Yardley Maple brings rich history to maple weekend in Mexico
OSWEGO, N.Y — The final weekend for all things maple is this Saturday and Sunday. The statewide event allows maple farms to give community members a glimpse of how syrup makes its way from the tap to their bottles at home.
One of the maple farms part of the event is Yardley Maple in Mexico. Owner Joe Yardley has followed in the footsteps of his family members becoming the third maple enthusiast of his family.
Yardley’s love for maple started at a young age. He made his first batch of maple syrup at 10 years old. Just like his father and grandfather, Yardley monopolized on his passion, selling small pint-sized bottles of syrup to his teachers at school.
That small business would soon turn into a farm he could call his own. In 2012, he founded Yardley Maple taking his passion and turning it into a full-time business. Yardley continues to grow that business each year adding more trees and taps allowing him to produce more gallons of maple syrup each year. Yardley says the challenge of improving each year helps him stay motivated.
“What keeps my interest is always trying to be better. Always trying to get more tap per tree, more sap per tap and make more syrup the next year,” Yardley said.
This year, Yardley Maple has achieved their goal, producing a record 1,000 gallons of maple syrup thus far. There is still more time to produce even more than that, as maple season extends into April.
Yardley’s passion for maple is evident and he says the only thing that bring him more joy is being able to share it all with his family.
“I enjoy sharing my passion with my family and friends. I love having something to do with them,” Yardley said.
Yardley is able to share his love for maple with those both near and far. His bottles of syrup have made their way across the world, reaching kitchen tables in Japan and Uganda.
Yardley Maple is one of the many farms that will be open this weekend. Maple Hollow Farm, Red School House Maple and Maple Hill Farm are less than 12 miles away from Oswego. All farms open at 10am and will remain open until 4pm both Saturday and Sunday. Activities available for spectators include educational tours, free samples and last stop shops for sweet maple treats.
