For 23 years, Richard Wolniewicz has been running the maple sugar house at Mass Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, making maple syrup from the sap of the nearly 160 sugar maples he taps. “I learned over 23 years which trees are good performers,” he said. Wolniewicz started tapping the trees on the third week of February this year. It takes 29 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. Last year, with the help of volunteers, Wolniewicz produced 89 gallons of syrup, which was sold at the sanctuary.
