Michaels Maple Syrup

3/27/2025 0 Comments

All set and ready to go (March 23, 2025)

March 23,2025

Greetings my fellow sap lovers!

We are just past the ides of March and the trees here have finally woken up! This past Wednesday at about 4:45 pm, I was out in the bush trying to correct some inefficiencies in the tubing and adding a few more trees/taps drilled into the main line and hit a gusher. You can believe I was pretty quick to get a manifold in place, and get the lateral line attached. The daytime temperature was reaching for the double digits, so I had to work quick.
We haven’t collected enough sap to fire up the evaporator yet, but with the freezing nights and some sunshine during the day boiling is imminent.

Mrs. Maple was out to help tap several of the areas and Mrs. Maple mama came out to help clean and organize the sugar house. Both have been a huge help this year. The dogs of course want to be part of every aspect of the operation and have excelled at removing unwanted deer from the back 40. Both are a little slower this weekend as little dude had surgery and is currently sporting the dreaded cone of shame, and Farley is keeping a slower pace for his benefit (and mine quite frankly as little dude needs to be on a leash.

While working line maintenance this week I heard a twig break nearby, looking around I discovered one of our neighbors (the two legged kind) checking out the pipeline and giving me his order for the year. Talk about a loyal customer!

The weather over the next week is looking on the colder side with a few inches of snow expected here and there. But rest assured, syrup is on the way!

How Sweet it is!
Michael

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3/27/2025 0 Comments

Back in the Saddle (March 6, 2025)

March 6, 2025

Good morning my fellow mapleites!

Yes, it is 5:30 in the morning and time to put fingers to keyboard and let you know what is going on. The good news is the sap here hasn’t really started to flow. We have had some warmer temperatures the last couple of days and I am back in the bush getting some work done. I had to take off a few days for some family matters, but back in the saddle. I was out yesterday and dug out about 60 feet of the original mainline that had been taken down by some dead tree falls. Thankfully the line is fine, and I will head back out again after breakfast and get the line restored to the proper slope.

The weather network says we are about to head into another freeze up, which helps me as I can get the rest of the existing taps into trees. Then follow up with the addition of the new trees. The dogs and I did a tour of the mainline extension when I first got back, you know, just to check on any damage from deer or moose. There were fewer deer tracks, and no sign of the moose around. I have noted a few trees that have been damaged by the moose, so they will be harvested and go towards maple syrup. Jennifer does tease me about running a maple sweat shop, as I encourage the trees “produce or perish.” I do say that tongue in cheek as my spring pep talk.

But the line produce or perish does lead us into property stewardship and just how we are managing the property for ourselves and the next generation. I hate to admit it, but I am just in the past two years starting to look at out forest management plan, and how we look for sustainable growth. It is an ongoing process, and one that is a new learning curve. A previous owner here cut out a significant generation of maple trees. We are now (almost 35 years later) starting to see the growth of the next generation. Typically, in our neck of the woods a maple tree can be over 40 years old before it is large enough to tap. We are dealing with lots of bedrock, shallow soil depths and long cold winters. The length of winters does often add to the length of the season for us. But all factors that we take into account as we develop and grow Michael’s Maple.

How Sweet it is!
Michael

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2/27/2025 0 Comments

Maple Cheesecake - for Breakfast!?!?

Are you ready?

Its in the air. I can smell it. The spring birds are visiting the feeder and thanking us in song. The sun is becoming stronger, and the groundhog has left for Arizona. We are well on our way to preparing for March Maple Madness. The air around here is abuzz with activity in the woods, in the shop, and certainly in the sugar house.

Maple wife was feeling creative and far be it for me to put a damper on her enthusiasm. I am just that kind of a giving husband. Last month I bought a small springform pan, which really needed to be christened. What better way to christen a springform pan then to bake a maple cheesecake?

Surprise, Cheesecake for breakfast!

Now to be honest, I do not typically recommend cheesecake for breakfast, but a well-rounded breakfast does typically include Michael’s Maple. Maple coffee, maple oatmeal, French toast slathered in maple, maple candied turkey bacon. Well, you get the idea. In a couple of hours we will talk about lunch options. And don’t even get me started on supper yet...

Thank you Jennifer for the season kick off!

How Sweet it is!
Michael

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2/20/2025 0 Comments

Feb 20, 2025 - Maple Expansion Underway

Good morning all you wonderful maplelites!

Time for a quick update from the maple prepper. Spring training is in full force, and we are making progress. We have rolled out one more roll of mainline and will still need to add to that to reach the goal. That should be completed by tomorrow. As well, I will start the side tying to keep a good appropriate slope on the pipeline. Then begin running out the lateral lines to the trees. I have already been preparing the drop lines and spiles so as we begin tapping, everything falls right into place.

We have had an abundance of deer checking out all of the trails and paths we have stomped down and causing concern amongst the K-9 trail patrol. However, in the last week we have had several significant snowfalls, and deep cold move in. The trails are good and tight, and I have run the ATV over them enough that we have a good base. I will be out there this afternoon, on snowshoes, as once off the main trails the snow depth is above my knees.

I am excited about the mainline extension and the additional taps we will be able to utilize. A big thank you to Maple Wife for taking time off from school to help run out the support wire and tubing. She has also kept me well fed.

Currently we are looking at our first tapping next week, starting on the 25th of February. I don’t expect anything to start running but we will be ready.

I will keep you in the loop!

How sweet it is!
Michael

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1/26/2025 1 Comment

New Year 2025 - January Update

Happy New Year!

Yes, it is almost the end of January, but we wish all of you a fantastic 2025. I apologize for the lack of postings over the past year, but some health challenges interrupted some of my routines. Things have improved significantly, and we are back at it.

2024 was an amazing sugar season for us. We made more syrup than we have ever made before, and we were essentially sold out again by June. We had the opportunity to provide wedding favors for some friends and participated in the provincial conference and tour in July. Along with 9 other local producers from our district we hosted over 250 maple producers from across the province, and I am optimistic for the maple industry in Ontario.

Part of our growth last year was installing a transfer pump in the pump house to move collected sap up to the sugar house via a pipeline eliminating the need for one of us (typically Jennifer) to collect and bring up 100 litres at a time. Thank you, James. Overall, this reduced approximately 4 hours of labour per day! Control for both the vacuum pump and the transfer pump is maintained by a Mountain Maple controller and includes sensors on the tank that automatically kick in to transfer sap up to the sugar house. Woo Hoo!

We also had a new addition to the trail team, please welcome Oliver the boxer. Farley is teaching him the ropes the rules, and just how to keep the deer off the trails. More on that as we get into 2025.

What are we up to this year? The objective is expansion. Indeed, we looked at adding taps last year, but I didn’t get it done. Now on with the show. In November we began the expansion project, taking out spruce trees, diseased trees and preparing the route for running the mainline extension. Don’t worry, the trees that are taken out are used for firewood, with the brush piled up and left to decompose in the bush, providing a beneficial contribution to the ecosystem. Thank you, David and Dick, for the help in getting through the woods. As of the end of January the pipeline route is just about complete, and ready for the support wire to be installed, followed by the mainline. Next week we will begin hanging the lateral lines to the trees.

Farley and Oliver have been a big help as we prepare for this season, and we walk the lines almost every day. This is a good thing as we discovered a couple of trees that had fallen over on the original mainline, and several of the lateral lines that had been broken by deer running through them. This is the first year we have had deer issues, but the team tells me they are on top of it. I believe them, as they went out last night and ran the trails in the dark making sure the juvenile delinquent deer left the area.

With the help of my incredible wife, I promise to keep on top of the blogs this year!

How sweet it is! (Thanks J.G.)
Michael

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2/22/2024 0 Comments

2024 Season Tapping has begun!

We have had a very interested winter. In fact, we didn't experience true northern winter weather until this past month. The snow levels have been significantly lower than normal and the temperatures have been above normal many more days than not. As a result, we were able to get into the bush nearly a month sooner than normal. A few drops were recorded when Jennifer did our first tapping a couple weeks ago on February 6th (earliest tapping here ever!), but the trees are slow to wake up as we went into a deep freeze again just after that, so we haven't been collecting anything yet.

In other news, we welcomed a new boxer pup to the family this past winter. His name is Oliver and he has much to learn. Trail boss Farley has been showing him around the bush and getting to know his way around the sugar house.

In the next few weeks, stay tuned for Maple updates and a short video update of all the Sugar House post-fire repairs! Thanks to many generous donations, we were able to complete most of these last fall.

Happy mapleing!

Michael & Jennifer

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5/10/2023 0 Comments

Orders Ready! - Season Wrap-up - May 2023

Good morning!

How did the season wrap up? We did ok.
Interesting this year as all our lines were on vacuum with the exception of one line of 10 taps, which were gravity fed to a barrel. The gravity line didn’t produce enough sap for 1 litre of syrup. The vacuum lines at least kept us average. So we have been able to fulfill all of our orders.

We are now 5 weeks post fire and wrapping the season up. Syrup has all been bottled, and deliveries are still going out with most people having picked up their orders already, and a few to be shipped out today. Thank you everyone for your orders!

We ran a fundraiser last week to help us rebuild the sugar house and had some amazing participation. As we finish cleaning up the equipment for the year, we will also be cleaning out the sugar house in preparation for the rebuild.
The project will commence with putting plywood over the evaporator to protect it, replacing any and all melted electrical wire so that we may re-establish electrical to the building. Then removing all charred and compromised wood and steel. Replacing them with new materials. Rebuilding the cupola and facing with steel sheeting. A spark arrestor will be added to the chimney.

There are a few improvements to the operation that we are intending to complete this summer, along with an expansion of the vacuum lines, and a transfer pump in the pump house to move sap up to the sugar house automatically.

I will post here as we complete some of the projects and add video updates to the YouTube channel as well.

Happy mapleing!

Sincerely,
Michael & Jennifer

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5/2/2023 1 Comment

Smoke Infused Maple Bacon Wrapped Appetizers

Welcome Back!
We are not reinventing the wheel in this post. In fact, we are sharing an amazing recipe by American Chef Andrew Gruel.
To put our twist on it, we are upgrading the Maple Syrup to "Michael's Smoke Infused Maple Syrup".

Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Maple Butter
6 clices of bacon (center cut) par-cooked in an oven for 10 minutes at 350F
6 dry jumbo sea scallops
avocado oil, salt, fresh cracked pepper (save until end)

For the glaze:
1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
4 tablespoons butter
1 lemon juiced and zested

For complete instructions
Visit: Andrew Gruel

Turkey Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts with Maple Syrup

1 package turkey bacon
2 cans water chestnuts
Michael's Smoke Infused Maple Syrup

Wrap bacon slices (whole or half as needed) around each water chestnut. Hold in place with a toothpick.
Place in baking dish and Bake @ 350F for 25-30 minutes until bacon is cooked.
Remove from over, brush with Maple Syrup. Return to the oven for another 10min or until maple bubbles and becomes sticky! Remove from oven and Enjoy.
But be careful - they're hot!

Happy Mapleing,
Michael

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5/1/2023 0 Comments

Roasted Beet Salad with Smoke Infused Maple Vinaigrette

photo credit: Karen Rankin Eating Well

Looking for a new twist on an old favorite this summer?
Check out this fabulous salad that works great as a side dish or as a luncheon meal.

Roasted Beet Salad with a Twist!
Roasted garden beets, sliced
Arugula or Spinach
Layer with Local goat cheese
Chopped walnuts
Topped with broccoli sprouts
Drizzle with Michael's Smoke Infused Maple Vinaigrette

Smoke Infused Maple Vinaigrette
2 tbsp. Michael's Smoke Infused Maple Syrup
2 tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Add to mason jar. Shake well. Pour over salad and Enjoy!

Happy Mapleing,
Michael

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4/30/2023 0 Comments

Fire Fundraiser Online Silent Auction May 1-5, 2023

Good morning!

I was supposed to post this last night, but was so involved in bottling syrup that I didn’t get to it. We
have announced the silent auction, https://www.michaelsmaple.ca/syrup-silent-auction.html

Beginning May 1 you have the opportunity to bid on one of 10 Limited edition Michael’s Maple smoke
infused maple syrup. The auction runs through Friday May 5th and we will be updating the top 10 bid list
daily. So, as an added bonus, we are sharing 5 days of Smokey Maple recipes! We would also love to hear what recipes you enjoy making with your Maple Syrup! A shout out to my sister Miriam for helping kick off the recipe challenge with a drink suggestion.

Michael’s Smoky Maple Mezcal Cocktail
2 parts mezcal
1 part Michael’s smoke infused maple syrup
Orange slice
Egg white foam
Garnished with a sprig of rosemary.

Let us know what you think!

Photo Credit: Saveur

Jennifer has now perfected the Smoke infused Maple and we will be trying more recipes this week!

I will also be posting a recipe for another main dish, a salad, and what meal would be complete without
a desert? Jump on the wagon and share your ideas! I am looking forward to hearing all the ways you
use maple!

Happy mapleing!

Sincerely,
Michael & Jennifer

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YOUR CART

All set and ready to go (March 23, 2025)

Back in the Saddle (March 6, 2025)

Maple Cheesecake - for Breakfast!?!?

Feb 20, 2025 - Maple Expansion Underway

New Year 2025 - January Update

2024 Season Tapping has begun!

Orders Ready! - Season Wrap-up - May 2023

Smoke Infused Maple Bacon Wrapped Appetizers

Roasted Beet Salad with Smoke Infused Maple Vinaigrette

Fire Fundraiser Online Silent Auction May 1-5, 2023

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