Duffy's Lane Maple
by
Jen and Brent Roberts
15271 Duffy's Lane, Caledon, Ontario
905-880-7876

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Link to the My Pick web site
Maple Syrup, brown eggs from free run chickens,
At Duffy's Lane, Caledon, Ontario..
jug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml sizejug of Duffys Lane Maple Syrup 500 ml size
December / 11
It wasn't planned this way but .......
We burn almost no fossil fuels in the house. Woodstove
We burn no fossil fuels making syrup. All firewood
and now we have a Nissan Leaf 100% electric car.
So someone better tell us were to find an offical "treehugger" T-shirt.

Oct 8/11
We have done our last table at the Caledon Farmer's Market until next year. We
want to keep some syrup for the customers who come to our home between now and next season's sap run.

We have picked up an antique cast iron kettle that we hope to set up on a tripod to boil on beside the sugar shack ... like they did in the old days. This should make us some nice dark syrup.

Sept 23
We are running out of some sizes of bottles. 2L and 4L sizes will be available in March 2012 if the gods co-operate.

August Update:
We still have a good supply of bottled syrup available on our front porch.
We are also participating in the Caledon Farmer's Market most Thursday afternoons.
On Sundays we have a table at the Hockley Valley Resort.
Sunday April 10
Well it's over for the 2011 season. It was our best year yet. It was a pleasure meeting folks from near and far. We had visitors from as far away as Namibiya and the Philipines this year who hiked out to the bush to see a unique Canadian tradition.

We have a good supply of the best tasting syrup, ( in my opinion anyway ) that we have made yet.

WE HAVE MAPLE CREAM /  BUTTER

We got the new machine running and have several 250 and 500 G (1/2 and 1lb) tubs ready to go !!!

We got our annual visit from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture in early April who took samples away for testing.

See below or click here to see pictures of the progress rebuilding the evaporator.


.
Dominion and Grimm maple cream - maple butter machine
Our new maple cream machine
The coke can is shown for perspective.
To make the cream we boil normal syrup down removing more than 1/3 more of
the water then pour it into the funnel on top of this machine and start it up.
The syrup goes through the internal blender and recycles up the tube and back
into the funnel until crystalization starts.
Then the valve is openned and the maple cream (aka maple butter ) fills the tubs.
The tub shown in the picture is a 1 lb / 1/2kg tub.

Our New Evaporator
Here is a picture of the previous owner drawing syrup from the
evaporator in their Vermont sugar shack.
Making maple syrup
This is Lee and his son preparing to start boiling.

firing the maple syrup evaporator
Here is Lee's father and brother firing (adding wood) to the evaporator.
Three generation of sugar makers in their family.

Too far to drive to our farm? We have some syrup and butter
available at my day job near Dixie Rd and 401 click here for a map to
HH Roberts Machinery .
Visitors

Visitors are welcome but we must emphasize that we have a very small sugar shack.  Only enough room for 4 or 5 people inside at a time.   We have no sugarbushing features like hay rides to the bush or pancakes.   Just Jen and I doning it all.   If you would like to come and see how it's done, we'll be happy to chat and answer questions, share a cup of coffee.  If you would like to hike back to the bush to see the traditional buckets on the trees, we'll go back with you and you can taste the "before" version fresh out of the trees.   We can also show the new bags that coming into use.  They're better at keeping the rain and debris out of the sap.   We have also installed about 3-1/2 Km of tubing connecting the trees, and have a vacuum system running on that. The big commercial producers all use vacuum these days.
We do not charge visitors any "admission". 

If you have larger groups or a classroom of kids, we suggest you search out sites like the Kortright Centre or Black Creek Pioneer Village..

A few months after we moved to the Caledon Hills, we were coming home from Barrie and passed a little county general store with a sign out " Maple Syrup Buckets". We did a U turn and picked up 12 buckets. That was the beginning of our addiction. By the end of the first season we had nearly 50 buckets.  Our friends that we shared the syrup with raved about it, so we decided to get a small evaporator and move out of the kitchen to the porch. It just kept growing from there. 

Visitors are welcomed just about any time.  We sell syrup and maple cream on the front porch.  .Wen the sap starts to flow you're invited to visit the sugar shack and hike to the sugar bush if you like..  Normally the season is from about March 21 to April 15 but it is totally weather dependent.   We will post notices here when we are starting to make syrup.  Watch for nights when we get a freeze followed by an above freezing day.  That's when we get the best sap runs.  Remember we're north of Toronto and it's almost always a few degrees cooler up here.

On a normal day we start collecting sap from the buckets around noon and start boiling a little later.  When the flow hits peak we often need to boil from 7:00 AM till midnight. 

We will have syrup for sale in sizes from  50ml to 4L. You can see the bottle options here.  If you would like to reserve some, or come up to visit, please give us a call at   905 - 880 - 7876

We can ship also ship if you can't come by.  

To find us on Google maps click here.  You can then click on the Satellite view and zoom in to see the long driveway and the sugar shack to the right of the house, just above the pool.  


To get here:  see our maps page (with satellite view)
To get here from the city come up 427 to the end,
Take Hwy 7 west about 2 Km to the first stoplight, which is Hwy 50.
Come north on Hwy 50 right through Bolton to Castlederg Side Road (stoplight) and turn left (west) to Duffy's Lane Come north about 1/2 Km to 15271.

The Duffys Lane Maple Sugar Shack
 Here's the Duffy's Lane Maple Sugar Shack with steam coming from the stacks.  The hay wagon on the left has the firewood (enough for the season we hope)
Kubota-RTV1100 and Gator maple sap haulers These are our sap haulers.  The Gator hauls in 70 galllons per trip.  The Kubota has a pair of 50 gallon tanks in the back and 35 gallons on the front, for a load of just under 1000 lbs / 450 Kg of sap per trip.

One days with a big sap run we bring in over 1500 gallons / 6000 litres of sap per day.
collecting maple sap from the buckets in the woods
 My wife collecting maple sap early in the season with snow still on the ground.  The best syrup comes from the early run.  The collection jug can be seen just beyond our dog. While the snow is on the ground these have to be carried to a snowmobile for transfer to the Sugar Shack by the house.
the sugar shack is to the right of the house
The Sugar Shack is the small building near the right edge of this picture. 
This is a view of our home taken from the road.  A small pond is under the trees in the foreground.  The stand of maples and beech trees can be seen behind the house.
Maple syrup buckets in the forest
 There are about 25 buckets on trees in this picture.  Firewood for the boiler in the foreground.  Snow is just about all gone but ice is still on the pond.  Life is a little easier now because the Gator can get back to the woods. This year we tapped 54 trees. In 2006 we tapped about 80 trees.  Now looking for a bigger evaporator.  Neighbours are offering to let us tap their trees.  ( I think some kind of exchange is expected in the offer )   In 08' we might get up to 200 taps.
Bottles of maple syrup in our kitchen
 And after all the hours of cutting wood, spitting it, drying a year before you need it, tapping the trees, collecting sap, and boiling sap you still need to bring it inside to the stove to finish it to exactly the right density.  Too much boiling and the sugar comes out as rock hard large crystal.  Too little and it just isn't legal maple syrup.
A view of the Maple forest
 The maple bush seen from the back deck of the house mid winter.

our stand selling maple syrup at the Bolton Farmer's market

Jen talking with visitors to the Caledon Farmer's Market. in Bolton.
This summer, 2010, it runs from 3 to 8 PM on Thursdays.

We will be there again on July 29,. 2010 and some dates after that, which we will post here.

For details on the Farmer's Market, click here

the chicken coup and some of the bee hives
 The beehives in their temporary home beside the chicken container.    When they are at full mid summer strength there are nearly 1/2 million bees living there.


The roof on the 'dome' was destroyed in the big wind storm Feb 18.  WInds hit 105 kph.  Just short of hurricane strength.


Our new evaporator for Spring 2011
Making Syrup
Syrup and Maple cream for sale
Honey, hay and eggs
Maps
Crops
Merlin RO system