2025 Maple Season in Review
All in, all done – we had a very good maple season!
We made syrup for the last time this year on April 15th. As trees come out of dormancy they mobilize and transport compounds which affect the flavour of the syrup. In regulatory terms, the flavour is categorized as “objectionable”. In plain English, the syrup is bitter, acidic, and tastes awful. The last tank of syrup that we made had fully achieved objectionable status! It went into a drum and will be sold for commercial use, such as curing tobacco.
2025 was one of the best production years we have ever had. This is due to the length of the season and the quantity of sap that we collected. The season was 36 days in length – longest in the last 12 years – and we made syrup on 30 of those days. Although the sugar content of the sap was lower than average, we gathered so much (over 680,000 litres) that we made a large crop. We had three very heavy sap runs which required us to work around the clock to keep up with the flows. Although we were disappointed that we did not make any golden grade syrup, the light amber that we made early in the season had a delicate flavour and filled our needs nicely. We also made enough good flavoured very dark syrup to satisfy all our orders – making many people very happy!
I had an interesting experience this year. I now wear hearing aids, which takes some getting used to. A key job is checking our lines for air leaks as they reduce sap production. When a spile is pulled from a tree, or a pipeline comes apart, you can hear it hissing for some distance. This is helpful as you can quickly locate and repair a major leak. So, armed with enhanced hearing I felt I was in good shape for the task. As I started working on the lines, I could hear a leak ahead of me. So, off I went following the sound. No leak, but the sound was just ahead of me. After doing this a few times, I figured our that the noise was generated by my hearing aids and I was chasing phantom leaks around the woods!
We have started the cleanup. The first step is backwashing the pipelines with a mixture of water and air to scrub out any film or deposits in the fittings. The next step is to go to each tree, pull out the tap and inject the spile with alcohol with the vacuum running and then plug the line. The alcohol vaporizes in the lines and maintains the cleanliness of system throughout the year. When the weather is nice, cleaning lines is a pleasant job. Lots of walking in the forest as the wildflowers emerge and the birds sing!
Photo: Ruth and Tim. Mom (Ruth) spent the afternoon with us! Helping here and there and visiting everyone.
Thank you again for all the well wishes and condolences extended to us. Dad would have been deeply humbled to know so many people cared about him and his family. He would also be very proud and happy with such a long and successful maple season!
On behalf of the team at Fortune Farms, we would like to thank everyone who visited and shared the production season with us. We enjoy seeing you! We continue to sell syrup throughout the year, so please call or order online whenever you would like some. We are open on Saturdays year-round from 10 until 2pm.