Running of the Maples

Gearing up for a big weekend

After a long winter it is a bright light for most to know that the first big spring event is on its way. Maple in the County has now become the entry date for visitors and tourists coming to the County. It was once considered that the floodgates opened on tourist season in May. Not the case anymore, and with the shoulder seasons continuing to expand, it won’t be long before the County is a yearround destination, not just seasonal. This weekend there are 12 sugarbushes hosting activities, along with a multitude of wineries and restaurants doing maplethemed menu items and drinks. Highlights around the County this weekend include a variety of pancake breakfasts, petting zoos, lumberjack shows, barbecues and more.

Off the beaten path are two maple producers that are worth a visit if you are looking for an authentic sugar shack experience. The first is Sweetwater Cabin, formerly Hubb’s Sugarbush, run by Ron and Janice Hubbs. Ron is a fourth-generation mapletapper and his sugarshack contains many interesting artifacts from the family’s history in making maple syrup.

Ron and Janice have been making syrup here since 1975, but trees have been tapped on this farm since his great-great grandfather started roughly a century ago. This year, Hubbs says the season was late getting started by a whole month, but it’s rolling now. The ideal conditions for maple to run are warm days followed by cold nights. The fluctuation they are looking for is from minus five at night, to plus five in the daytime, which they have been getting recently, so now it’s a matter of preparing for the weekend.

Ron Hubbs examines a sample of this seasons syrup for grading.

“It’s been slow to get going, but we’ve got some good runs and we’re happy with what we are seeing. On a nice sunny day like today, it’ll be running later this afternoon. We are taking the opportunity right now to get some syrup into bottles for this weekend. Our whole season is spent gearing up for this weekend,” says Hubbs.

For over four decades, Masonic Lake Lodge #215 has celebrated the coming of spring with their pancake and sausage breakfast on the property. There will also be wagon rides and a lumberjack demonstration throughout the weekend. Sweetwater Cabin has about 850 taps and around 10 kilometres of line. Hubb’s says that the biggest problem so far this season has been the coyotes chewing on the lines and goes so far as to call them a spring curse. Over at the log house, Janice, her niece and great nephew are busy getting maple candy packaged up and ready for the big weekend. Three generations helping to continue the family tradition.

Just down the road and and around the bend on Loyalist Parkway is Strictly Maple. Justin VanNiejenhuis and his business partner Josh Feddema have been in the syrup business since 2012, but that doesn’t mean they are lacking knowledge. The two started in Orono, Ontario and ran a sugarbush there before making the move and buying the property in the County. Their passion and pride in their product are what’s making people take notice of their maple syrup.

Unfortunately, earlier in the week they were having issues with their boiler, but everything has since been resolved and so it’s back to full speed getting ready for the weekend. Like Sweetwater Cabin, the season also started late for Strictly Maple, so now it’s a race against the clock for the pair—who run the entire operation themselves—to prepare for the weekend. They predominantly sell one-litre and 500ml bottles and are starting to stockpile for onslaught of maplelovers looking for their product.

There is also a pancake breakfast at Strictly Maple hosted by the Consecon Masonic Lodge. But Feddema says that people come to see their big boiler.

“People see us as the real sugarbush experience. People come to check out our large evaporator. It’s got a real wow factor when people see it, and we will be boiling on low all day so people can smell the maple in the steam. You can also feel free to walk the property,” says Feddema.

There are 650 taps on the property and they also own two sugarbushes that they have yet to tap. But Feddema and VanNiejenhuis want to start slow and make sure they build their company the right way and not get too far ahead of themselves.

Maple In the County runs Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31. Visit mapleinthecounty.ca, or pages 11-14 in this week’s edition for a user-friendly map and details on each location. There will also be free public skating throughout the weekend at both the Picton and Wellington arenas as well as a free family movie on Sunday at the Regent Theatre at 2 p.m.