At the WMSPA Winter Institute and Maple Vendor Trade Show in Marshfield, WI on Jan. 6 the WMSPA Honorary Life Member Award was awarded to Ray and Pam Melander of Leafy Grove Maple, Merrill, WI. The Honorary Lifetime Member Award is given to a member who has been an essential part of the WMSPA and the maple industry for many years. Honorary Life Members are/or have been active members of the WMSPA Active meaning more than just attending meetings. A honorary life member shall be recognized by the effort he/she has shown in the WMSPA, such as yearly paid membership, being an officer or delegate, working at the state fair in the WMSPA booth, being on committees, participating in activities of the WMSPA, attending the National Convention, and other activities that may come along within the association. A member has to be 65 or older. Honorary Life Member Award is giving to both Mr. and Mrs. Qualifying member per committee decision.
Involvement with the maple syrup industry began about 20 years ago for Pam and Ray Melander when the spark for a new hobby was influenced by many maple producers and then grew into a lifelong appreciation and excitement for the maple industry. Leafy Grove Maple was established in 1997, with the purchase of a 40-acre property in central Wisconsin, Ray and Pam Melander grew a sugar bush from 200 maple trees tapped their first year in spring 1998 to more than 1,350 trees tapped in 2023. Initially sap was collected with plastic buckets from a local bakery and involved many labor-intensive hours of collecting and emptying buckets from the trees for both producers, and their school aged daughter, Holly.
Today their 1,350 trees are on a custom-built vacuum system similar to a dairy vacuum pump and milk pipeline receiver system to gather the incoming sap. And Ray and Pam are now enjoy sharing the experience with their grandchildren.
Since the beginning of Ray and Pam Melander’s maple syrup journey, these producers have been involved with the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association and have continued to make new connections within the industry to learn all they could. Gaining knowledge increased their desire to manage the woods to accommodate healthy trees and increase their number of taps. From building a road system within the woods to installing a gravity-flow system, their operation continued to expand allowing them to sell their sap to other area syrup producers.
Like most maple syrup operations that started small and then grew, Ray and Pam also started out cooking sap into syrup in an open pan over a wood fire. Today they process the sap into syrup in their newly-built sugar house using a 2×6’ oil-fired evaporator and then bottle the syrup in the bottling room. Ray and Pam then sell their pure Wisconsin maple syrup locally.
In 2013 Ray and Pam Melander were honored with the WMSPA Producers of the Year Award. Pam served as the WMSPA Secretary for many years. Ray served as Executive Director and now serves as a director. In 2022, Ray and Pam hosted the WMSPA Annual First Tree Tapping event at Leafy Grove Maple.
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