Look Like Central New York has lots of sap happening and not much snow. I think it is going to start pretty early this year. I have been keeping an eye on some of the videos posted to Youtube. It looks like Elizabethtown, Pa has 2012 maple syrup. Some places in Vermont are also tapped in an getting ready to produce. So it is coming soon for everyone I don’t see why Northern Ontario would be an exception!

Climate change is something we all have to be aware of especially being an agricultural business. Mike and I keep some pretty good records of what is happening in the bush but it would be good to know if we can help this cause in any way.

Take a look at the video and see what you think.

This site was lauched “in an effort to list pretty much anything the Maple Syrup industry has to offer online.” So that sounds like a pretty Nobel cause and a resource that all maple syrup producers can use.

It is a pretty new site, launched in January 2011 but already they have over 500 listings of sugarbushs in both the United States and Canada.

This is definitely a site I am going to check out from time to time.

There are a number of different players in this Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair, The National Research Council of Canada, University of Guelph Kemptville Campus Agroforestry Education and Research Center and Maple Ridge farms.

I hope they are successful and since the grant money is coming from the government of Ontario I expect that the patent will to free and open to everyone! But I am sure that will not be the case.

you can read the news article here:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2011/27/c8180.html

Turns out that the sweet nectar of the Gods has more antioxidants than previously thought. I think this is great news.

So now our maple syrup is a super tonic.

I had a great time at The New Bloor Street Festival this year. It being the first year I did not really know what to expect. I wanted to get a place right on the corner of Russet and Bloor right above Hair Wave where our old apartment was.

It was great to talk to some of the people in the neighborhood. When I was living up north I didn’t know that there was a community in Toronto, I always thought that people kept to themselves and were distant to each other. Dominic at Hair Wave was, I think, the first person to teach me how vibrant and friendly Toronto can be. It was sad to hear that he would be closing his doors only one week after the festival was finished, after being there for 31 years.

The New Bloor Street Festival was put on by two great chaps Dougal Bichan and Sid Bruyn. I watched them running back and forth all day long organizing every little detail. There were also lots of great volunteers helping out. They did an amazing job and I can’t wait until next year. I wonder if they will still call it “New”?

We also had a chance to chat with some amazing people at the Starving Artist Waffle Booth. If there is one thing on the planet that goes perfect with maple syrup, it is waffles. We provided them with some of our very special Dark Syrup and it seemed to be a real hit.

There were ton’s of interesting people stopping in to say hello. One of them was a member of the Toronto Beekeepers Co-op of Toronto. They told me about a really cool plan to tap the trees in the parks of down town. Dufferin Grove park, right near my apartment, has about 20 or so really nice sized Sugar Maples most of them double or triple tappers. I think it is an amazing idea! The more sweat nectar of the gods we can get the better. This year they were able to tap silver maples and red maples but the city would not let them tap any of the sugar maples. Kind of makes you scratch you head but……. there you go.

All in all it was a great time and it gave me a chance to talk Maple Syrup with everyone who wondered by.

The problem with a lot of the used evaporator pans out there is that they are lead soldered which is considered to be a health risk.

We want to provide our consumers with the best quality product that we can so I thought I would post some of the research that I have done in this respect.

First I found this great consumer report.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2007/10/testing-the-lea.html

It rates 4 different lead inspectors and how they work, the following is taken from the consumer reports website:

“Homax Lead Check, $8
Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit, $18.45
These two kits consist of cigarette-shaped swabs, made by the same company, that turn pink when they detect lead. They were the easiest to use and identified accessible lead in toys, ceramic dishware, and vinyl or plastic. If lead concentrations are low, these swabs can take up to two hours to change color, but in our tests high concentrations produced immediate results. The eight-swab Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit pack is a better bargain than the Homax two-swab pack. Its packaging was less susceptible to being crushed.

Lead Inspector, $13
Swabs turn yellow, brown, gray, or black if lead is detected. It can take up to 10 minutes for a color change to occur at low lead levels. The kit, with eight tests, identified accessible lead and might be a good choice for painted metal jewelry. It also might be superior for pink or red items, because if those shades of paint bled onto a Lead Check swab, it might falsely appear to be positive. Have good ventilation and wear gloves to protect skin from chemicals.

First Alert, $13
The four test swabs provided are similar in design to those used in Lead Inspector. But we experienced some false negatives for accessible lead.

Pro-Lab Lead Surface, $10

This kit was less sensitive and more difficult to use. Two small pieces of treated paper are cut to create six tests. The paper is moistened and rubbed on the object, but we found the paper often fell apart before the two-minute rubbing time was over.”

Both Lead Inspector and First Alert have videos which showcase these kits

The following is a copy of the email I sent to all the these lead testing kit suppliers:

Hello

My name is Dave Chapman and I am a maple syrup producer. Over the past few years our industry has been phasing out lead soldered pans for producing maple syrup.

We are currently looking to upgrade our equipment but want to make certain that any used equipment  we buy is lead solder free.

does the testing kit that you carry have the ability to do this.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon.

If anyone out there knows of another company that provides these testing kits or you have had experience in these matters please let us know.

I talked to all the maple syrup producers at the show, everyone had great insight and was very helpful. Two booths let really talk their ear off and even let me shoot some video. The first was from White Meadows farms. Richard was really nice and gave me some great tips on maple candy making. It turns out that they won best maple candy at the show last year so I am sure he knows what he’s talking about.

Next I had a chance to talk to Tracy Moore at Everything Maple. I have talked about her in an earlier post. She really went through everything with me and was happy to do so. She even gave me a few books to about packaging maple syrup. The great thing was the she knew all of the maple syrup producers from the island. You can really tell in the video that she is passionate about what she does. It was great to get to know other members of the Ontario maple syrup community outside of the island.

Now I know that the winter fair was a months ago but I have not had a chance to get everything off the camera until last week. I also want to apologize for the shakiness of the camera and the strange viewing angles. It was pretty loud and I wanted to make sure I got the sound I needed. Anyway, now that I have built it up, please enjoy.

Well tomorrow is a very exiting day for sap to syrup. It is the first Christmas show that I have taken part in. I am really looking forward to showcasing all our products. The Toronto Business Development Center was part of a program I was involved in. They help entrepreneurs get businesses started and do a great job of it. This is how I moved my interactive business forward.

They have a blog about the upcoming show and I have a small write up in it. Link

Another great thing that has happened is that we have a new logo… Well not really NEW, more like our FIRST.

It was designed by a very good friend of mine Jesse Gibson who has worked as a professial designer for many years. You know why branding is so expensive?

It’s worth it.

new logo

I  have plans to redesign the website and add in more interactivity.

The site looks amazing and is much easier to navigate, really an amazing job.

Tig has some really great stories and ideas on his website which is why he is number one on my blog roll. I love his last idea of putting maple syrup in kegs, I really hope he figures it out.

Love the new URL and the site design Tig, keep on boiling!