108 Acres in Walden, VT - $628,000

The property is in the southern part of the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont. Walden Township largely consists of high-country forestland and scattered family farms with the property and the adjacent 10,826-Acre Steam Mill Brook Wildlife Management Area at its northern center. Locally, near the property there is a mix of year-round and seasonal homes. In the summer months, out-of-towners flock to cabins and homes around Coles Pond, which is only a few minutes' walk down the road.

The property's northern boundary sits along the Steam Mill Brook Wildlife Management Area, representing a considerable public forest resource expanding the local recreational footprint. This rural area is also within trucking distance to wholesale sap buyers offering varied wholesale sap sales options.

Hardwick Village, the largest nearby town center is 12 miles to the southwest. Montpelier, the State Capital, is 33 miles to the south, while St. Johnsbury and the I-91 corridor is 23 miles to the east.

Access

Legal access to the property is provided by +/-1,095' of frontage along Coles Pond Road, a fully town-maintained road. A developed driveway off the town road leads a short way to the sugarhouse and sap tank. Electric power runs along Coles Pond Road with power directly to the sugarhouse. A Vast Snowmobile trail runs across the property as depicted on the property marketing maps.

Directions - the address of the sugarhouse is 2945 Coles Pond Road, East Hardwick, 05836. Cell service is barely available at the sugarhouse location.

Sugarbush Opportunity

The sugarbush consists of a healthy, fully stocked sugar maple timber resource, growing in well-drained, highly productive soils suited to sugar maple production. The trees exhibit full crowns, no signs of dieback, and tight bark texture, indicating a healthy sugarbush. Nearly all maples on the property are sugar maples.

Roughly 78 acres are tapped on property covering 5,800 taps, resulting in +/-74-83 taps per acre, representing a high per-acre tap count. Under a 2024 10-year lease agreement (transferable to the buyer), an additional +/-800 taps are located on the adjacent property to the west, resulting in a sugarbush with 6,600 total taps. An additional +/-500 taps appear to be available on the Subject.

The balance of the forest is untapped and consists of a +/-27-Acre mixedwood stand dominated by mature softwood species and a small open-water wetland. The entire forest has been recognized as Bird-Friendly by the Bird-Friendly Maple Project at Audubon Vermont.

The land can be considered a high elevation sugarbush, with the height of land at elevation 2,380', falling to low elevation of 2,220' along the road frontage. Much of the central section of the land runs along an elevation of +/-2,300' representing terrain that is gently sloping. The northern 1/3 of the land slopes away from the sugarhouse with the +/-3,300 taps in this area flowing to a pumphouse located along the north-central boundary. The sap collected at the secondary pumphouse automatically pumps to the roadside sugarhouse, which can be monitored and controlled remotely. The balance of the taps all flows directly to the primary sugarhouse collection tank.

The taps and tubing were installed during 2021-2022 representing relatively new tubing infrastructure. The tubing network has been carefully designed, taking advantage of natural flow directions, appropriately spaced lateral and main lines (the latter both wet & dry lines). See maps at the end of this report delineating the tubing layout. The tubing infrastructure includes high-gauge support wiring and stainless-steel fittings, minimizing future maintenance. In addition, seasonal spouts have been used, and spouts have been removed with the vacuum pump running to clear standing sap from the lines at the end of each season.

A nicely developed internal woods road network, coupled with the mostly gently rolling terrain, provides for easy access to taps and tubing lines during tapping and maintenance.

Sap Collection

All of the sap from the sugarbush automatically flows into a main 6,500 gallon stainless steel sap tank located behind the sugarhouse. Roughly 1/2 of the sap flows directly into the main sap tank, with the remainder of sap first flowing to the sap collection tank in the secondary pumphouse located at the northern end of the property. This remote sap is then automatically pumped to the main sap collection tank.

The sap collection operation includes a complete wireless vacuum/sap monitoring system, allowing the operator to remotely check for leaks, sap tank levels and temperatures. The many sensory nodes in the sugarbush allow the operator to pinpoint a leak area and quickly resolve an issue.

Syrup Production

Syrup production and bottling are conducted in the 30' by 50' steel-framed sugarhouse, built in 2021 on a cement slab (with floor drainage to the outside under the slab). The partial second level is 30' by 20' and houses a sap concentrate tank plus storage area. High-quality electric wiring is throughout the sugarhouse. A nearby spring provides year-round water, and during sugaring season, a portable toilet is rented and placed near the sugarhouse. The newly drilled well is 300' deep and produces 50 gal/min. The electrical supply to the sugar house is 400 amps.

A reverse osmosis room in the sugarhouse is heated. The RO is a CDL 2-post (expandable to 4 post) unit. Next to the RO room is a 4,500 gallon permeate tank.

The evaporator is a CDL 3'x12' wood fired unit with 2 sets of syrup pans, auto draw, hoods, stacks and a niter removing float box.

Sap & Syrup Sales

The ownership traditionally produces a combination of raw sap to a local syrup producer, combined with production of syrup in the sugarhouse, which is then sold in bulk and small quantities via various retail venues. All of the sap and syrup produced is certified organic. The production, associated maintenance and sales has largely been achieved by one person, the owner Rob Niles, a testament to the highly-engineered and well considered operation Rob has created.

Since the operation became fully built-out in 2022, wholesale bulk sap production and sales has averaged 90,000 gallons of sap, representing roughly 2/3 of the total sap produced in the sugarbush operation. This sap sugar content has averaged 2.0%, an impressive percentage. In the past, a local sap buyer picks up the sap on site which is available in a 8,300 tank outside the sugarhouse (in 2025 the owner will be processing all of his sap and not selling to a local sap buyer). Access to the property and tank is easy, facilitating a future relationship with a sap buyer.

The remaining sap (roughly 30,000 gallons on average from 2022-24) is converted to syrup in the sugarhouse. The sale of this syrup is a combination of bulk sales and retail through the Wild Woods Maple website, and at farmers markets and wholesale accounts to various retailers nationwide.

Wild Woods Maple Brand

The ownership has created a successful brand to facilitate its retail sales with an associated registered and trademarked business: Wild Woods Maple, Llc. The business and web site can be available for sale to the buyer who intends to run a similar operation and sales strategy.

Agritourism

The ownership supports agritourism in Vermont by providing an RV site and a campsite that can be reserved through the popular reservation platform Hipcamp. The RV site is level and adjacent to the sugar house. It has an electric hook up and is near the spring water. The campsite is dry, level, has a picnic table and fire ring with some firewood provided.