We cook our syrup in our traditional sugar shack located in Caledon, Ontario: home to some of the finest sugar maples in the province.  The ”Schoolhouse” on the property, home to Thomas & Molly Pigeon, was built in 1879 and held its last class in 1921 – inside and out, the schoolhouse is materially the very same as it was during the late 1800’s. 

The original maples on the property continue to provide the sap for much of the “state reserve” maple syrup that Old School Sap Co. produces.

Around mid-February we begin to tap our trees.  We don’t use pumps, lines, or any other mechanical process: traditional buckets are hung from each and every tree.  Buckets are emptied at the end of the day and the sap is brought back to the sugar shack to begin the 10-12 hour process of turning the sap into syrup. It’s a wondrous time of the year to be in the bush as the late winter sun warms the sap wood of the trees, and the melodic “drip, drip, drip” drumbeat of sap hitting the bottom of the pails signals “the run is on”.

Using the same methods that the settlers that came to our great nation once did, our maple syrup is painstakingly boiled for many hours: the sap is carefully reduced to become the Canadian liquid gold that is packed into every jar or bottle of Old School Sap Co. 100% Pure Maple Syrup.

Thomas Pigeon – aka “The Sap Master” – takes pride in his craft and works cooperatively with his neighbours to harvest sap from their trees.  “Old School Sap Co. has evolved to be ‘the sap for syrup collective’ where our neighbours and friends allow us to collect sap from their home farms and we, in return, keep them well-supplied with maple syrup for the year.