'You can’t get more Canadian than this': maple syrup season arrives in Essex County

Tree tapping started a week later than last year at Ruscom Maple Farm in Lakeshore, Ont., where there’s optimism this year’s up-and-down winter temperatures will be beneficial for business.

“So far, it's looking good,” said owner Rob Nadeau, who anticipated spending the entire weekend hanging hundreds of sap buckets on his family run farm.

“This is pure Canada, right? You can't get more Canadian than this. We're hoping to get 150 trees done today, shooting for a total of 500.”

Nadeau has been making maple syrup along the Ruscom River since 2017, noting each season seems to start earlier than the last, except this year.

“We’ve got to follow what the weather is giving us and each year it's getting earlier and earlier. This year, I'm a bit surprised that we're this far back.”Paul Beaulieu assists with traditional tree tapping at Ruscom Maple Farm in Essex County on Friday, February 16, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV

Nadeau explained tree tapping could have started about a week ago, but the inconsistencies with the cold weather could have ended this year’s run prematurely. “I could have went in again on the third or fourth and had a small run, and I mean for a ‘backyarder’ that's doing 20-30 bottles for family and friends, it's great. But we got a pretty good business going now and I don't want to have a short run and that be it.”

Unlike most maple farms in Canada, Nadeau relies on a traditional approach without any tubes, letting gravity draw sap into his buckets.

It's all drip,” Nadeau said. “There’s no vacuum pumps. There's no anything like that. It's all traditional, our, what I call French-Canadian style from back home in New Brunswick and Quebec.”

He continued, “The big sugar makers, you know, you can go five, six weeks and that's from taking the sap out of a tree with the vacuum pump. Ours is just gravity. We're not going to get that kind of timeframe.”Maple syrup at Ruscom Maple Farm in Lakeshore, Ont., on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

“Last year we did. We got five full weeks of boiling in which was incredible, so I'm kind of hoping for the same thing this year.”

Nadeau told CTV News the “ideal maple weather” consists of temperatures at 5 degree Celsius by day and -5 at night, encouraging customers to visit his maple market inside Canada’s most southernmost sugar shack.

“We've toured the Girl Guides this year, did for school classes already. I don't take more than 10 people at a time though. What I request is a phone call, please phone [phone] and we can set up a time for you to come out, even for the store because we're working in the trees every single day.”