Sunday, March 29, 2009

Here's To Your Health...


Some of our customers can't wait to enjoy their jug of McCutcheon's Maple Syrup!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Great Season So Far

"Dad says this year the weather's just right
Warm bright mornings and cold clear nights
This time we're goin' to get a real bumper crop
Tap that flow and it ain't never gonna stop!"
Those of you that have heard the Maple Syrup song that plays on our website will know what I mean when I say "Dad says this year the weather's just right"! We're all happily humming that tune around here, as so far this year it is the perfect theme song! We've been having an excellent season so far; the weather pattern has been just right with it freezing overnight and thawing during the days, and as a result we've been able to collect sap almost every single day since the season started on March 7th. The syrup that we've been making this season has a wonderful maple flavour too!

I just drove past the farm on my way home from work and saw lots of steam coming out of the sugarhouse. Dad has had a lot of overnight boils this year, with the sap running late into the evening. I expect tonight might be one of those nights with the temperature staying mild, and the windy, rainy weather seems to bring the sap for whatever reason.

Of course, the season is not over yet, and we're always a little worried about a sudden warm spell putting an end to things. However, the weather forecast still looks promising so we're hoping for another week of good sap days before it warms up for good. We've got all of our fingers crossed -- hopefully the song will be right and we'll wind up with "a real bumper crop"!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Opening Weekend

Thanks to everyone who made it out for a visit this weekend. It was nice to see some familiar faces out enjoying the spring weather, and some new faces too!

The weather made for a perfect opening weekend. We had a small run of sap on Saturday as it didn't warm up until later in the afternoon, and we collected up enough sap to boil later in the evening. Today was an absolutely perfect sap day with temperatures up to ten degrees. The sap was running into the tank so quickly it was hard to keep up! We boiled some down this afternoon and it's still running well. Looks like it'll be a late night in the sugarhouse tonight...

If you weren't able to make it out to the farm this weekend, we will be open seven days a week from 1pm - 5pm from now until the end of the season. It's nice to see our shelves full of syrup after having been bare for so long. Come on out and have a taste of spring!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

First Syrup of the Season

We were able to collect some sap this past weekend and had our first small boil on Sunday. Then Tuesday brought some wild weather with the wind and rain, but it also brought the sap. We had a very large run that carried on through the night, and Dad stayed up boiling until 5am! Quite the start to the season!

The good news is that we have some beautiful, fresh, first-run syrup bottled up now, and will have it for sale at the farm beginning this Saturday. We will be open on Saturday from 1pm - 5pm and every day after during those hours until the season ends.

We hope to see lots of you at the farm this weekend enjoying the beginning of your March break. It sounds like it's going to be beautiful weather, perfect for sap, and nice days for visiting the sugarbush. As usual, we will have the fireplace on in the sugarhouse, and you are welcome to come watch us boil the syrup and have a taste of the new crop. Hope you see you soon!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Finished Tapping!

I'm just in from the sugarbush after tapping the last of our 6500 trees today. We had a good blitz this week with the warm weather and lots of help from family memebers, and managed to get our trees tapped in the shortest amount of time yet! It feels great to have it done, as the weather forecast predicts some very good sap days to come. Now we just have some final pieces to put together, and we'll be all set. Bring on the sap!