BYFIELD — Bernie Field has to move quickly or else he will miss his chance at perfection.

Darting back and forth around a large maple sugar evaporator, he checks for foam, then heads back to the thermometer to make sure the syrup is progressing well. Every half hour or so he needs to throw more logs into the wood burner that keeps the sap boiling.

Though Field is now in only his first real maple sugar season, the process of making syrup was learned almost by osmosis.

"I tapped my first tree at 5 years old. I've been around it my whole life," said Field, 62. "But this is the first time I've done it all alone in my backyard."

Field's foray into maple sugaring was only natural. His family has owned a maple sugar business in Amherst for almost 100 years. Growing up, Field remembers traveling from their home in Byfield to Amherst. When he was older, he would take the first two weeks of March off to collect buckets and man the evaporator with his cousins and uncles.

Now, with three grown and married children and six grandchildren, it was important to Field to pass the tradition on.

"Ever since I met him, he's been talking about his dream to make maple syrup in his backyard," his wife Sheila said. "Usually when Bernie says he is going to do something, he does it."

"It's a family affair," Sheila said as she poured out some syrup for her grandson. "We are all out there collecting buckets and cutting wood."

"The fun I have had with the kids and local kids who come down and watch is unbelievable," Bernie added. "Kids stay inside nowadays and look at their video games but if they don't pay attention to what is outside, there will be no outside anymore."

In December, Bernie retired from a job in engineering with the intention of putting all his time and energy into sugaring.

"I've seen so many of my friends retire and die," Bernie said. "I wanted to retire early enough that I could enjoy myself. I don't care about the money, and I don't care if I make a dime maple sugaring."

A Weird Winter

The best weather for maple syrup production is nights in the 20s with sunny days reaching near 50 degrees in order to loosen up the sap and have it flow from the trees. It's even better when there is snow on the ground for a long period of time to keep the roots of the trees cold longer.

"This has been a weird winter, it's been too warm and the season started three weeks earlier than usual," Bernie said. His wife added, "Bernie has been ready since December though."

Bernie hopes the season lasts until the second week in March, but since it started so early, no one can tell.

"Once the swamp maples get some color on top or the first buds form on the trees, it's all over," Bernie said. "You only ever really get six weeks of strong sugaring."

Over the last month, the Fields have been driving around their home and into West Newbury in search of maple trees.

"If you ever wonder where the nice people are, they are all here," Field said, motioning to his backyard and surrounding area. "Families come out and help us out, tapping trees and collecting buckets."

Field says to date, no one has said no to his plea to hang buckets on their maple trees.

Since the beginning of February, Field has placed 260 pails on maple trees on six different properties in Byfield and West Newbury.

"This isn't a financial operation here; we are old-fashioned. We pay in maple syrup," Bernie said with a laugh.

His daughter and grandchildren collect the buckets when calls come in from property owners that the buckets are running over with sap. The Fields then drive their trucks to the buckets, fill a large tank with the syrup and then bring it back to their backyard "sugar shack," where it is boiled almost immediately, filtered twice and poured into glass jars.

"Fresh sap makes for the best syrup," Field said.

Behind the shack, raw sap sits in a tank attached to tubing that funnels it to another large tank near the roof. Then, through copper piping, the sap is brought into the evaporator to boil.

"Boiling takes water from the sap and leaves the sugar, that's why the syrup is sweet," Bernie said.

Only two weeks into the sugaring season, Field has already made more than 30 gallons and has his products on store shelves at local food markets in Byfield and West Newbury as well as at Tendercrop Farm. It's a large feat, given it takes 38 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

The Maple Sugaring Legacy

The sugar shack can be seen from the street, a wooden hut on wheels that Bernie hopes to someday drive to area schools to show the process to children.

"I built the sugar shack in the barn and had to take the air out of the tires to get it out," Field said. "I tell people, I made 18 gallons of maple sugar last spring, and now I'm an expert. But not really; I'm always learning."

The amber liquid is like nothing you have ever tasted Bernie says, frequently sipping the syrup out of small paper cups.

"What's really good is when you take some hot syrup and put it in your coffee, now that is like nothing you have ever tasted," Bernie said.

Unlike nationally branded bottles, Field's syrup lacks the sugary bite and aftertaste most grew up coating their pancakes with. Field's maple syrup instead tastes pure with the warm flavors of maple coating the throat.

Though only sugaring for one season in earnest, Bernie is confident he will be doing it for the rest of his life, which says a lot for someone his wife says, "is always doing something crazy."

Their barn is filled with years of projects, from the Byfield Hillbilly-mobile Bernie and his friends have driven in local parades and someday plan to drive to Florida, to a boat deemed unfit for the high seas that they put on wheels for the Yankee Homecoming parade. Bernie also restores and builds trucks in his free time.

When the sap dries up from the local maple trees, Bernie will be at work cutting down wood to use for next season.

Bernie says the biggest difference between store-bought maple syrup and the homemade is major businesses use vacuums to pull the sap from the trees instead of waiting for the natural process to start.

"For the big businesses, they pay people to work every day. They can't afford the old-fashioned way," Bernie said. "It's a small operation here. Nothing is ever added. This is as big as I will ever be."

Field maple syrup is available at Tendercrop Farm, West Newbury Food Mart and Main Street Minimart in Byfield or by dropping by his backyard sugar shack at 64 Main St. Field is currently working on a sign that will say "visitors always welcome."