Duffy's Lane Maple by Jen and Brent Roberts 15271 Duffy's Lane, Caledon, Ontario 905-880-7876 |
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Maple Syrup, brown eggs from free run chickens,
At Duffy's Lane, Caledon, Ontario.. |
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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 .
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| 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. |
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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) |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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The maple bush seen from the back deck of the house mid winter. |
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Jen talking with visitors to the Caledon Farmer's Market.
in Bolton. |
New Equipment for the 2012 season: Sap Sterilizer
This year we added yet another piece of equipment to help us do a better job in our out of control hobby. We have added an Ultra Violet Sterilizer called a Sap Steady. When we bring the sap in from the woods, we pass it through a filter and then through this device. It effectively kills off the microbes and yeasts that are present in the sap that would normally start feasting on the sugars that we need to make the syrup. This preserves the sugars and extends the 'shelf life' of the sap giving a little better yield and a little more flexibility in processing schedule... and hopefully a few less nights boiling until 3:00 AM or thereabouts. This is made by a suppler to the apple cider industry where the device is used to kill the yeasts that would make cider turn alcoholic. ![]() The stainless steel canister is about 8" in diameter x 30" high (20cm x 75cm) and has 6 high intensity UV bulbs inside. The other box houses the power supply for the bulbs. |
![]() 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 for Spring 2011 |
| Making Syrup |
| Syrup and Maple cream for sale |
| Honey, hay and eggs |
| Maps |
| Crops |