GALIEN, Mich. – The maple syrup making season coming to an end is just the beginning at a southwest Michigan farm using its history and rolling hills to become more of an agritourism destination.

The Payne Heritage Country Store, offering primarily meat, poultry and dairy products from small family owned producers, was put up in October at the farm on Cleveland Avenue near Galien.

Some of the meat in the store comes from more than 20 head of brood cows that were already being raised on the farm to provide individuals with freezer beef. 

Soap made from goat’s milk and maple syrup produced at the farm are among the other goods available at the Amish-constructed store with a tin roof.

Denise Klopfenstein, whose grandfather used to own the property, said the picturesque farm with the original dairy barn, chicken house and other historic structures is ideal for tours which she also plans to offer at some point. Her vision also includes hosting private gatherings like weddings. 

“There’s a lot of history here on this property. We have a lot of resources at our hands,” she said.

Her grandfather, Albert Payne, bought the farm in 1952 from Dr. Stanley Clark. 

Clark was well known for the high quality Jersey dairy cows he kept on the 450 acre farm he operated for a decade.

Payne also left his mark on agriculture locally from his vast collection of horse drawn carriages and open houses at the farm. A few of the horse drawn carriages are still kept on the farm, which used to raise animals like horses, chickens and hogs along with row crops.

The farm ground is now rented to a farmer who grows mostly corn and soybeans.

Last year, Klopfenstein had the upper level of the dairy barn, once used to store feed, renovated into a workshop for her and several friends to make gift baskets.

Some of the baskets filled with frozen meat were offered during Christmas.

Klopfenstein said she just added Amazon to the websites offering the baskets which take on different themes to reflect the current holiday or season and personal liking of customers.

Her 18-year-old son, Tyler Klopfenstein, is busier than ever on the farm making syrup from two woods of maple trees on the property.

He was just 12 when he started making syrup with three buckets to collect sap.

His number of buckets quickly grew to well over a dozen and he used a retrofitted 50 gallon drum to boil his sap over an open fire into syrup.

Now, Tyler has a highway of plastic lines carrying sap directly from 700 taps in the trees to two large holding tanks at the edge of each woods. He pumps the sap into a large holding tank he takes to and from the woods on the back of a farm tractor.

Klopfenstein later acquired a reverse osmosis machine to remove some of the water from the sap before the concentrate is boiled into syrup in his nearby sugar house. He also added an evaporator to cook down the sap instead of boiling the liquid over an open fire.

Klopfenstein said he collected about 800 to 1,000 gallons of sap over the past two weeks compared to 1,600 gallons in just one day at the peak of the season.

“It’s definitely slowed down,” said Klopfenstein, a freshman at Michigan State University majoring in dairy management and ag business.

He expects to make more than 190 gallons of maple syrup this year after boiling down the rest of his sap. He produced about 175 gallons of syrup last year.

Klopfenstein also works full-time at the J & A Koebel Farm in nearby Three Oaks.

He milks cows in the morning and feeds the calves at night. “Spring is a really busy time for me personally,” he said.

His mother got him started making syrup as a way for her son to make money and decide for himself if agriculture was something he wanted to pursue as a career.

She works full-time traveling mostly throughout the Midwest opening new markets for the animal feed produced by her Ohio-based employer.

Her 21-year-old daughter, Katrena, is manager of the herd at the farm and one of the operators of the store.

She’s also a student at Michigan State majoring in animal science.

Klopfenstein said her reason for diversifying the farm is to provide herself with additional income for retirement and a place for her children to make a living if agriculture is the direction they choose.

“My son shows interest in carrying on the tradition. So does my daughter. I’m letting them do their thing and figure out what to do. If they stay, great. If they don’t, fine. I’m not going to force anything on them,” she said.