Tom Mikel carves a chair. Photo by Sheena Williams
Pancakes, Wagon Rides, Lumberjack Show and more.
Sat. March 31 & Sun. April 1, 2012
9 am to 3 pm
Celebrate spring at Hubbs Sugarbush. Enjoy wagon rides from Sweetwater Cabin to the Sugarhouse and Pancake Breakfast at Hubbs. This year will feature a new lumberjack show featuring Tom Mikel of the Prince Edward Land Stewardship Council. Breakfast will also be served at the Lake Masonic Lodge. The Lake Masonic Lodge No. 215 35th Annual Pancake Breakfast proceeds will benefit community projects. All activities are weather permitting.
Hubbs Sugarbush and Sweetwater Cabin
Hosts: Ron and Janice
1937 Rednersville Rd. 3 and 332 Pulver Rd., Carrying Place
613.966.8997
www.sweetwatercabin.com
facebook.com/sweetwatercabin
Ron Hubbs grew up on a dairy farm and once grew cash crops himself. Now he works in the municipality’s roads and engineering department, but this fourth generation farmer still produces one great crop a year – sweet and spicy maple syrup. He’s carrying on a family tradition of more than 100 years.
The family farm has an old established sugarbush with 14 kms of thoroughly modern plastic tubing to collect the sap. But as well as tending the old bush up a lane and over the hill from the farmhouse, Ron planted a new orchard in 1989. He dug out young maples that were struggling for light and replanted them on a sunny south-facing slope behind the house. With 100 trees per acre the orchard captures maximum sunlight to ensure the best possible yield of sap, and it’s almost ready to harvest sap.
Janice Hubbs created their Sweetwater Cabin from a very old log cabin they rescued from Lanark County. Rebuilt and looking great, the little cabin welcomes visitors all year round to sample syrup and maple treats. A wonderful selection of maple themed antiques and accessories are on display and for sale, and a stuffed “fisher,” a furry little carnivore that could chew its way through plastic lines faster than lightning but who met his fate on the road outside, now sits stuffed and watchful amid the maple paraphernalia.
Janice is curator of the Ameliasburgh Museum and a fountain of knowledge about the history of the County and of maple syrup. Just as the Indians taught settlers how to make maple syrup to sweeten their hard lives, Janice enthusiastically shares her love and knowledge of all things maple with schoolchildren, guests and her hundreds of Maple in the County visitors.
Timeline
- 1975 -started in with 600 taps. Met Odie Grimm of the Grimm Manufacturing Company, added 200 taps on tubing, used a 3X12 Grimm evaporator
- 1977 -hosted Lake Lodge’s first pancake breakfast
- 1980 -built a new sugarhouse
- 1983 -bought new pans
- 1985 -installed tubing
- 1989 -started planting trees in our maple orchard
- 1993 -bought a new Hurricane evaporator
- 2003 -opened Sweetwater Cabin Maple store
- 2008 -bought new pans
- 2009 -inducted into the Quinte Local Maple Hall of Fame
