Who we are
Paul Limberty and Jennifer Esser have a true family farm. Paul is a master sugarmaker creating Dragonfly Sugarworks Maple Syrup from forest to market. Some of his work includes cutting, splitting, and stacking the many cords of firewood needed to boil the sap. He sets up the miles of tubing, taps the trees, and from May to October you can find him at the Burlington Farmer’s Market every Saturday selling Dragonfly syrup. Paul is frequently helped by his three-year-old son Theo, who began sugaring at the tender age of 11 days. During spring break week, he is also assisted by his daughter Harmony, who is studying theater costume design at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Paul works as a carpenter and logger, too. Originally from Pittsburgh, Paul brought his love of the Steelers and Penguins to the Green Mountain State and now has a passion for the Red Sox that borders on rabid. In his very limited free time, Paul enjoys telemark skiing and snowboarding, and gardening and landscaping around the house. He wishes he rode his mountain bike more.
Jennifer oversees Dragonfly’s business functions and sees the forest for the trees. She serves the important role of company realist. A native of Philadelphia and a University of Michigan alumnus, Jennifer was drawn to Vermont’s natural beauty, tight-knit communities, and vast selection of micro-brewed beers. She works part-time as Communications Coordinator for the Children's Literacy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing a love of reading and writing among children in Vermont and New Hampshire. She is also active with a local organization working to preserve open spaces and historic buildings. Jennifer enjoys going on adventures with Theo, cooking with local foods, and gardening.
Where we live and work
Our 80 acres of forest sit on the western slope of Vermont’s Green Mountains. In 2001, we built a solar-powered home (largely with wood from our land) on this rocky hillside. Our dream of having our own sugaring operation came true when we fired up the sugarhouse in 2005 (though Paul has been boiling sap since 1996). Because our land splits the town boundary, our house is in Huntington, Vermont, but the sugarhouse is in Bolton, Vermont. We have tried to unite traditional values and new technologies at Dragonfly Sugarworks. We embrace the age-old art of sugaring, but use modern equipment and techniques that allow us to make a high-quality product. (See more at the about our syrup page.)
Our values
Sugaring (that is, making maple syrup) is a job that gets us out on the land and into the woods. It is a passion and a challenge. As we acknowledge climate change as the most pressing issue of our time and feel the wild swings in weather patterns, one might wonder why we got into a business that relies on predictable seasonal cycles. To us, committing to a form of small-scale agriculture that keeps the trees standing makes sense. Some estimates project that Vermont’s sugar maples will have largely moved north by 2050. But we choose hope and action. For us, making sustainable choices means generating much of our electricity from the sun, heating our home with wood, having large gardens, and volunteering locally. We hope that our devotion to family, land, and community can be tasted in Dragonfly Maple Syrup.
