Standing in the middle of the 'Sap Shack' at his business just north of Atwood on Sunday, Terry Hoover recalled his early interest in maple syrup.
"I remember like it was yesterday. I was eight-years-old and we had a great big maple tree in front of the farm house and I bugged dad to tap it. I would get off the school bus and check that pale everyday and then we would boil it down on the weekend."
"I had 35 taps on the farm laneway. When I got out of high school in '76, I was allowed to tap (in the) bush and I had 300 taps going."
Enthusiasm for a cherished pursuit hasn't diminished all these years later. Terry and Diane Hoover have operated Hoover's Maple Syrup since 1988.
Terry graciously tours guests around the family property - guided tours are available this weekend for Family Day - explaining how sap is extracted by an age old process. The Hoovers tap 30 of their 50 acre bush, totalling 2,500 taps.
The company website has a video that explains how it all works, including basics like how to find a maple tree, how thick they need to be to tap (15 to 20 inches gets two taps, for example), and how the sap makes its way along a myriad of carefully laid out lines in the bush, up to the property to get processed. That journey is also laid out on the website, broken down into 22 steps.
That video is the first step of the tour, Terry explained, because it answers many of the questions guests will have before they make their way back into the bush. A "natural, eco-friendly business", all of the finished product is organic, and includes ingredients such as manganese, riboflavin, zinc and magnesium.
"We call it the healthy sweetener," he said.
Terry Hoover said partnerships over the years have helped them get more people out for the tours. The newest partnership is with the County of Perth and is fittingly entitled Hoover's Maple Adventure Challenge. It is described as 'family-friendly fun, with interactive games about how producers used to make maple syrup, followed by a hands-on experience of packaging, bottling and sampling'.
"You have to tap a tree and gather the sap and go through rubber tires and branches like you were in a bush, and also fill a barrel," Hoover said of the old school way used as part of the adventure challenge.
He has dubbed it a mini-maple Olympics.
Part of the county's Discover More Adventures Signature Experiences, the Hoover challenge starts in May.
The first weekend of April is Hoover's Join Us For Maple Weekend, where guests can learn about the maple syrup process. The last weekend of September to the first weekend of October is their Fall in Love with Maple event, where guests can 'enjoy the fall colours and celebrate maple'.
The educational aspect is something Hoover said he enjoys. Schools are always calling asking for a tour. He recalled an interested party calling at 2 p.m. one day, asking for a tour at 3 p.m. They turned out to be a curling team from Saskatchewan staying in Stratford for a bonspiel, with some time to fill.
Some of the group were farmers, and they enjoyed learning about the property and the process, he said.
Hoover said the first tapping of the season started very early this year, on Feb. 7, due to mild weather. That was a full three weeks earlier than in 2023, the previous earliest start to the season.
Inside the 'Sap Shack', guests can pick-up Hoover's Maple Syrup to take home.
Hoover looks over the stock and notes that one litre for $20 is the best seller. The 11 litre jug is also becoming more popular with families, he said, because you pay for two gallons and get two litres for free. It keeps the maple syrup flowing at home.
"You can keep it in the freezer and just keep filling your one litre."
