The Maplewood Farm

http://www.christmastreeproducers.com/presidents.html

PRESENT & PAST PRESIDENTS

http://novascotia.ca/natr/education/woodlot/modules/Introduction/less4.asp

Rex Veinot, Lunenburg County

(902)644-3358

Rex and his family integrate Christmas tree production, sugar maple management, farming, public tours, hunting, and fishing on the woodlot. He constantly tries to improve the woodlot for wildlife, recreation, and income. Rex is the fourth generation to manage the woodlot and has his children involved in the activities as well.

After winning the 1995 Nova Scotia Woodlot Owner of the Year Award, Rex was featured on the cover of the Harrowsmith magazine. The magazine took an in depth look at how Rex and his family manage their property.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/More+Shows/Land+and+Sea/ID/2427748680/

A need to watch video to understand the christmas tree industry.

     Congratulations to Ted Venedan, Ellisa Murray and Elizabeth Barrett the three winners of the Christmas Baskets this year packed full of lots of our great 100% pure maple syrup products as well as other sweet treats.

     Congratulations to Bess Strappas, Kyle Conrad and Nevin Doncaster each winners of
a 25 ft roll of hand made rope garland and absent Lesley Bethone winner of a beautiful 36 Candy Cane wreath.

     Thanks for all the support this year! Look forward to seeing everyone next year!

https://twitter.com/cbclandandsea/status/410772506447183872" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/cbclandandsea/status/410772506447183872

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/736588-christmas-tree-sales-toppled

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/269152-cheap-us-christmas-trees-depress-sales-of-ns-balsam

     We have been serving the Halifax Area for 18 years with quality Christmas Tree and Maple Syrup Products. We are once again located in the parking lot of the Joseph Howe Atlantic Superstore. We have Christmas Trees available in all shapes and sizes with a 6 foot tree starting at $20.00. We also have wreaths, garland, and brush (fir, pine, & cedar). We do deliveries within most of the HRM area. We are a family owned and operated business located in Lunenburg County the Balsam Fir Christmas Tree Capital of the World! Our farm has been awarded Nova Scotia Woodlot owner of the year in 1996 and 2009. Growing the very best just for you!

     Our Retail Christmas tree lot is a participant in the newly formed Christmas Tree Retail Code of Practice. This insures that you are getting the best customer service you deserve and most of all a fresh, properly cared for tree from a local farm! We want every family to experience what real trees can be... fresh, fragrant, long-lasting and a benefit to the environment!

     Come to our retail Christmas tree lot for a traditional, good old fashion Christmas experience!

http/queensincanada.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/maplewood-farm-nova-scotia/

Maplewood Farm, Nova Scotia

I had too much to say in my last post about the maple syrup farm.

What a great place Maplewood Farm is and what a welcoming family Rex Veinot, his wife and son are. It seemed appropriate that Rex’s name meant ‘king’ while our name  is ‘Queen’, but we didn’t know that his son’s name Ryan, meant ‘little king’.

Visitors are shown around the sugar shed and everything is explained and demonstrated.

Not only does the family run this maple syrup business, they also have a Christmas tree farm and take great pride in managing the woodland. As you can see they won the 2009 award .

Everyone is welcome to walk the trails through the forest and enjoy it – at any time of the year. It gives you a good feeling to find someone who does not put up ‘Private’ and ‘Keep out’ signs. There are Christmas trees of all sizes, from tiny to huge.

Although the deciduous trees were not in leaf yet we saw some interesting birch trees, with beautiful bark. I think this might be the yellow birch.

Rex even told us about a cabin they have in the wood where we could stay if we wanted.

It’s rustic, but cosy.

This was a really great place to visit and I hope that Rex Veinot and his family have lots of visitors.

Maple Syrup

Today we visited a Maple Syrup Farm here in Nova Scotia. This was a new experience for us, as we knew very little about the processes.

Freezing nights and warm days are needed to induce the sap to flow in the maple tree.

Traditionally,  a maple tree was tapped through the bark  then the sap was collected in a bucket.

In larger scale production, this method  has been superseded by continuous plastic pipelines.

Some trees have more than one tap.

All these blue lines, join into a wider black line and send the sap down to a tank in a shed.

I was surprised to see that the sap is clear like water.

A tanker then takes the sap to the sugar house.

Where it is boiled up in an evaporator till it reaches the correct density.

This evaporator was heated by wood.

Here the temperature is reaching 104 C.

Some of the syrup is made into fudge.

And of course made into maple leaf shapes.

The maple syrup is bottled and stacked on the shelves.

We sampled the wonderful fudge and came home with some maple syrup and maple butter.

This was a great day out and  a place we will definitely visit again.

This isn’t a great video, but it shows the evaporator at work. I’ll have to try harder with future videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQsfsYZqybs