Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. POWNAL â As a farmer, Keith Armstrong has experience with natureâs unpredictable forces, but the early morning fire that leveled his maple sap house and destroyed the equipment and hundreds of gallons of syrup had to rank among the farmâs most devastating setbacks. He said it was difficult for him to survey the blackened remains of the structure, but he knew no one had been hurt and it could be replaced in time. âWe are going to rebuild,â Armstrong said of the sugar shack he began erecting in 1976 on a hillside near his farm stand on Route 7 just south of the Bennington line.