Construction of Barred Woods' new 6,000-square-foot commercial kitchen started this spring and is now well underway. The new space will allow us to increase our capacity for making value-added maple products like maple sugar and maple granola, improve shipping and storage efficiency, and create a safer and more effective work environment for our team.

In May, we received our final building permits from the State of Vermont and started preparing the site. We chose a location right next to our existing sugarhouse, which should greatly simplify our operations in the future.

Once site preparation was complete, a local concrete company poured the foundation footings and frost walls, followed by a 5-inch reinforced concrete slab. By early August, we were finally ready to start framing.  The walls and roof trusses went up fairly quickly, and the construction team is now installing the roof sheathing. We are on track to have the building weather-tight by the end of October and hopefully ready for production by early winter.

Between permitting, design, and construction, this has been about a two-year journey. We are using local contractors for the work and sourcing materials locally wherever possible. A lot of people have helped us along the way, and we can't thank them enough. They have really shown the craftsmanship that is still alive and well in rural Vermont. We'll give you another update on the building in our next newsletter.

Funding for the project was assisted by the USDA's Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program, administered by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. This national program supports local and regional food systems by investing in infrastructure for food producers, processors, and distributors.