JOHNSTOWN, N.Y. -- As the snow subsides and temperatures rise, Steve Savage grabs his drill and starts tapping for sap.
"I tap about six thousand trees," Savage said.
To get the most out a season that only lasts between six and eight weeks, Savage has to be ready to go before temps start climbing.
That way when the freeze-thaw cycle begins, so too can the real work of turning sap into syrup.
"A lot of people think you tap the tree and it comes out of the tree as syrup," Savage said.
If you're looking for a sure sign that spring is on its way, you don't have to go any farther than the Mohawk Valley where maple syrup production is in full swing. Our Mark Repasky was out tapping the trees and finding out how syrup producers hope to cash in on a growing trend.
What actually comes out of the tree is a watery sap.
That comes to the syrup house on the back of a truck in a stainless steel tank like that right there.
Once it's here, it goes through an osmosis process and then through an evaporation process where it turns into syrup.
It takes about forty gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup.
"It's pretty amazing the amount of work that goes into it, especially for someone who does it as a hobby," Doug Purcell said.
It may have started out as a hobby for Steve Savage and his wife Kathy, but it's become much more.
In the past four years, they've built a new sap house, designed their own label, and added a dining room, hoping to cash in not just on syrup sales but the growing trend of agritourism as well.
"It's a market. It's part of the retail market, it's a cash flow, it's part of a business, it's part of our economy here," said Wally Hart, Fulton County Chamber President.
The economy in Fulton County is driven by tourism, and syrup season comes during a lull between ski season and summer.
For many who grew up in this area, syrup season is also a sign of what's to come -- as it's the first sign growing season is about to start.