Maplesyrupharvest - Most canadian experience

A new chapter is opened, the work on the maple syrup harvest, which was once a small dream, is now coming true.

When I arrived at Toronto airport on March 7th, the parents of "farm mom" Valerie picked me up and we drove leisurely to the country. Tired from the big city and the flight, my enthusiasm only grew.

The Blyth Creek Maple Farm is located in Ontario on Blyth Creek and has been in family hands for three generations.

In Ontario, there are also Amish and Menonites, some of whom still move around with horse and cart, and the signs on the streets clearly indicate this.

In addition, the public school here is not only the state school but also the Catholic schools are considered state schools.

Religion is held in high regard here, and so praying every day before dinner is a little strange, but as a gesture of gratitude for the food, it's not entirely wrong. I also got to know various missionaries.

On the first day I was busy arriving and sleeping and then I was so excited that I wanted to go straight into the bush (yes, it is actually a forest, but it is simply called “bush” here).

From the next day onwards, things got busy, I painted a sign, made a fire (sometimes more successfully, sometimes less successfully)

The first party was about to begin and after a hearty meal we sweetened the evening with axe throwing.

Then on the weekend, the first thing to do was to prepare the shop - so we had to prepare maple syrup, maple syrup butter, maple syrup popcorn, maple syrup fudge, various homemade dressings and sauces, maple candy, maple granola, maple sugar, maple coffee, maple tea, candles, quilts, books and all the delicacies - like pancakes, sausages, maple syrup beans (and yes, the last three ingredients make up a dish of their own), apple fritters and maple syrup tarts and of course the maple syrup milkshakes.

In the evening we went straight on to eat at White Squirrel – the kitchen on the golf course had won a prize for creating a cheesecake with syrup from the farm, which impressed the jury at the MapleMania test meal.

Surprise of the evening – there was live music with the meal.

But now for the hard facts about maple syrup harvesting. You can learn them on the farm tour through the bush. Steve takes you on a journey through the bush where his grandfather harvested maple sap - more in the old school style with drilled trees and a bucket underneath.

Now the question is, of course, how deep is such a hole? 1 to 2 inches and the number of taps in the tree depends on the diameter of the tree. Generally, however, the taps are found on the south side. 700 to 1000 liters of water flows out of a tap per season, or more accurately, in modern times it is drawn out using a vacuum.

The collected juice is transported to the "shed". There it is cleaned, reverse osmosis and finally vaporized, and then syrup comes out. The clear liquid is boiled down to a thick golden, amber, dark or extra dark syrup. Before bottling, the syrup is pressed through a membrane pressure system and thus cleaned. Be careful not to exceed the bottling temperature of 200°, otherwise everything will boil over. The darker the syrup, the more advanced the season.

My curiosity about what else you can do with the syrup led me to want to make ginger beer myself. Nice idea - but I need more practice. In any case, the golden syrup should be used for this.

Piper, the miniature schnauzer, was always with me and I have taken him to my heart even though I am not a dog person at all. I even gave him a shower after we got really dirty in the mud in the bush.

The farm is open on weekends and during the week school groups of 10 to 90 people come by every day. This means that the evenings on the farm end rather early, as all the hustle and bustle is quite tiring.

But what shouldn't be neglected are games: Crokinole, Pegs and Jokers (funnier than Ludo), Settlers of Catan or even poker or drums.

Another toy on the farm lives in the shed, right next to the indoor hockey field and the lovely, very different chickens, goats and sheep – the two snowmobiles.

Since I've been lugging my ski pants around with me since November and the doctor told me that I don't need to worry about skiing this season, I was hoping for cold days so that I could at least put the pants on again. It was fun - up and down the field, and it was mid-March. I really enjoyed it.

Shoveling snow (like in the old days), eating maple syrup (that's boiled syrup that you spread on snow and then roll into a lollipop) and riding snowmobiles.

Culturally, you can't get away from the series "Anne with an E" in Canada. The story about an orphan is set on Price Edward Island and if you don't like the story, you can always look at the wonderful landscape. A lot of potatoes are grown on the island - that's why it is often called McCain Island.

Another film you definitely need to watch - NYAD - 64-year-old Diane Nyad swims from Cuba to Key West on her third attempt. Limits are only in your head!

In the cycle of life, a farm sheep will eventually have to be slaughtered. So we took four lambs to the slaughterhouse just in time for Easter and I helped load them up and briefly found myself cuddling a calf.

In terms of food, in addition to all the sweet treats, the farm always offers a bowl of pickles. You can't miss them, they can also be fried - the main thing is pickles.

Then came my 35th birthday, which was really sweetened for me. Val prepared a turtle cake, homemade caramel turtles and a really delicious meal. Simply brilliant.

A whole kindergarten group sang for me.

Then came the first super intense cold of the new year

It was quiet on the farm at Easter. A big meal - unusually early for dinner, 3pm is great. Courtney played the piano and I quickly realized that I would definitely be there at her next gig. April 27th in Waterloo - that's definitely on the agenda!

At the beginning of April the time had come – after 2 months of harvest, the bush was cleared up.

Pulling out taps and cleaning lines individually. There were four of us and it took us a good half a day to do it and then we still had to clean! That's a lot of work.

In my opinion, the value of every drop of syrup has increased immensely after the time on the farm.

I am grateful and happy to have met such a great family and to have been able to have so many wonderful experiences in such a short time.