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Our Story

Our Mission

We are two families with one great goal: spend as much time with each other as possible and make those moments count. The Vermont Evaporator Company was built on those values. We want more opportunities to be outside, away from screens and electronics, to play, learn, create, and live life. With each other.

The Vermont Evaporator Company brings families and friends together, outside amongst nature’s sweetest offerings: the maples. We want to inspire amateur and small-scale maple syrup production by giving families and friends, schools, small farms, and other tree-to-table outfits, access to the tools and information they need to make syrup right in their own backyards.

Our Story

The Vermont Evaporator Company was founded in 2015 by the McCabe family, who wanted to make memories, enjoy the great outdoors, and eat pancakes with pure maple syrup. Today, it is run by the McCabe and Whelley families.

After graduating from college and starting their careers, Kate Whelley McCabe and Justin McCabe always found themselves daydreaming about a permanent move back to New England to be near Kate’s parents. Their goal was to start a family in a place where they could watch their children explore nature and develop curiosity outside, just like they did.

Eventually, Kate and Justin canceled plans to move to Boston and made the move to Montpelier, Vermont. With two children, two law degrees, and land full of maple trees, they decided to try their hands at making maple syrup.

Nikki and Patrick Whelley were also drawn to Vermont’s peaceful, rural landscape. They wanted their children to grow up in nature and with their extended family. They moved to Vermont in 2019 and settled “tractor-driving” distance from the McCabes!

smiling family in woods wearing vermont evaporator company tees

After two years of experimenting — using a Thanksgiving Turkey’s broiling pan on the propane grill, and countless other ideas — Kate and Justin decided to purchase a backyard sap evaporator. Justin looked everywhere for a backyard sap evaporator that didn’t cost a fortune, didn’t need to operate in a sap house, and could be moved around when not in use, but ultimately came up empty. So, Justin invented one!

The Vermont Evaporator Company, and its Sapling, was born! The Sapling is perfect for hobbyists who need a simple, affordable evaporator that can produce maple syrup in the company of friends and family. The Sapling was created to make memories all year-round: evaporating in late winter and early spring and grilling, smoking, or baking homemade food year-round.

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