OUR STORY

A Family Tradition

Andrew and I both grew up making maple syrup; his family’s production on a farm north of Kingston (compared to a large, Harry Potter inspired iron cauldron in Beaverton). After taking a hiatus until our boys were barely toddlers, we began making the trek to Harrowsmith in the spring to spend time with family and make syrup again.

​

Then COVID. For so many reasons we did not want our boys to look back upon this chaotic time and remember the limitations and restrictions. We wanted them to have memories of our hilarious outdoor adventures; eating burnt popcorn around a campfire; Andrew losing his sunglasses canoeing to our campsite on Long Lake (it was funny to the rest of us); skiing down Old Scugog Road after a mammoth snowstorm and so many more. When we told our oldest son, who was 4 at the time, that we couldn’t go to Grandma and Poppa’s farm to make syrup he looked at the two of us and simply asked “why can’t we make it here?” Clever boy; why not indeed?!

​

And so the Old Scugog Syrup Company, in its rudimentary form was born. In the spring of 2020 our family began making maple syrup at home in Hampton. That year we tapped a couple of trees in our yard and our next door neighbour’s. Our very first boil in a turkey fryer in the driveway; somewhat primitive and prolonged but it got the job done.

​

Over the next few years people from around our small village began noticing the taps in spring and we were approached by other neighbours offering their trees. In return we give syrup back to our sap “donors” and contribute syrup to local events. We’ve slowly increased our yield and purchased new equipment to make production easier and more streamlined. We’ve come a long way from our effective, yet questionably safe makeshift bottling process. Each winter a rather large, and shiny piece of maple syrup equipment tends to appear on our front porch or kitchen counter. Andrew’s engineering prowess this year accounted for the reverse osmosis (RO) unit. The RO helps significantly to cut down on boiling time as we both have full time jobs, two amazing tiny humans to parent and other various commitments.

​

We love our little village and do our best to give back to the community by supporting local events. This year we’ve had the privilege of multiple school groups visiting to learn about sap and syrup production.

​

After a lot of careful thought we decided to finally take the plunge and start our business! Thank you so much to all our family and friends and to YOU for supporting a truly local, community collaborative company.