Chapter 2: Development
Plans certainly had changed. In the early days, the pandemic was going to be over in a couple weeks. Then a couple of months. And then those weeks and months passed with no end in sight. In this new world, where were the people we had connected with over the years? What were people really needing in such strange times? And how the heck were we going to continue supporting our employees? Bree & I again took to the outdoors for reflection, inspiration & find a new direction.
In the late naughties (2008ish) I was really into endurance mountain bike racing and bikepacking, more as a mental health outlet than anything. It's probably best now described as off-road touring, emphasizing exploration, playful mischief & type-B adventure, rather than pure speed. I was drawn to the psychological journey of taking on seemingly big challenges I knew would be difficult so I could work through things in my head while traveling through inspiring outdoor spaces. I didn't put a lot of thought into my nutrition, mostly "real food" augmented with commercial athletic gels. I hated their taste and texture, but needed something for the energy & electrolytes. I researched what my body needed, and found that with a little sea salt, maple syrup had an equivalent nutritional profile to the gels. I began filling small flip-top nalgene bottles with salted maple syrup from my dad, experimented with a few additional ingredients, and quit the tear-off gel habit.
Bikepacking Oregon. Photo Cred: Gus Aramayo
One thing I discovered through bikepacking was that I was my best self while on adventure. I needed to be outside, working physically, doing hard things. When Bree & I met we shared a common dream of farming as a way to work with the land; to protect, preserve and share the special place we call home. Maple syruping wasn't something being handed down from our families; we were called to the woods to find more purpose. "Far and away the best prize life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing," another T. R. quote. Needless to say, my bikepacking on trails like Maah Daah Hey were pivotal, and ultimately led to finding a life worth living as a maple syrup farmer.
Bikepacking Oregon - Photo Cred: Gus Aramayo
Going through a maple syrup season is intense. There is a lot of preparation before the season, and once it begins there is no turning around. Best laid plans quickly fall-apart as equipment breaks, or a spring thunderstorm rapidly melts the snow-pack into a raging flood. Patience and quick-thinking are both tested as new strategies are implemented. In the end mother nature always reigns supreme.
As we reflected on the parallels between the adventure that is our farm, and the adventures I took on my bike, I kept being brought back to bringing maple syrup on adventures. It's been a goal to bring Maple Energy to market since founding the farm, but starting a farm proved difficult enough to consume all of our time, energy & resources. Now, as the world moved outdoors for recreation and mental health, and we were not able to travel to farmers markets to sell our syrup, it made sense to "meet" people in the outdoor places we all need and love. We set to work developing a new product that would share the Good Energy we found in our forest with people in the places they found renewal.
We assembled a panel of endurance athletes, adventurers and chefs to help bring a culinary influence to sports nutrition. We wanted to fix the major gripes experienced with tear-off gel packs, while making a product that is enjoyable to use on the trail.
Simple, delicious ingredients
Always the right amount
Multiple uses
No sticky mess
Maple syrup is incredibly versatile, so we wanted to highlight its use opportunities. A 3 oz resealable pouch, equivalent to three tear-off gels, allows people to use the right amount at the right time. It can be consumed directly from the pack as an energy shot, mixed in water for hydration, or as an ingredient in cooking and cocktails at camp. Once enjoyed, the pouches can be re-capped to eliminate the sticky mess associated with tear-offs, which helps keep trash off the trail.
We sourced and tested rugged pouches, making sure they were worthy of a thru hikes, mountain summits and/or bikepacking trips. We saved two years of our farm's maple syrup production to meet minimum order quantities, and launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the purchase of packaging and equipment.
As development progressed, we kept getting a feeling that this was something bigger than us. B&E's Trees was our farm - Bree, Eric and our forest of trees, but the name was also sometimes confusing - did we keep bees? Sell Christmas trees? And how do you spell that website? Our goal was to bring the Good Energy we found in our forest to people as they explored outdoors. We wanted to capture the spirit of the adventure that we were on, of choosing a new path through the woods, when "Embark!" burst forth. It captures the scary excitement, stubborn confidence and hopeful optimism of beginning a new journey. And with a tree pun to boot! B&E's Trees began the transition to Embark Maple.
We focused on R&D through 2020, led by Dan, our production and operations wizard/awesome brother-in-law. He perfected recipe & flavor development, which resulted in some ideas being shelved for further refinement. The Coffee Maple, made in collaboration with Viroqua's hometown coffee roaster, Wonderstate, took almost 30 trials with different roasts, grinds, and brewing variables to perfect the flavor. As the world kept shifting, so did our production timeline. We initially set out to have our first Embark packs for sale in late Fall of 2020, but like seemingly everything, that quickly came and went. Our goals shifted multiple times until we finally saw alignment to have Adventure Packs ready to go by Memorial Day 2021, in time for Le Grand du Nord bike race. Our packaging material arrived, production-scale batches were brewed, and pouches were filled. Bree, now five months pregnant, and I loaded up Helga the Astro Van with Embark Maple Energy still hot from filling and headed North to Grand Marais.
To be continued...
