Earth Day 2024
We try to make everyday Earth Day, but in honor of today, here are a few of the things we do to minimize our environmental impact. We still have a long way to go, but we're making progress and continuing to learn.
Our major focus is protecting forests and their biodiversity. Maple syrup provides income that allows us to keep our lands forested. We also buy maple sap and syrup from other small producers who want to keep their lands forested. Tapped creates the economic incentive to maintain forests to produce maple syrup, provide habitat for a diversity of animals and plants, absorb carbon, and filter and supply clean water.
About 2/3 of our farm's electrical needs are offset by solar power (thanks to our grid-connected solar PV installed by North Wind Renewable Energy Cooperative). Our other major energy source is wood, which is all harvested nearby and is a nearly carbon-neutral energy source.
Our infused syrups use local and/or organic ingredients. Our coffee beans are roasted by Liberation Farmers (who direct harvest these beans from sustainably grown coffee plantations in Oaxaca, Mexico) and Mission Coffee House, organic ginger comes from Cattail Organics, blueberries from True North Berry Farm and our friends at MaryDale Farm, cherries (for Old Fashioned Cocktail Maple Syrup) from Lautenbach’s Orchard, and organic cinnamon Red Ape Cinnamon (who contribute to orangutan protection). Our Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters Cocktail Maple Syrup uses the “waste” mash from Bittercube Bitters. Our non-local ingredients are certified organic.
All of our syrups are bottled in glass as we don't think eating/drinking plastic with your syrup is healthy and because glass is completely inert and recyclable.
And, we donate at least 5% of our profits to Central Rivers Farmshed to support local food system efforts in central Wisconsin. This past year we donated over $3,000 to Farmshed to help build a resilient local food economy in Central Wisconsin and also donated to North Central Conservancy Trust to support their land protection efforts and to Greener Pastures to help them develop humane, sustainable, and just agricultural practices in the Midwest.
In the future, we'd love to be able to completely eliminate our direct petroleum use, formally and permanently protect the forests from which we make and buy maple syrup, and restore current marginal agricultural lands to forests.
By purchasing Tapped, you become part of these efforts as well, making it possible for us to implement these practices and to support the organizations we do.
And, we recognize that these are small efforts, important, but not sufficient. Larger economic, social, energy, and financial systems need to change if we are to sustainably live on this planet with other life that’s evolved here. We’re doing what we can at this point and continue to learn, and hope you will do the same.
Have other ideas for us? Let us know.