Many of us, after years of hard work, dream of running our own business one day. For Michael Spicer ’21, however, that dream has come true not even half-way through his time at Hamilton.
Spicer recently took over operations of Cedarvale Maple Syrup, a local company that sells maple syrup products only 10 minutes away from his home city of Syracuse. The company’s previous owner, Karl Wiles, ran it since its founding in 1977 and recently decided it was time to pass the taps down to the next generation. While on a field trip at eleven years old, Spicer first discovered his interest in tree tapping and quickly realized it was something he and his family could do in their own backyard. Spicer’s initial consumer base was mostly family and friends, but after years of learning and expanding his own operation, he acquired the skills and experience to run a full-sized mill near his hometown.
Cedarvale’s proximity to Syracuse gives the company access to the large consumer base, and Spicer’s ability to sell directly to consumers also increases its profit margins. In fact, 95 percent of Spicer’s sales come from the retail store attached to his sugar house, with the rest either sold online or to restaurants and distillers. And while his product may be more expensive than store-bought syrup, he says it is guaranteed to be of a higher overall quality than any other commercially-owned and -produced maple syrup out there.
Spicer learned most of his tree tapping skills through years of experience and guidance from friends and family members who tapped trees themselves as kids. The tapping process itself is quite complex. Each of the 1,250 trees Cedarvale uses are individually tapped in a day. The taps are then connected by tubes and the sap is pumped to a collection tank at the bottom. These tubes are often damaged by falling trees and animals, so Spicer has to constantly monitor and repair them, along with collecting and sampling sap.
After the sap is collected, it is boiled down into syrup and prepared for sale. The tapping process can begin anytime between the end of January and early March as long as temperatures are generally above freezing during the day and below freezing at night.
Though Spicer spends significant amounts of time managing his farm and communicating with suppliers, he is still a student at Hamilton committed to his academic career as well as performing at the top of his game as a football and track athlete. He works hard to strike a balance between business, study, and athletics, but he says none of it would be possible without the help of his family back on the farm. Spicer says he is constantly learning things in his classes that can help him in his business but that working at Cedarvale has taught him valuable life skills — like consumer relations and experienced-based problem solving — that he would not necessarily learn in school.
When asked about his future plans for the farm, Spicer said he will probably continue his work at Cedarvale right out of college but is unlikely to pursue it as a career, though he does have a passion for entrepreneurship and sees Cedarvale as a great example of his potential as an entrepreneur.
For now, however, Spicer is simply focused on expanding his business and providing the area with high-quality maple syrup. Spicer says if one is ever in the area, don’t forget to stop by and he will be glad to assist you and tell you all about his product.
