Jernie's Hub

I have learned that such festivals here in Ontario usually start in March and culminate towards the end of April. With the help of Herbert’s cousin residing in Barrie, we managed to witness one in Elmvale.

We were so lucky for having such a great weather on the weekend. We drove to Barrie late in the morning and arrived there past 13:00 hrs. It was very interesting to see the place not buried in snow as it used to be for a couple of months.

Elmvale is just a couple of minutes drive from Barrie. As we approached the festival area, we could hear live band performance. Families were heading to the same direction. At that time the temperature has reached 30 deg Celsius, quite hot.

People wander around the place as the live band performance went on. Make shift stalls filled the streets displaying various items, among those are maple syrups, bird houses, some artifacts, clothing, delicacies and many more. We covered the whole place in less than an hour. So we then proceed to the Sugar shack to take a Sugar bush tour.

School buses were lined-up to take people to and back. After a short drive, we were dropped at the Greenlaw Maple Farm. The place is surrounded with a vast area of Maple trees. I never thought that these trees stand so high. Each one of them is tapped with plastic blue tubing.

We gathered outside the processing facility to observe the demonstration on the tapping of the trees up to the processing stage. It was explained as well that only 10% of the tree’s sap is removed when tapped and that represents only 1/10th of its nourishment. Thus, not doing any harm to the trees.



The family started making maple syrup in 1920 with 200 buckets and 2 iron kettles. They had a flat pan made at the local hardware and used it for 30 years. In 1960 they had their first used wood-fired evaporator and a new replacement in about 1970. In 1975 they got an oil-fired evaporator and put beside the wood-fired one and in 1984 it has been replaced with a new reverse osmosis machine.



Thereafter, we went inside the processing facility. It was nice to see the machines running and how the sap moved from one stage to another and mostly having a closer look at the final stage of the process. It looks so yummy and smells really good.



Having gone around, we went outside to wait for our horse-carriage ride to the next farm, Lalonde's Sugar Bush.





Again, we went inside the processing facility and wander around the farm and headed back to the Greenlaw’s Maple Farm to catch our bus ride back to the festival area. It was such an eye-opening trip. I did appreciate it so much to know and see what’s behind the Maple syrup that I see and hear a lot.

I will post a s a detailed write-up about the Maple syrup.)You can check their website for more details: http://www.elmvalemaplesyrup.ca/festival.html

From Elmvale, we drove back to Barrie and spent a wonderful time at the garden. While our host was attending to the grill, we were enjoying our drinks and were amused watching the birds. It was very relaxing. Being at the Chef’s home is truly a privilege. We had a fantastic dinner!

Since it wasn’t dark yet, we decided to go for a walk at the Arboretum, Sunnidale Park. The Arboretum is maintained by the Barrie Garden Club. It is comprised of many theme gardens. As we stroll around the place I noticed that every tree/plant we passed is labeled with their respective names and the sponsor. It’s a pity that we couldn’t see how each looks like. I was told that this place is best visited during the summer when all the plants, trees and flowers are in full bloom. Currently, there is nothing much to see except the brown twigs, green grass and some squirrels running around hunting for peanuts. We settled in one of the benches to feed the squirrels while indulging myself with my first ever Tim Horton’s cup of capuccino. Surprising huh! They told me, you are not in Canada until you have been and tried Tim Horton's coffee. But it's true, I was never and no one has ever tugged me to the Tim Horton's (a Canadian coffee chain) considering it's presence in the building where we live.

On a separate note, I had been wondering because many times I passed by Tim Horton's, it's always busy. One time at the PATH in downtown I was looking for a place to take my lunch. I saw a long queue, thinking people were queueing at the ATM machine.But as I went closer, I found out that it was a Tim Horton's shop. I was puzzled how come people are painstakingly queueing as there were other coffee shops in the area. Myself, I was more familiar with Starbucks but trying other coffee shops is not bad at all. Sorry for off-tracking. Going back to where we were, squirrell feeding was really fun! I will definitely see this place again during the summer to see the garden show.



Barrie Garden Club website: http://www.barriegardenclub.com/

As it gets gradually dark, we packed-up and head back to the house.

The next day was a very nice day, warmer than it was forecasted to be 18 deg Celsius. After breakfast, we went for a quick shopping as my rubber shoes was way too warm for the day. I was so excited to wear a sandal because I have been waiting for this opportunity for some time.

We went to the Barrie Beach and Waterfront. It sits at the end of Kempenfelt Bay on Lake Simcoe. The spectacular settingoffers 7 km of biking, hiking, walking trails around the Bay via Lakeshore Drive. Beach areas, children's play areas; waterfront art shows, and festivals have created one of the best community family summer fun areas in Ontario. ()




Being a Sunday, the place was busy. The families were out with their pets. Watching people around us: skating, having picnic, jogging, biking and the likes, I felt it was already summertime. The only thing one couldn't do is swimming because the water is still ice cold. It was so nice walking by the beach despite the cool breeze coming from the lake. For me it’s always soothing to be by the water. A big portion of the water is still icy though the temperature has been high for the past week. Hence, the boats are still docked off-water. I can imagine how nice will it be during the summer to go out there in the lake fishing, I can’t wait.






We intended to have lunch at the beach front but the place offered no space for us so we decided to walk back to the other end of the beach and went to Mullies Bar and Grill. I guess we had a good walk because we really did well with the food. Thereafter, we drove back to the house and got ready to hit the road back to Toronto. It was a great weekend, indeed.