Mmmm….Maple Syrup!

Elliot Tree Farm is one of the many maple syrup producers in the area. They also have a small museum about maple syrup production, and you can go on a tour of the farm. We had checked that the tour was wheelchair accessible and booked. It was quite nice to find another family on the tour who also had a wheelchair user as part of their group. While we waited to set off, we chatted about other adventures we had each had. I was particularly interested to hear that they had been to Japan, as this is somewhere I would like to go in the future.

Our tour guide, Brayden, was a high school student who walked fast and talked fast! It was interesting to hear about the different trees and how the sap is tapped from just beneath the bark in the late winter/early spring. Each tree produces around 75 litres of sap which makes less than 40 litres of maple syrup. As the season only lasts about six weeks the rest of the year is dedicated to growing Christmas trees and general farm maintenance. It was interesting to learn that when the trees are planted, winter rye is also planted at the same time to protect the seedling trees from wind and cold until they are strong enough to cope alone.

After walking around the farm, we were treated to a taste of three different strengths of maple syrup with waffle and ice cream in the small museum. Racheal enjoyed tasting the maple syrup too!

From here we went onto Elora a small town with lots of older buildings. We had a pleasant lunch sitting outside in the sunshine before exploring the town. There were many independent shops and self service market stores selling local produce and crafts.