The camp is now closed during the week except by appointment Call 613 256 5216 or email info@fortunefarms.ca to arrange a pickup time for syrup orders. The camp will be open this weekend April 22 and April 23 from 10am t0 5pm. Also, we are frequently working at the camp doing cleanup so there is a chance to find us there if you are driving in this area.
A number of birds have returned to the farm. The red shouldered hawk and bluebirds are back. Both birds are elusive until actually sitting on their nest. Song sparrows, chipping sparrows and a winter wren have all been heard singing along the fence rows. The hepaticas, the first spring wild flower, have not yet appeared.The spring peepers are singing in our ponds and tree ducks have been checking our nesting boxes.
We are busy pulling spiles and backwashing the pipelines. The pipelines stay up year round but they must washed and sanitized for in situ storage. It takes at least a week with two and sometimes three people working to cover our 7000 taps.Then we can take a much needed break.

With the warm weather the season has come to a close. Our production this year was above average and with excellent quality,so we are very pleased.We welcomed many regular customers to our operation and were pleased to greet many newcomers as well.
The camp is open this week and will be open on Easter Weekend from 10.00 to 5.00 each day. We have lots of syrup available and we are working to produce a fresh supply of maple candy,maple tarts,maple butter and maple mustard.
The Kettle Boys and Shanty Men have closed for this year. Our trails are open and easy walking now that the snow is mostly gone.
Our back orders are filled and those not already picked up are waiting on the shelf.

A beautiful sunny spring morning. We wait all year for this kind of weather when working in the sugar bush so enjoyable. We expect a good sap run today as there was frost here last night. All our activities will be in full swing today. Our camp will be open from 10.00 t0 5.00 pm.
We now have lots of syrup on hand and our back orders are
filled and ready for pickup.There is a new batch of maple tarts on the shelf this morning just waiting for your enjoyment.

Finally some warmer weather is headed our way which should help dry up the puddles and melt some of the snow in the sugar bush. It also signals the coming end of the maple syrup production for this year. However, the sap was running a bit today due to the low pressure and should run tomorrow as we expect frost tonight.
Our camp opens at 10.00 am and we have lots of help to assist with syrup pickup and taffy on the snow. The Kettle boys will be here with all their toys.

We never know when the sap may run It ran last night in the cold rain and our tanks were full this morning. We think it was due to a decrease in the atmospheric pressure which meant that the pressure inside the tree was greater than the outside pressure. It also helps that our trees are under vacuum. Usually it takes a freeze thaw cycle to reset the trees. Frost is in the forecast for Friday night with sunshine Saturday so we should have another good run of sap on the weekend.
The Kettle Boys and Shanty Men are planning to be here on the weekend.We are working hard in the main camp to be sure we have a good quantity of maple butter, maple candy and maple tarts on hand.We now have all grades of maple syrup available.There is still some snow in the sugar bush. The trails are open but they may be a bit wet.

After two beautiful days on Sunday and Monday we are now in a prolonged period of rain.Sap has been running well and we have a backlog to process today.Yesterday we made dark syrup for the first time and expect that to continue if we get more sap.
Next weekend’s weather looks promising and we hope to be able to fill most of our backorders for dark syrup. So it would be a good opportunity for pickup if you have syrup on order.
The Kettle Boys and Shanty Men are planning to be here again next weekend to entertain our visitors. The red shouldered hawks are back,so a walk on our trails might reward you with a sighting of these beautiful birds.

It would be nice if the weatherman could make a reliable forecast.We were supposed to have sunshine on Saturday and Sunday but now there is the possibility of snowshowers on Saturday.Regardless of the weather we will be celebrating Maple Weekend.On Sunday, as a special feature, our local sheep farmer will have some young lambs here for petting by the children.The Kettle Boys have some new toys so lots of fun in store for our visitors.We are open from 10.00 to 5.00pm every day.
We have been steadily producing syrup this past week so it is shaping up as a good year. However, with the continued cool weather we have yet to produce any dark syrup. Hopefully,this may change on Sunday or next week when the weather is supposed to warm up.

The forecast is for a warm and sunny weekend. A perfect time to take advantage of Maple Weekend and visit one or more local sugar bushes. Go to mapleweekend.ca to find sugar bush locations in Lanark and District.Fortune Farms is participating and is number 4 on the map.
The weather looks very favourable for maple sap flow this week. There will be lots of sap for the Kettle Boys and Shanty Men and we should also be in production on our large evaporator.
The Camp will be open from 10.00am to 5.00 pm both days and we have a full array of maple products for sale. Maple mustard is a new addition to our product lineup this year.Some taffy on the snow or maple fudge will provide the energy for a walk around our trails.

Depending on which weather forecast one believes, we could have sunny breaks,some rain,some snow showers but warmer temperatures. So its typical spring weather and the sap should run a bit. All our activities will be in full swing regardless of the weather. The Kettle Boys are setting up on Friday so they will be ready to go early Saturday morning.
We made syrup for the third time this season on Tuesday of this week, but it is now frozen up again. We don’t recall a season when we have had such large changes in temperature for such a prolonged spell.It is a challenge to keep everything working at 20 below.It looks as if the trend will change next week with sustained periods warmer weather.The quantity and to some extent the quality of maple syrup we produce is very dependent on the weather.So maple syrup producers, this one in particular, are almost continually in touch with the Weather Channel.

The sap ran a bit on Sunday and but not enough to fill our evaporator. It continued today and is still running tonight as the temperature is above freezing and the atmospheric pressure is dropping. The sap will run tonight until the tree freezes or as long as the pressure inside the tree exceeds the atmospheric pressure.The sap and gases inside the tree expand and contract with changes in temperature. This causes a pumping action which makes the sap flow even though the tree is dormant. There is a wall display at our camp that explains the sap process in more detail.

Next weekend looks promising with warmer weather. The Kettle Boys will be here and all our activities will be in full swing.