Our History 

James Richardson's grandmother, Dinah Richardson, could remember gathering and boiling sap with her father Harvey Rittenhouse when she was a young girl in the early 1900's. 

In 1983, James tapped 6 trees around his parents farm yard and boiled it in a cast iron kettle. We made 16 litres that year. 

 In 1985, James and his cousin, Jason Richardson, built a "shanty" in the bush using scrap lumber and an old barn door. We cut the side off a 45 gallon drum, put a 24" square pan on top and boiled our sap. Thus the tradition of 5 generations of syrup making continued with the rebirth of Richardson's Sugar Bush.

We have boiled sap in 3 other locations since then and in 2009 we opened our new facility at 131 River Road, James & Kirsten's home farm.

Be part of the Adventure

Come on out to the farm and watch the sap being boiled. You can take a horse-drawn wagon or sleigh ride (weather permitting) to the sugar bush and see sap being gathered like my great grandfather did it in buckets, and see our modern pipeline assisted by vacuum and the ingenious Mennonite Dumper!

Then come back to the shanty for some piping hot pancakes, sausage and real maple syrup served with hot apple cider or coffee.  Be sure to visit our Sweet Shop and take some syrup or tempting treats home with you.

Pancakes are served Saturday March 13, 20 and 27, Sunday March 21 and the week of March Break (March 15 to 19) from 10am to 2pm.