Williams Farm

02/23/2025

First day of tapping done!
4 mainlines out of 30 completed. Surprisingly, the 4 feet of snow has settled and we were only sinking in about a foot with our snowshoes on. Much better than the two feet last week!

02/15/2025

Digging out for the syrup season! It’s slow going in the bush.

11/14/2024

An early walk across to the barn this morning to start heating the syrup for bottling today.

07/13/2024

The end of firewood this morning!
I bucked this huge oak log so it will start drying over the summer. It was about 75 years old. I think the spongy moth infestation two years ago weakened and killed it as the caterpillars stripped it bare.
Now the chainsaw and the splitter just need a spa day (maintenance!). Then on to the next job😊

06/13/2024

A little sunset firewood splitting last night. 6 pallets down, 18 to go!
I need to get this done by the end of June so that it is dry enough to use next spring. Most of this wood came from a 4 acre area in our bush where we have removed the old tubing. We are thinning out the poor quality trees and plan to reinstall new tubing this fall and winter.
Always something to do!
Thanks to everyone who dropped by our booth at the in Midland last weekend.😁

06/06/2024

Come visit our booth at the Midland Buttertart Festival this Saturday for some great maple treats like maple candy and maple butter!
We are on King St. Just South of Dominion Ave, in front of BMO

05/26/2024

At to talk maple today!

05/26/2024

Off to Perth, ON today to recycle 400 taps of maple tubing. A group in our association has organized the shipping of two giant container loads to Quebec for processing. We hope this is the start closing the loop on the plastic we use in our bushes.

05/02/2024

Clean up in the bushes is all done now. A beautiful day to be in the bush!
Next the sugar house (barn) needs to be finished. Then we can get back to firewood and building repair for a while!! 😁

04/26/2024

Come and get your maple butter from us at the Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival tomorrow! Oh, yeah and candy, and sugar, and maple syrup!

03/20/2024

A great way to use our maple candies!

03/09/2024

One month until Maple Weekend. We are open 10 to 4!

Saturday, April 6th, 2024 – Sunday, April 7th, 2024 Maple Weekend occurs on the first weekend of April each year. During Maple Weekend, our producers invite the public to demonstrate how their delicious syrup is made. Many producers offer free samples of fresh maple syrup and other sweet confectio...

03/08/2024

Hauling sap tonight and then a little evening RO repair. Valve replaced and ready to go tomorrow.
We are two thirds to our goal with 17,500 L to boil tomorrow!

02/17/2024

Less than two months now! We’ll be ready to welcome you here😁

02/14/2024

Come visit us on Maple Weekend!

Embracing the sweet surprise of an early maple syrup season! 🍁 Mother Nature’s delicious gift arrived ahead of schedule at the following farms and we’re here for every drop of that liquid gold:

🍁 Backwoods Maple Syrup
🍁 Maple Grove Syrup
🍁 Hutchinson Maple Syrup
🍁 Williams Farm
🍁 Maple Heights Farm & more!

To learn more about our maple producers, click here: https://experience.simcoe.ca/things-to-do/on-the-farm/made-in-simcoe-county/

02/11/2024

First Boil!
Everything went smoothly, oh except for the cable on the smoke stack lid that jammed leading to a 9 am climb on to barn roof😬.
We produced enough syrup for a first taste of the 2024 season, delicious!

02/10/2024

First haul of sap tonight! Tomorrow, first boil!

01/22/2024

A beautiful sunrise this morning heralds a return to warmer weather. 😊
While I like the break from the freezing cold, it also marks the beginning of the annual “When do we start tapping?” question. The second picture shows our forecast nearly 2 weeks from now. Pretty classic sap temperatures in early February.
The weather is so crazy now, if we try to catch that sap it would be the earliest we have ever done so, by about 10 days.
The problem is, we get the best sap flow for 6 to 8 weeks after we tap. After that the holes begin to close. Tapping for this (potential) early February flow could jeopardize large flows in our more typical production window of late March and early April.🤔
So, for now, I will push to get ready during this warm spell and keep a close eye on the forecast. If that sap weather stays in the forecast, we may start tapping next week!