Golden season

Maple in the County set to return

Maple in the County is back!” Those words by Ron Hubbs were met with enthusiastic applause as five County maple syrup producers gathered at the Fosterholm sugarhouse last Friday to announce the return of Maple in the County after a three-year absence. The sweet celebration of spring was set to mark its twentieth year when the COVID- 19 pandemic shut everything down in March 2020. This had been the County’s largest festival, with thousands of people visiting more than a dozen sugarbushes for all things maple. But in 2020, the County’s maple producers put the health and safety of their community members ahead of their own profits, and put the festival in abeyance. The producers instead shifted to farm gate sales and online orders, and many of them quickly sold their products, helped by a rising demand for maple syrup as more people were, of necessity, preparing their own meals at home. That is now history, and the County’s maple syrup producers are gearing up for visitors once more. Hubbs is the chair of the County’s Maple Producers Association, and he said that this year’s festival is dedicated to Mary Vader, one of the maple matriarchs, who passed away last year. For more than 50 years she welcomed visitors to the family farm, and sold maple syrup directly from her kitchen.

Hubbs presented a candy LifeSavers to each of the participants at the festival kickoff, and said that the original recipe for the mints specified the use of stirred maple sugar, rather than cane sugar. He also said that the area around East Lake was the centre of the County’s maple syrup production going back over 100 years, with the moderate climate and abundance of mature trees providing an excellent yield. He then invited each of the producers to introduce themselves and speak about their operations. Dean Foster currently operates Fosterholm sugarbush, taking over from his father, Clifford, who at age 92 is a fount of knowledge about maple sugaring. Dean is assisted—he would say pushed—by his son Rylan, who has implemented new ideas that have boosted production over the past few years. Sue Vader spoke next, saying that they had been making syrup since February 13 this year, and that it was very good quality. As in previous years, Vader’s will be offering maple taffy and maple kettle corn.

“We’re really looking forward to getting outside and connecting with people again,” she said. The Roblin sugarbush will offer their delicious maple pulled pork as well as maple butter on an English muffin. LOHA Farms is a little smaller operation than the others, and they will be offering a pancake breakfast, with part of the proceeds going to Back the Build. County firefighters will also have some of their equipment set up at the farm. The Masonic Lodge will resume the tradition started 45 years ago of providing a pancake breakfast at Hubbs sugarbush. There will also be horse-drawn wagon rides and a lumberjack display

Also present at the kickoff were representatives from the federal, provincial and municipal governments. MP Ryan Williams congratulated the organizers of the “sweetest” festival, and said it helped to encourage tourism during a quiet season.

“This festival is certainly one of the best in Canada and it supports farming and agriculture, which is the heart of the County. It is a true family festival. This is one of the most environmentally friendly industries in all of Canada, better than net-zero for carbon. It is incredibly sustainable,” he said. Adam Bramburger was there to represent MPP Todd Smith, and said that Maple in the County has always been a very special festival to him, giving him a sense of comfort and community. “Ron Hubbs will tell you that the maple syrup is the star, but I really think it’s the people who are here, who share their tradition with us year after year, and who make this a special thing that we have,” he said. Mayor Steve Ferguson spoke next, noting the cancellation of the 2020 festival, and how important this event is to the economy of Prince Edward County. “I am delighted that three years later we are back. This is very important to our businesses, it is very important to our families, and to our community, because it brings people together,” he said. Newly elected Athol councillor Sam Branderhorst was also there. She thanked the producers for all their hard work in harvesting the first agricultural crop of the year, and she offered a personal reason why this time of year is so important to her. “The maple season is really special. For me, it was a way I was able to connect with my grandfather, when I was going out in the sugarbush and being able to bond with an individual that wasn’t especially chatty. It was a time that I would hear about the tapping of the trees, looking at the sap in the buckets and getting to bond [with him]. So now I have those special memories forever in my heart,” she said.

Following the introductions, everyone gathered outside for a symbolic tapping of a maple tree. With the assistance of Steve Needham, president of the Quinte Local of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association, and Dean Foster, MP Ryan Williams hammered in the first spile, after which one of his children attached the sap bucket. While the other participants went back to the sugarhouse for a maple-inspired lunch, Rylan Foster described some of the changes that have been made at Fosterholm to increase yields. The sugarbush is on fairly flat land, and a network of tubes operates under vacuum to draw sap from the trees into storage tanks. Rylan rejigged the network using shorter lines to ensure the flow of sap remains continuous. With this new arrangement, he anticipates getting two litres of maple syrup from each tap by the end of the season. Mother Nature has offered a helping hand by providing a high sugar content in the sap. “Most of that is from the summer you have the year before. It wasn’t an overly hot summer and we had a lot of sunlight, and that produces sugar in the trees. We had a decent amount of water, and the trees kept it in the ground,” said Rylan. The cooler temperatures over the past few weeks also meant most of the syrup produced so far is “golden”, the ideal type needed for making maple sugar. The colour and flavour of the resulting syrup is dependent on the activity of microbes in the sap. As the outdoor temperature increases, the microbes in the sap become more active, leading to syrup that is classified as amber or dark. Rylan said that typically golden syrup is produced for only a few days before the production becomes amber and then dark towards the end of the season. The microbes, of course, do not survive the high temperatures needed to actually make syrup; they just have an effect on the sap.

Maple in the County takes place on Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26. For more information, please visit mapleinthecounty.ca.