Our 50th production season has come to an end and we are pleased to report that we had a good year. The volume of our crop was above our long-term average and the quality is excellent. We did not make as much dark and very dark syrup as we wanted, but that is beyond our control. The unseasonably hot weather brought the trees out of dormancy very quickly, changing the chemistry of the sap and rendering it unusable.
It was a challenging season in the woods dealing with the effects of last summer’s derecho and then the ice storm in April. This is the fist time we have experienced damaging ice conditions during maple season as well as a prolonged power failure. We managed to clear the fallen branches and trees and get the pipeline systems back into shape over three days and gathered a lot of sap once the power was back on. We will investigate back up power options as electricity is critical in all aspects of our production systems.
We enjoyed seeing all our friends and customers and appreciate your positive feedback on your experience at the farm and our maple products. It’s so nice to connect with folks every year and catch up on news and events!
Once we stop collecting sap, the cleaning begins. All the taps are removed from the trees, our lines are back washed with water and then injected with alcohol to sanitize the network. The alcohol vapours remain in the pipelines, keeping them clean until we tap our trees again next spring. We scrub our sap collection tanks, clean the pump houses and service our pumps (there are many pumps!). The evaporator is drained and cleaned carefully as well as the reverse osmosis machine and membranes. All the clean-up takes about three weeks and seems to go quicker when we’ve had good production.
In the forest, the leaves are emerging and we are pleased to see flowers on some of our maples. The wind and ice storms have created many openings in the canopy and a good crop of maple seeds means that future generations of maple trees will be established where others have fallen. The woods are alive with birds, who unlike us, are looking forward to the arrival of insects.
Buying / Ordering Syrup
As of May 1, we will no longer have daily hours in the store but plan to be open on Saturdays from 10 to 2.
Syrup can be ordered and picked up anytime at the farm from our lock boxes. We have also started making deliveries and ship syrup around the world to customers far and wide. We have a good supply of golden, amber, and dark syrup as well as our other maple products.
The Fortune Family, the Kettle Boys, Shanty Men and staff at the farm would like to thank everyone who visits the farm and enjoys our products. Sharing maple season with you is a tradition we all enjoy.