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In larger scale production, this method  has been superseded by continuous plastic pipelines.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

http://novascotiatreasures.com/wp2/?p=283

Maplewood Maple Syrup Farm

The Place: Maplewood, Nova Scotia

The Treasure: Maple Syrup

We woke up on the weekend to find Treasure Bear thumping on the door like a zombie and moaning “syyyyrruuup” – I think this was a hint.

We packed up and headed for the beautiful south shore and a place we’ve been visiting for a few years – Maplewood Maple Syrup Farm.

Even though we’d tapped a couple of our own trees this year we were running dangerously low on maple syrup. This qualifies under some emergency measures act I’m sure!

Rex Veinot and family come from a line of maple syrup producers, both his grandfather and father were producers. Their farm has about 3000 taps and a capacity of 5000 or so.

Treasure Bear soaking up the sun before entering the sugar shack:

On this particular day we showed up Rex was packaging some freshly made maple cream. We got to sample some. That’s right. Fresh, literally just made, maple cream. I will now pause to allow jealousy.

Yeah we bought some.

The first thing you see when you enter the sugar shack is the evaporator. This is where the magic happens. It takes 40 litres of sap to boiled down to 1 litre of syrup. This holds way more than that and produces way more than that. I’m good with numbers and stuff.

The evaporator is wood fired and that wood comes from the acreage where they have won the woodlot owner of the year twice - once in 1996 and once in 2009.

It’s a real treat to visit when they’re boiling down the syrup. The smell of maple and wood smoke blend fantastically while Rex gives out samples of syrup. Marketing move? Yes. Effective? Oh yes. Pretty sure it’s a rule that you can’t leave without trying some, possibly a by-law.

Syrup sampling takes place across from what I like to call “the shrine”:

It’s always a pleasure to talk with Rex and hear how the season went or is going, depending on when we can get there. His knowledge is evident and the pride in his product makes each visit special. This year it felt good to talk to him about our experiences in syrup making and get his feedback on it.

On this particular trip we didn’t have enough time to walk the grounds like we did the year before but next time we go we’ll make sure to do a full report on it. It’s really special to be amonst the trees that are producing sap which will become syrup that you can buy here.

As we headed out Treasure Bear protested, climbed half way up the sugar shack and refused to come down:

Why? Treasure Bear wanted to go on a wagon ride, despite us saying it wasn’t the right time of year:

Treasure Bear eventually relented and we headed home. Maple syrup rich and happy that we’d have enough to make it through till next season. Unless we or Treasure Bear go on a maple syrup bender which is entirely possible. In which case we’ll be back!

And yes, since I know you’re wondering, the maple cream DID make it home and lasted nearly a day and a half. New record.

Maplewood Maple Syrup Farm produces a fantastic, local, sustainable product that’s very good for you. Give them a call, drop by, have a sample and support them.