Good Season So Far

The weather has been co-operating this week, and we have been collecting and boiling sap every day! 

It has been nice to see lots of happy faces at the farm, as many visitors have been out to learn about the syrup-making process and stock up on our delicious "liquid gold".

Full tank of sap - Still cold enough when this
               was taken to have some ice

                                                                  Lots of Steam!

The weather forecast continues to look promising, and we are hoping for at least one more week of freezing temperatures over night. If you are interested in seeing more photos and updates from the season, please check out our Facebook Page!

"A Perfect Day" - Words from a Syrup Maker

Like surfers waiting for the perfect wave or gamblers looking for the perfect hand of cards, maple syrup farmers wait and dream about the perfect sap day.  A day when all the forces of nature combine to produce that elusive flood of maple sap.

The ideal day begins the night before with clear skies and calm winds.  The stars twinkle as the temperature slowly drops to -5C.  The snow is frozen hard by morning but the rising sun soon starts it to melt.  By 11AM, the maple trees have thawed and sap starts to drip from the spiles. By 1PM, sap is running hard,  as much as one litre per tree per hour.  The sky is brilliant blue dotted with a few puffy clouds.  A gentle west breeze shakes the tree branches.  Temperature hovers around +5C.  Sap runs hard until evening when the sun drops below the horizon, the breeze stops and the temperature again drops below freezing. 

That’s the textbook recipe for maple syrup making nirvana.  But seldom do things unfold according to the book.  Last year (2012) didn’t have a single day even close.  This season has been better but we’re still waiting for that "perfect day".  Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t and it’s that uncertainty that makes syrup making so much fun and so addictive.

                                                                                                                   - Ken McCutcheon 

Opening Saturday March 16th!

McCutcheon's Maple Syrup will be open for visitors, beginning Saturday, March 16!  We have been able to catch up on the many repairs we've been working on the in sugarbush, and have collected and boiled our first batches of sap.  The next few days look like they might be too cold for more sap to run, so that will give us a chance to bottle our first 2013 syrup and it will be available for sale this weekend!  We will be open from 1pm - 5pm. Hope to see you!

Getting Close!

We are so close to having fresh syrup again!  The weather this week was just a bit colder than predicted, so we have not had any large runs of sap yet.  The trees did thaw out for a few hours the past couple of afternoons, just enough to enable us to check our lines for more leaks and squirrel damage.  Unfortunately, we are still finding problems, including one main-line that shattered in the little cold snap on the weekend - very unusual.

The forecast looks promising, so fingers crossed that the weatherman is right!  We will let you know as soon as we have some fresh maple syrup made and bottled, and we are open for visitors!

Preparations Continue - Lots of Repairs

We have been working hard every day, and we are getting closer to having all of our maple trees tapped and ready for the first sap run of the year.  Unfortunately, our preparations have been a little slower than we would like due to an extremely large amount of squirrel damage.  The squirrels chew through the plastic tubing and spiles creating holes which allow precious sap to leak out, and disrupt the vacuum pressure in the lines.

This must be the tastiest spot - we have seen a lot of spiles like this one.

We have had to replace many drop-lines and spiles;  a process which is both time-consuming, and an additional expense.

At least 200 drop-lines we have cut out and replaced.  Still lots more that need fixing.

If you are interested, here is a short video on the tubing repair process.  You can also watch it HERE.

Those pesky squirrels must have had itchy ears this week, as they were getting called all kinds of nasty names!  Despite the minor frustration while working today, at one point dad said to me, "You know, syrup making is really fun!"  Still having fun after 41 years, love it!  Mind you, he did caveat that by saying, "when you aren't in a race with Mother Nature."  Haha!  Well, as it stands right now, we are in good shape to be ready.  The forecast is looking promising for next week, but of course that can change quickly.  Stay tuned for more updates!

"Tapping" A Maple Tree

A quick little demonstration of what is involved in "tapping" a maple tree.

Back at It! 2013 Season Preparations Have Begun!

Mom & Dad - Snowshoes on and ready to tap!

The McCutcheon team is back to work again!  We were out in the woods yesterday, February 22nd, for our first day of tapping and also worked all day today.  Conditions are good right now for preparations -- warm enough that it's not too hard on the trees, but not so warm that the sap is already running.

So far, things are off to a better start then last year after a somewhat more "normal" winter.  We have had some cold winter weather that allows the trees to become dormant, and there is a good base of snow coverage in the sugarbush.  We hope that spring will continue to unfold slowly over the next few weeks, and that we will be ready for a typical mid-March start to the season.

Jesse & Colette - Tapping Teamwork!

We are currently sold out of last year's maple syrup, so the farm remains closed to visitors until we have a fresh crop.  Please continue to check the blog for updates, and check out our facebook page for more photos.  We are looking forward to a great season!

Evergreen Brick Works Farmers' Market

I am disappointed to let you all know that we will not be attending the Brick Works Farmers' Market this summer.  Unfortunately, due to the small crop this season, we do not have enough syrup to accommodate both markets.  We are still attending the Orillia Farmers' Market every Saturday, and we look forward to returning to the Brick Works next year.  I will really miss my Saturday mornings at the Brick Works and all of the friendly and now-familiar faces there.  Our farm is always open to visitors (please call ahead), and our products are also available online this year  It will be fun to visit the Brick Works as a leisurely Saturday morning shopper!  Hope to see many of you soon...

"Next Year Is Going To Be Better"

The 2012 syrup season is coming to a close even before April arrives.  We washed all of our sap lines during the heat wave a week ago.  It was good weather for that job, because you get soaked from head to toe!  This week, we have been busy bottling up this years' syrup, and we are almost finished with that job too. The syrup has great flavour this year, but unfortunately it will be in short supply - we wound up with about half of an average crop.  

We are finally getting syrup weather now - below freezing nights and mild days - but it is too late.  The buds on the maples have opened, and the trees are beginning to grow leaves.  Even though the sap is running, it has a 'buddy' flavour, the sugar content is very low, and it won't make good maple syrup.   "Next year is going to be better" - the farmer's mantra. 

Our sugarhouse will be open on Easter weekend, every afternoon from 1:00pm - 5:00pm. Please call ahead if you are planning to visit at other times. 

Spring Peepers Sing An End To The Season -- The Earliest On Record

Unfortunately, as we feared, the warm weather did indeed produce a short season and the earliest end to boiling in our 40 years of sugaring.  Our final boil for the 2012 season was at midnight on Saturday, March 17th.  The spring peepers are singing loudly tonight, a sure sign that the season is over. It's an almost perfectly reliable (and fascinating!) piece of folklore -- when we hear the small chorus frogs' call begin to ring in the night air, the following day the sap run is finished.

Many hopeful maple followers have asked the question, "but what if the weather gets cold again now?".  There is a chance that more seasonable temperatures will return by the end of the week, but the warm nights have caused the maple buds to swell and give the sap a 'buddy' flavour, which is sharp and unpleasant.  The only silver lining to the season's end is that Dad will finally get a full night's sleep - the first one in a week.  With the lack of overnight frost, the sap ran slowly but steadily for days on end.

We were out in the sugarbush today, beginning the task of washing the saplines.  It feels like we just finished putting them out!  Our sugarhouse will be open most afternoons this week but please call ahead to check - (705) 835-5780.