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Our Sugarbush

Where are we?

 Maples like it warm, with deep soil, and a lot of calcium. So sugarbushes like ours are a rare thing this far north. Ours is located in Neebing Township, on a gentle south-facing slope of part of the Nor'Wester range. We're most of the way to the border, and close enough to Superior to have a unique microclimate. 

When did you begin making syrup?

 In the spring of 2016, three friends climbed a cliff, tapped some trees, and spent a few weekends making some of the smokiest, darkest syrup imaginable, using old pots from the Salvation Army and a whole lot of dead wood. It was enough fun that they decided to do it for real!

When do you begin making syrup (nowadays)?

  We wait for our trees to be ready, with temperatures over the day a bit above zero, and the nights below freezing, which sets the sap running. The weather and trees run when they will, but around here, the sap tends to run in mid April, give or take a week .

Can I come up to the Sugarbush?

  Unfortunately, our Sugarbush is at the end of a 45 minute hike, up a mountain, along a windy footpath made mostly of ice, with parts of it in a swamp. As much as we would love to have visitors, it's probably for the best if we wait until the trek is something a bit more manageable!

How was this year's Sap run?

  Remember this spring, when everything was nice and warm... and then froze solid again for three weeks? We do! And so did our trees... The sap stops running when things get cold, meaning our sap run was cut from 3-4 weeks to a little over 4-5 days! Thankfully our new modern techniques let us harvest a lot of sap in those few days! 

I have more questions!

 That's great! Send us an email: info@nwmaple.ca, or look us up on social media:

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