Peter and Karen Hamilton have owned their farm on Norman Road, between Cambridge and Hamilton since 1971. They have been making maple syrup since 2013 from the sap of over 2,000 trees: black, hard, red and sugar maples. They have about 3,800 taps on those trees with about 17 kilometres of food-grade plastic lines that run between the trees to a holding tank deep in the woods. It is interesting to see the vacuum system that brings the sap to the Sugar Shack holding tanks where the evaporator does the work in maple season. It takes a lot of wood to keep the fire burning to boil the sap down to syrup. Imagine from 40 litres of sap, a maple producer only gets one litre of syrup! Fortunately, Peter also has had a lumber business for about twenty years and uses cut-offs to keep the fire burning.
Tours can be booked during the sugar season to visit the maple forest and Sugar Shack. Visitors will also be impressed with the sports museum and eight-sided pavilion. It is hard to miss the driveway for Rock Maple Lodge Lane, on Norman Road N0B 1L0. Look for the giant wood-carved bears that mark the Sugar Shack driveway entrance, which is near but not at the 2491 house address.
Drop in anytime between 8am and 5pm during the maple season, usually March.