spaces where the land, people, and food connect. Eric also has strong family farming connections, and needed to be working outdoors to be his best self. When a piece of mature maple forest became available we knew it was our chance to build the purposeful life we both wanted— working and playing outdoors, connecting to people and the landscape through food, and sharing the Good Energy we find in our outdoor spaces.
How did you settle on the name Embark for your business?
When we started the farm, we had the name “B&E’s Trees.” We thought it was a fun and easy to remember name: Bree, Eric, and our Trees. Over the years though, we found that “B&E’s” sounded like “Bees,” and folks often thought we had honey.
In 2020, with the pandemic closing in-person events, we weren’t meeting folks face to face, so the connection to “B&E” as “Bree and Eric” wasn’t as direct. We started thinking about a name change to both eliminate the honey confusion and better share the essence of our farm.
The spirit of adventure is at the core of our farm: we have taken a lifelong plunge into the uncertain and unknown for the love of this beautiful place and the connection we find here. And we want to share that. One morning over coffee, the name Embark came to us, and it was perfect. The beginning of an adventure. The unknown before us. And a tree pun (Em-Bark) to boot. And that was that.
Can you explain the maple sap harvest for us and the effect climate change has had on it?
Maple sap harvesting relies on temperatures fluctuating between below freezing at night and above freezing during the day for the sap to “flow” from the tree roots underground to the developing buds out in the branches. As in all farming, the season is incredibly dependent on the weather, and we’ve had seasons start in early February or not until late March, and they can last almost two months or as little as nine days. When nights stop freezing and frost pulls from the ground, syrup season is over. What you’ve got is what you get for the year. As is evident this year, Wisconsin winters have become shorter and warmer, with less snowpack. When winters are warmer, there is less frost in the ground, which results in the forest warming up quicker in the spring. We are seeing fewer of these daily temperature cycles, which results in less sap harvested per season. This has a direct impact on our farm’s ability to be a financially viable way to live. This year we tapped trees on February 3, which is the earliest we’ve ever tapped and had sap flowing. This is climate change at work.
Why did you go the route of bourbon barrel-aged syrup?
We began barrel aging our syrup after meeting the fine folks of Central Waters Brewing Company at the [Midwest] Renewable Energy Fair in 2013. There were lots of great folks in our area doing traditional maple syrup, and we knew right away that we didn’t want to be competing with our friends for limited “space on the pancake” so to speak, but rather wanted to expand the spaces where maple belongs. The folks at Central Waters were looking to do a beer aged in maple-soaked bourbon barrels, and we were looking for a unique angle on maple—it was a true “eureka!” moment.
What’s your favorite maple syrup application?
There are so many ways maple elevates eating! Our most popular recipes are our Maple Glazed Salmon and Maple Old Fashioned, both highly recommended. During syrup season we survive off of Maple Energy Balls, Maple Hydration mixed in our water bottles, warm maple steamers, and to celebrate we top our ice cream with our Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple. The most surprisingly delicious use has been in chili, tomato soup, and pasta sauce. Really there is no wrong way to maple!
And since March is Women’s History month, how have you seen women’s roles in agriculture changing/evolving?
Growing up in and around agriculture and now farming myself, I’ve seen the role of women in agriculture change quite a bit. The common perception had been that of a farmer and a farmer’s wife, but by golly my grandmother, great grandmother and great-greats going way back worked just as hard to make their farms survive as all those grandpas. I’ve seen that perception changing, and I really credit both the women who are stepping forward in agriculture and the older fellas who looked on skeptically at first, but have seen the work we’re doing, respected our capability, and are making space for us.
The face of agriculture is changing. Farmers are aging, and those of us who are stepping up are doing things a little differently, trying new ideas, succeeding and failing in new ways. Maybe in part because we don’t fit the traditional image of a farmer, we are not as locked into traditional ways of how farming is done. There are still challenges, but bit by bit the perception is shifting from “Farmer’s Wife” to “Woman-Farmer” to more and more just “Farmer.”
Thank you Bree and Eric for taking the time to share your story with us all! If you haven’t yet tried their amazing Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup, stop in to support this next generation of local farmers! For those interested in even more, check out their website at embarkmaple.com for a couple fun on-farm events this March and April.
