Walnut Creek third-graders learn maple syrup making at local farm

Third-graders from Walnut Creek got a close-up look at how maple syrup is made at Tap Tap Maple Farm near Walnut Creek, then sampled it fresh from the sugar shack. What looked like a simple spring outing turned into a lesson in farming, food production and the seasonal work that helps define Holmes County.

Firman Wengerd’s farm has become a stop for youth groups because it gives children a hands-on way to see where a familiar breakfast staple comes from. Students learned that maple syrup does not start as syrup at all. It begins with sap gathered from maple trees, then boiled down during late winter and early spring, the part of the year Ohio State University Extension identifies as maple season. On a farm like Tap Tap Maple, that process ties woods, weather and careful timing directly to the finished product on the table.

That local lesson also fits the county’s broader economy. Ohio State University Extension says maple syrup adds about $5 million a year to Ohio’s economy, and it notes that Ohio was the nation’s largest producer of maple syrup and maple sugar in 1840. The state remains a significant producer today. USDA’s 2024 estimate put Ohio’s maple syrup output at 96,000 gallons from 400,000 taps, ranking the state eighth nationally. Across the United States, total production was estimated at 5.86 million gallons.

For Holmes County, the value is not just in production but in experience. Visit Amish Country markets the area around Walnut Creek and the rest of Holmes County as a place built around family-friendly activities, food experiences and farm visits, which helps explain why a maple syrup field trip fits so naturally here. Ohio Maple Producers Association says syrup from northern Ohio tastes different from syrup made in southern Ohio, a small but memorable detail that gives local syrup its own identity.

The visit also showed why maple season matters to families and producers alike. It is a short window, and once the sap runs and the boiling starts, the work turns a wooded hillside into a product with economic, cultural and educational value. In Holmes County, that makes a sugar shack more than a stop on a school trip. It becomes a classroom for the county’s agricultural heritage.