Welcome to the Sugar Farm
Huntington, Vermont
Our Story
Couching Lion Maple Sugar farm is located on the Western facing slope of the Green Mountains. When hiking to the top of our sugarbush, you have a spectacular view of Camel’s Hump, or as explorer Samuel de Champlain called it, “Le Lion Couchant,” or Couching Lion.
Lifetime Vermonters Chaska Richardson (a high school teacher in the Burlington School District) and Matt Menard (a self employed builder) moved to Huntington in 2002. In between building a house, barn and other structures, Matt began sugaring on a small scale, using buckets and an outdoor evaporator. By 2012 the desire to tap the old sugarbush took hold and Couching Lion Maple was born. Although the sugaring operation has grown, the attention to producing the best small batch, wood fired maple syrup continues. Our syrup has earned many blue ribbons at local fairs and beyond. Couching Lion Maple Syrup is available for pickup at our kiosk on Aestivalis Hill and through our website.
The Property
The Sugarbush on an October Day
Couching Lion Maple Sugar Farm sits within 180 acres of forests, fields and waterways in Huntington, Vermont. Sustainable farming is a core belief for owners Chaska Richardson and Matt Menard. The land is managed through a forestry plan that specifically highlights the importance of animal habitat and low impact tree harvest. The sugarbush is part of Audubon’s Bird friendly Maple Project which encourages an agricultural approach that maintains standing dead trees, a diverse species of tree and responsible tapping practices among other specifications.
In the 1800s much of the property had been cleared for sheep farming and later used for cattle. Within the last 75 years, forest has replaced much of the open land,old stone walls run throughout and remind us of the rich farming history. The 58 acre sugarbush has remained forested for 120 years. Remnants of two separate sugaring operations exist in the forest. There is an evaporator and sugarhouse from the 1950’s as well as the ruins of a much older brick arch dating back at least 100 years.
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