The Foodfest has it's roots in a fundraising adventure held annualyat Wintergreen Barn in Gelert.  We have always raised funds for H.A.V.E. (Help a Village Effort - drilling fresh water wells in India).  Since the County of Haliburton has a Culinary Tourism initiative, we started 5 years ago turning our fundraiser into an event that raises funds globally and locally.  First year it was the food bank, second year it was for the Health Services Foundation, third year it was for Food for Kids, fourth year for Women's Shelter and this year, Fuel for Warmth. 

We invited food and beverage establishments to showcase their culinary delights in a "fair" setting with an all-inclusive price for entry for the public which is $20.00 for all you can eat, live entertainment and silent auction.  We collaborate with local farmers and food-related businesses to encourage awareness of local food production.  We were successful in raising over $5000 for these 2 charities each year and had lots of fun and introduced amazing locally grown and prepared food.  We had approximately 300+ people on site and on surveying these people that attended we realized that this needs to be an annual event.

Each year we would like to raise money for a local charity as well as continue with our global initiative partnering with H.A.V.E.  We are presently in search of funds to help off set costs but are prepared to use local resources and "in kind" donations to help run the event.  The collaboration between Fuel for Warmth and H.A.V.E. is a great fit.  Water, food, shelter, warmth and a healthy lifestyle!

Mandate:
To promote "Culinary Tourism" in Haliburton Highlands to strengthen economic development of community businesses by collaboration in an annual event called the Haliburton Highlands Food and Beverage Showcase.

Mission:
To enhance and promote local eateries and beverage companies and contribute back to the community by fundraising for local and global charities.

The 11th Annual Business and Community Achievement Awards Gala was held recently.  We were the recipients of the 2016 Customer First – Business Award at the Business & Community Achievement Awards.   Donna Enright from Technicalities Plus, the award sponsor stopped by to deliver our award.  We were absolutely thrilled with the nomination and win.

We were unable to attend the gala but this is what the wonderful people at the Chamber of Commerce had to say:

Wintergreen Maple Products and Pancake Barn celebrates their 30th anniversary in business this year.  The 120 acre sugarbush, restaurant, retail store, catering and event centre has become a valuable part of the community.

Families enjoy the pancake weekends as a time to reconnect and enjoy delicious local food along with warm greetings from the Dawson family. (The free toys are a hit with the kids as well!)

Diane organizes and hosts the charity food festival and has enabled local producers a way to connect with customers while raising funds for local charities. 

Each year wintergreen expands its retail food offerings with innovative syrups and sauces along with preserves.

Many area youth have also grown up happily working for the Dawson's and still keep in contact from around the country.

The Dawson family are committed, enthusiastic members of the community and always strive to put customers first.

Early sugar makers went from tree to tree, with wooden buckets or firkins hanging from shoulder yokes, and collected the sap, which was strained through cloths and emptied into large storage barrels.  The settlers had large metal cooking pots to which to boil their sap;  the kettles were hung directly over the outdoor fires, suspended from poles.  In order to get the finest quality, lightest colour sugar, farmers began to use three kettles, so that the same sap would not be boiled and reboiled as new sap was collected.  The sap was first boiled in the largest kettle, then ladled into the middle sized kettle as it thickened; finally, in the smallest kettle, the thick golden liquid was tested by dropping onto cold metal, or by use of a vine twisted into a loop.  If, when the loop was dipped into the boiling liquid, a long ribbon or bubble could be blown, the farmer knew the liquid was ready to become sugar.  The pot was taken off the fire, the liquid was stirred until it began it crystallize and stiffen, and then poured into a storage bucket where the sugar hardened. 
 
Gradually, changes occurred in maple sugar production.  Metal spouts and buckets with lids replaced the wooden spouts and buckets, which had replaced hewn wooden troughs.  In the early 1800's some farmers began to enclose their cauldrons in brick arches or furnaces, which used less wood than an open fire, shortly thereafter large flat plans began to replace the kettles over the arches because they had larger surface areas exposed to the fire.  Sheds or sugar houses were built to shelter workers and protect the sap
 
The Dawson family learned the importance of lids on buckets in their sugar bush, early on in their collection of sap in the 1980's, when they noticed their dog Nelson happily and greedily lapping up the sweet sap from the buckets without lids, resulting in diarrhea for a few days after.  The lids also keep out the squirrels, bugs and bark and more importantly the rain, because you don't want any more water in the bucket than comes in naturally from the tree. Sap is a natural laxative, and is used by many spas as a cleansing treatment. In fact, farmers used it as a spring tonic to clean away the winters feeding of canned and jarred food.  So drink up!
 
Most syrup is made from the sap of the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), also known as the rock maple or hard maple.  In the summertime, the leaves of the maple tree absorb the sunlight and carbon dioxide, the roots absorb water, and from these the trees produce a simple sugar which is then converted to starch, and stored.  Prior to the maple season, the stored starch is changed to sugar, and that sugar is released in the sap when it flows.  Wherever it grows, the maple  tree is valued for its ornamental and shade characteristics, for its hard wood used in furniture, flooring and cabinetry, and as a great source of firewood.
 
Freezing temperatures, alternating with thawing, are necessary to create the pressure which causes the sap to flow when the tree is tapped.  This happens most often in the late winter and early spring.  Typically, the correct conditions occur when temps. drop below freezing at night and rise above 5 degrees during the day.  Calm wind conditions, and sunshine are known to contribute to good sap flow
 

We are all tapped in at Wintergreen!  Ryan finished today and it's up to Mother Nature to cooperate.  As the weather looks we won't be boiling for awhile.  They are calling for cold the rest of the week and we need freezing nights and warm days.  Not your average spring.  Haliburton County bushes usually start to run mid March. We are open this weekend on Saturday and Sunday from 9am - 4pm.  Come join us!

The trees may be sleeping, but the Dawson family is busy with preparations for the next syrup season.  Starting March 5th through to April 24....weekends only  9- 4 p.m.   Come and enjoy the craft of making maple syrup at Wintergreen Sugar Bush.   Easter weekend open Fri. Sat. Sun; Mon.   with Easter egg hunts in the sugar bush.   Enjoy pancakes, french toast, sausages, crepes, maple baked beans in our restaurant, walk the sugar bush, taste sugar on snow, and enjoy all the samples in the retail area of Wintergreen (BBQ sauces, jams, jellies, fruit syrups, mustards, vinegars, preserves).  Call to reserve your maple syrup today...705-286-3202  to ensure you get the quantity and grade you desire.

This past summer  was busy, fun, and amazing.  We welcomed many new customers to our door, who brought many more friends to enjoy the feasts of the summer.   Hungry people and good weather was the order for the summer.   We hosted many weddings on and off site, retirement, anniversary parties, private dinners, fundraisers...and felt like Ryan flipped a million pancakes.  

Thank you to all the folks who attended the Haliburton Highlands Food and Beverage Showcase at Wintergreen in June. We raised $1800.00 for the H.A.V.E. Help A Village Effort and $1800.00 for the Haliburton Health Services Foundation.

We very much appreciate your support for these deserving charities. 2016 Food and Beverage Showcase will be on June 16, 2016 at Wintergreen. We are in search of sponsors and support to raise money for local and global charities.

We continue to preserve from the gardens of the county, right now we are preserving pickled beets and carrots.   Next week a new round of BBQ sauces, jams, jellies and hot sauces.  The back garden seems to be a favourite spot to have breakfast or lunch and we are appreciating the "no bug" zone.  

We are next open to the public Thanksgiving weekend (Sat. Sun. Mon). 9-4 p.m.  As always if you need product at any time, just give us a call and we'll meet you at the barn. 705-286-3202.  

We have a Christmas Treasures sale coming up the first 2 weekends of November (kitchen not open), but there are many beautiful gifts baskets for your Christmas Gift Giving list.