By Cashmere Morley
It’s the time of year where the wind is nipping at your winter coat and the gopher may or may not have already seen its shadow. Many Michiganders may opt to stay indoors while the final weeks of winter thaw to spring, but Kirk Coppernoll of Sugar Shack Experiences in Grass Lake insists that these are actually the proper months to tap a maple tree and sip a maple cocktail in the woods. Grab a tap, boil some sap, and meet some other nature-loving strangers as the syrup boils: this is the Sugar Shack.
The next time you drizzle a helping of store-bought maple syrup over that stack of morning flapjacks, stop and consider what’s actually in that log cabin-shaped bottle. True maple syrup, says Coppernoll, has no additives—only things taken away. Making syrup is both a science and an art, honed over centuries. Coppernoll’s process, passed down by his father, mirrors the ancient methods of Native Americans who harvested sap and boiled it down to syrup long before metal taps existed.
As a boy, Coppernoll would enter the woods with a simple syrup-making toolkit: a recycled milk jug, an elderberry branch he would use as a tap, a hammer, and a drill with a 7/16” bit. He notes that a hobbyist can purchase a filter system for around $50. Making syrup, he said, is as simple or as complicated as you make it. “My dad grew up on a dairy farm in Grass Lake, and he made maple syrup as a kid. They didn’t have a sugar shack. All they had was a big ol’ kettle. Him and his brothers would go out and boil sap.”
The Native Americans, he recalled, would cut a tongue-shaped tap in the bark of the tree, and the sap would gush into wooden barrels. They would build a red-hot fire to boil the sap in receptacles, which would steam and leave water they would then freeze off, much like Coppernoll does today.
“[The sap] comes out of the tree, and you boil it, and then you filter out the impurity. All you’re doing is boiling off all the liquid concentrated into sugar, and then you’re filtering out all the sediment, such as dirt and debris from the root system,” said Coppernoll. “With store-bought syrup, all you’re buying is corn syrup and chemicals. It has absolutely nothing to do with the maple tree.” Eventually, Europeans would come in and adopt the trade from Native Americans introducing metal taps and other fixtures to help modernize the way syrup was made. When World War II hit, all of the sugar was going to the war effort, and suddenly syrup production became a hot commodity as sugar was rationed for the war effort.
Coppernoll’s process hasn’t changed much in the decades he’s been tapping trees. When a cold snap bites into Michigan’s winter months, Coppernoll knows the syrup yield will likely be a good one once spring begins to bloom.
“In the midwest, and northern Canada, is where you find sugar maples. When the ground starts to thaw, the sap, which collects in the root system, will start to produce carbon dioxide,” Coppernoll explained. “As the days start to warm, the carbon dioxide expands, causing the sap to run from the root system up through the trees. You have to have a hard winter followed by a drawn out, wet, muddy spring to get a good syrup run.” Last year, when Michigan winter was mild, the following spring months did not yield a good syrup run for this reason.
If venturing off in the woods to try making syrup yourself, Coppernoll says you want the nights to get down in the 20s and teens, and the days to get into the 40s; that’s the sign of a good sap yield.
It takes 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Coppernoll says other trees, such as walnut and birch, can also be tapped for syrup, but the sugar content is much lower; that’s why maple is traditionally associated with syrup production. It can take 100 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of walnut syrup. Coppernoll says he processes about 1000 gallons of syrup a year at the Sugar Shack which he sells in small batches. He prefers the taste of syrup at the start of the season when the sugar content is higher. When the sap runs at the start of the season, it’s crystal clear and boils down quickly because of the higher sugar content; as the season progresses, it takes on a darker color and a stronger flavor. This is because the tree pulls up sap from the root system, and the more it pulls up, the more impurities that come with the sap, which has been sitting dormant for several months.
“There’s a fine line there where you get a very assertive maple flavor into the season,” says Coppernoll. “It’s dark, it’s robust, but then if you continue to tap too far into the season, there’s a cutoff period. And you’ll usually see that cutoff point in the sap; the sap will start to cloud a little bit. And I always taste it, as I gather. You’re always tasting it, [through the season] because if you get some sap that’s a little sour, you don’t want to throw that in with some other [sweeter] sap.”
Copernoll notes that even if you don’t tap a tree, photosynthesis occurs and uses that sugar to form buds on the tree. “You’re not harming the tree at all by tapping into it,” says Coppernoll, “but if you do too many taps into a smaller tree, you’ll definitely harm it or even kill it.” He notes that a good size tree to tap is around 20” [in diameter].
Coppernoll was a mail carrier for 33 years (including delivering mail to Crazy Wisdom) before retiring and turning back to nature where his true passions lie. He started the Sugar Shack Experience shortly before the pandemic; sometimes his friend, Mark, will help him operate the shack, cooking waffles and other sweet treats on a wood stove, but mostly it is a one-man operation. Coppernoll’s 82-year-old father, Mike, is also known to help out around the shack from time to time. Coppernoll’s passion for this tradition, combined with the camaraderie it fosters, makes the Sugar Shack a unique, flavorful Michigan experience. “It’s not just about syrup; it’s about connecting with nature and people,” he said.
When Covid hit, Coppernoll realized what a sweet experience the Sugar Shack could be, in more ways than one. Because his experience was outside, he realized he served a very unique opportunity in being able to gather strangers together during this time. “If we went into the Sugar Shack, we threw on a mask. But otherwise, we were outdoors, and people were just excited to be around one another again.”
A sugar shack, says Coppernoll, is crucial to syrup production. When the syrup is being processed, it coats the air in a sticky residue, so Coppernoll suggests processing your syrup in a dedicated garage or shack so your “hair and clothes don’t become sticky.”
“There’s a handful of people that kind of know the process, but they don’t understand why we’re doing it out here in late February and March. They ask me ‘why don’t you do this when it’s sunny and 70?’ I try to make the experience interesting; you’re outside but you’re also learning. I don’t think a lot of people realize how much fun you can have [outdoors] in February or March.”
Said Coppernoll, “When I get a full group, which is around ten people, I’ll have maybe three people here, three people here, four people here, but then all of a sudden, they start interacting with each other… and that’s part of the fun, for me. They’re entertaining themselves, and then they’re asking me questions. People start getting more involved, asking ‘Hey, can we go dump these pails?’, ‘Do you need firewood?’ It’s a neutral space—no one’s on their own turf. You start the experience often as strangers, but by the end, you’re chatting, helping to gather sap, and stoking the fire. It builds a community. I’ve had many people come back several times.”
Coppernoll loves educating people on the untapped potential of nature that’s all around us. “I love when I hear people say, ‘Oh, the pancakes were amazing. I’ve never tasted pure maple syrup, or watched it come out of the tree onto the pancake.’ All of those experiences make this very rewarding.”
To visit the Sugar Shack, look for Southern Michigan Sugar Making and schedule an experience through AirBNB, late February through early May. Coppernoll also hosts a mushroom hunting excursion, through the booking service, which begins in late April and runs through October. Coppernoll can be reached via email at mailmankirk@gmail.com, and you can keep up with the Sugar Shack on Instagram @sugar_shack_experiences.
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