Tour Stops

Sugar Camp Tours

Included in Conference Packages or as Individual Tickets

Sugar Camp Tours - Day 1

Thursday, July 20

Coach buses will be departing the Best Western Inn & Spa in Perth at 8:30 am and returning at 4:30 pm.

Stops include:

Adam's Maple (Map Site B)
Wheelers Pancake House, Sugar House & Museum (Map Site C)
Canis Valley Maple (Map Site D)
Century Maple (Map Site E)

Lunch will be served at the Wheelers Pancake House.

Sugar Bush #1

Adam's Maple

Jeremy and Zoé Adam

Jeremy & Zoé Adam are the 6th generation of owners and operators of Adam's Maple which has grown into a 18,500 tap operation. A new modern sugar house was built in 2013 to replace the 1,000 sq ft camp that was constructed by Jim and Joan Adam (Jeremy’s parents) in 1971. An additional 2,200 sq ft was recently added to the new sugar house bringing the total processing facility to 5,000 sq ft.

There are 14,000 taps that come directly to the sugar camp. The sap from the remaining 4,500 taps is transported from a bush 1 mile away. They also custom boil the sap from an additional 6,500 taps for two producers that are not equipped to boil their own.

They have made their operation manageable and more efficient through the adoption of new technology, specifically their CDL Intelligent RO & Monitoring System which was added to their operation in 2022. They thank CDL for their continuous knowledge and support helping them grow into a successful business.

Sugar Bush #2

Wheelers Pancake House and Sugar Camp and Museums

Vernon, Judy, Mark, Angela, Kristen and Tracy and families

A multi-generational, full-service, organically-certified maple operation!

One of Lanark Counties biggest producers, with over 40,000 taps, 300 kilometres of pipeline on over 1,000 acres in production.

Visit the camp to see two separate boiling rigs (wood pellet and Steam), a maple museum, a chainsaw museum, and a year-round Pancake House. Ask the Wheeler’s how they grew their business from 2,300 taps in 1978 to where they are today. And enjoy their award winning collection of maple history.

We’ll be having lunch here too.

Sugar Bush #3

Canis Valley Maple

Shawn and Erica Racette

The Racettes are new maple producers, having produced their first crop in 2021 from 125 taps. They are a retail operation. They have a new evaporator, pump house and pipeline system. The camp has been developed with future plans for expanding production on their own and neighbouring properties. They also have another woodlot in the in the Bancroft area they plan to put into maple syrup production.

The Racettes represent a growing segment / next-generation of maple production in Ontario

Sugar Bush #4

Century Maple

Delmer and Erwin Paul

An active multi-generational farm and maple business. The Pauls are proud of their maple syrup tradition. Century Maple makes maple syrup on their family farm and have done so for over 100 years!

Syrup is made in the traditional way and with great care to create a quality product. Century Maple has 2400 taps. Sap is collected at three different locations on the farm and then transported to the sugar camp and made into delicious maple syrup using a forced-air CDL wood-fired evaporator, without the use of an RO filtering system.

They have won numerous awards for their syrup and maple products, and were recently crowned as the Grand Champion at the 2023 Perth Festival of the Maples, with the great help of Erwin’s partner, Janet Douglass perfecting the maple butter, candy and granulated sugar.

We plan to discuss all aspects of making syrup in the traditional way at the camp, or tour the sugar bush to see the results of a 1986 downburst which destroyed two acres of mature trees (hint: this area is now being tapped again!)

Sugar Camp Tours - Day 2

Saturday, July 22

Coach buses will be departing the Best Western Inn & Spa at 8:30 am and returning at 4:30 pm.

Stops include:

McEwen Acres (Map Site B)
Golden Moment Farm (Map site C)
Gunnebrooke Farms (Map Site D)
Blair's Maple (Map Site E)

Brown bag lunches will be served on the bus.

Sugar Bush #5

McEwen Acres

Robert McEwen

The McEwens have been making maple products on this property since 1860, when James McEwen immigrated from Ireland to settle and farm here. Since then, there have been at least three different sugar camps on the property.

Robert McEwen is the current operator, and built a brand-new camp in time for the 2020 production season. This state-of-the-art camp features a high efficiency wood-fired evaporator, in-floor heating, staff accommodations, and a back-up electrical generation system.

The operation is Organically-certified and focuses on bulk sales.

Robert often works alone in the bush and the camp, so relies on his remote monitoring system to trouble shoot vacuum leaks and other sap supply issues.

Robert also leads the LDMSPA plastic recycling initiative and looks forward to discussing his approach to the maple business with you.

Sugar Bush #6

Golden Moment Farm

With 5,000 taps the Banfords are the largest maple producers in the United Counties of Leeds-Grenville.

Norma and John launched their maple business in 1998 and have grown it from a few hundred buckets to it’s current level as they developed their markets.

They own 340 acres of second growth forest with a significant sugar maple component.

As mature sugar makers with limited family / friend help available, they have expanded and improved their collection system, sugar house and packing facilities with a view to improving efficiency and reducing labour demands.

The Banfords are active members of OMSPA and have hosted tours, workshops and first tapping events to support the association and assist other producers.

Sugar Bush #7

Gunnebrooke Farms

John and Joyce Gunnewiek, Steven and Emma-Lee Gunnewiek and family

An active multi-generational dairy farm and maple business. The Gunnewieks are milk producers, and produce a variety of field crops including corn, barley, wheat and soybeans. Their focus turns to sugar maple production in the spring time when they have 3,600 taps in production.

They have been actively managing their sugar bush to increase the quantity and health of their maple trees. They heat 2-3 houses and dry some of their crops using the wood produced.

In the camp, they have recently converted from an oil-fired evaporator to a new Chinook wood-fired evaporator (2023 will be the first season for the new rig).

In the bush, they have addressed the challenges of a relatively flat bush, with some reverse slopes using sap ladders, generator-run pumps, and sap trailers to gather sap efficiently and bring it to get processed at the main farm.

They use remote sap / pipeline monitoring technology that is integrated into their milkhouse system so they can keep a watchful eye on all of their crops.

Sugar Bush #8

Blair Brothers Maple

Scott and Stacy Blair and family

The Blairs live on a multi-generational family farm that had untapped potential for maple production.

Scott and Stacy both made syrup when they were children, and wanted to engage their growing family in a healthy outdoor activity and to make more maple memories. They started small, but have grown to 800 taps with more to come.

The sugar bush has not been managed for some time and was even used for pasturing cattle in the recent past. Scott wants to manage the bush to promote healthy sugar maple, while also protecting biodiversity. Stacy has also gained local renown through her own business – The Pie Bar. She uses their own syrup in many of her recipes.

They plan to discuss the challenges of managing a young sugar maple stand, while also establishing a pipeline system on mostly level ground.