Fosterholm Farms
2234 Cty. Rd. 18, Picton, Ontario, 613-393-5655
Cliff Foster’s father started making maple syrup in 1924 at the home farm near Sandbanks. He spent everything he had to buy 75 acres, and at first he lived in the barn because the farm had no house. But it had a sugarbush, and he tapped the trees and hung 375 sap buckets. He worked hard, built a house and eventually bought Outlet Farm that had another good sugarbush. So he bought another 325 buckets.
Now Cliff runs Fosterholm Farms with his son Dean with help from his two grandsons. Each year they tap 7,000 trees, but Cliff and Dean no longer hang buckets – they collect sap by running lines to each tree. Taps and lines go in beginning in January and come out in April.
The Foster family evaporator is oil fired, and with the price of oil rising, Cliff is thankful for his reverse osmosis system that removes 70% of the water from the sap before it even reaches the evaporator making huge savings on boiling time. It’s a tough machine, built in 1967 and going strong.
Maple in the County kicks off the season for the Foster family, and in 2005 a thousand people visited them in the sugar shack to enjoy home made pancakes with sausages and as much maple syrup as they wanted. Cliff isgenerous with his syrup and puts big jugfuls on the table for guests to help themselves. His dad would be proud!
This year, enjoy homemade pancakes, grilled sausages and pure maple syrup—made fresh all day long —for Adults $12, Children $6. Work off that breakfast by taking a walking tour of the sugar bush and learn all about maple syrup production in the sugar shack.
Fosterholm Farms
- started in 1924 with 267 buckets and a 2X8 Lightning evaporator
- 1967 built new sugarhouse and had a 4X12 Lightning evaporator
- 1970 started to use tubing
- 2001 had a 5X14 oil-fired evaporator
- 2003 built on a bottling room
- 2007 bought a Reverse Osmosis machine
- 2011 inducted into the Quinte Local Maple Hall of Fame
