Our Story
Terry & Diane Hoover - Owners of Hoover's Maple Syrup
Hoover's Maple Syrup Road Sign - Atwood, Ontario
About the Hoover's
Sit back, relax and prepare yourself for a "real" heartwarming story.
Picture a small, eight-year-old boy, pleading with his Mom and Dad to let him tap a maple tree after visiting a Maple Syrup operation the night before.
Reluctantly, my Dad helped me tap my first tree in front of our farmhouse. Each night, after school, I would run up the lane to see if the sap had run that day, not quite understanding the “perfect sap” weather theory.
As reluctant as my Dad was to help me tap the tree, my Mom followed suit when I asked her to help me boil the sap into syrup on her stovetop. I'm not sure if that was the beginning of my negotiating skills or whether I exhausted them and they just caved and let me do it, but we boiled that sap down into syrup and thus began Hoover’s Maple Syrup.
I think my parents were hoping that this was just a phase and the idea of making maple syrup would lose its appeal, but that was not the case. I was bitten by the 'bug'. We in the maple business call it the 'sugars’. Once you have it, there is NO cure!
The next year, I tapped and boiled on my own, playing around with up to 50 taps (my first official expansion). By age 18, with the help of a friend, brace and bit in hand, we tapped 300 taps each and hung buckets to catch the sap. This was the first and I might add, the only year we tapped by hand. The next year, I had purchased a tapper that fit onto a chain saw.
Over the next few years, we slowly expanded to 300 buckets and 300 taps on tubing. By 1980, our first vacuum system was in place and a lot of learning was done that year! Each year, I kept gathering information, learning more about the art of syrup making and to this day, I am still learning. There is always new technology and research studies that brings previous, unknown information to light. Also, there are never 2 years that are the same. Mother Nature brings along different weather patterns. She never tells us ahead, what she is planning.
Terry & Diane Hoover with their dog Jack.
In 1988, we pulled up stakes and moved from Nobleton to our present location, just north of Atwood, Ontario. Now keep in mind folks, we left behind a 3-acre bush and are now tapping a 50-acre bush. We have 30 acres of maples tapped, bringing our total taps to 3500. Each year, we plan to add taps in our bush as the trees reach a ‘tapable’ size.
In order to keep the tradition alive, we continue to use buckets around the "Sap Shack" for our tours. We also want to show how modern technology works, so we have tubing and a vacuum system that brings the sap from the bush all the way to the "Sap Shack". We also have a small line at the house for those not wanting to venture back to the bush.
Our passion has grown to include educating everyone about maple syrup from how to make it, what to watch for and how to use maple syrup. Our motto is, ‘Maple syrup goes great on everything, except the floor.’
We feel we have a responsibility to preserve this planet and leave it a better place for next generations. We focus on maintaining the woods for our production but also consider the wildlife who call the woods home. We have expanded our trails for education and entertainment for both ourselves and the public.
50+ years later, I'm still making syrup, keeping the tradition alive.
"Sappy" story? Maybe, but we are enjoying carrying on with this age-old tradition.
Come out for a visit. We love to share our experiences with maple and always hope to have you walk away with a little bit more information than what you had when you first come down our lane.
Recognitions:
Winner of the 2020 Elmira Maple Syrup Festival Producer of the Year
Provincial Director, President and Past President of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association (OMSPA )
President, Past President and currently Director of the Huron-Perth Chapter of the Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA)
President/Past of the Waterloo Wellington chapter and currently Director of the Waterloo-Wellington Maple Syrup Producers Association.
Terry and Diane won the Albert and Ruby Martin Award, the most prestigious maple award in Ontario, recognizing their outstanding contribution to Maple.
Terry was inducted into the King City Secondary School (his high school), Class of Distinction, where he was recognized for his outstanding work in Maple
Speaker at the Guelph Certified Organic Conference (3 years), focusing on the aspects of maple, to encourage new maple syrup producers and share information to those already established in maple syrup production
Guest speaker at a number of Maple Information Days, held by various Maple Syrup Producer Associations across Ontario