Sugar shacks and maple farms in La Petite-Nation

Sugar season is when the year really starts around here. There's still snow, the buckets are on the trees, and everybody has an opinion about the best sugar shack. We're not settling that. We'll just tell you where to go.

Yes, it's September. Why talk maple now? Because syrup keeps, and a can of local syrup is the best hostess gift there is. Several maple farms in our directory sell year-round, and if you want a table for 20 next spring, start thinking about it before Christmas.

The real sugar-shack meal

Cabane à sucre Chez Ti-Mousse, Papineauville

On Côte Saint-Charles, this is the go-to shack for a big group. All-you-can-eat with all the classics, maple taffy on snow, music on weekends and horse-drawn sleigh rides. Open every day from late February to late April, and you can bring your own wine.

It's the outing you do at least once a spring, with the kids, the in-laws, the bowling league. Everybody leaves full and a little sticky.

La Halte au Coin des rangs 7, Lochaber-Partie-Ouest

A roadside stand on the 317 with vegetables and homemade goods that serves sugar-shack meals in the spring. Smaller and more country. Details change year to year, so call to find out when it starts.

Make a day of Côte Saint-Charles

Côte Saint-Charles in Papineauville is also wine country. Vignoble Sainte-Angélique and Domaine de l'Heure Juste are on the same road as Chez Ti-Mousse. Call ahead to see if they're open to visitors in spring. Sugar shack at noon, a bottle for home, and you drive back with more than taffy stuck in your teeth.

Syrup from the farm

You don't need a dining hall to buy good syrup. Several producers sell direct.

Bergerie Bouwman Érablière, Lochaber-Partie-Ouest. A sheep farm that's also a sugarbush: syrup, farm meat and homemade goods. Two reasons to go.

Ferme À Sabourin, Ripon. Same land since 1927. Syrup in spring, then chickens, lamb and turkeys in the fall. Everything by order, picked up at the farm.

Jardin des Érables, Namur. Maple products sold at markets and online, with 1% of sales going to an environmental group. Visits by appointment.

Ranch Équinoxe, Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix. Not a sugarbush, strictly speaking, but their self-serve stand, open June to October, has syrup next to the garlic, eggs and pasture-raised chickens. Handy if you're passing through this fall.

Maple, other ways

In Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix, Boutique François Lambert makes maple popcorn and maple cotton candy, meringues, and Dragon Tears, a maple and coffee blend. The kids will love the popcorn. The adults will fight over the Dragon Tears.

Maple farms to confirm

Our directory also has a few maple operations we only found in municipal listings or older sources. They may still be running, maybe not in the same form. Call ahead:

• Érablière G.M.S. Leduc, Lochaber: syrup and maple butter, reportedly year-round. Call ahead.
• Cabane à sucre Brazeau, Papineauville: the other shack on Côte Saint-Charles, in the municipal directory. Call ahead.
• Sucrerie Viceroy, Ripon. Call ahead.
• Érablière du Lac-Simon, Duhamel. Call ahead.
• Boileau d'érable, Boileau: small-batch syrup and maple butter. Call ahead.
• Érablière Petite-Nation, Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix, on rang Thomas. Call ahead.

The maple market

Place du Marché in Ripon usually holds a maple market during sugar season, outside its regular market season. The date goes up on the co-op's website and Facebook page, usually in March or April.

Booking a sugar-shack meal for a big group? Call early. Better to pick your weekend than take whatever's left.

On the map

Every sugar shack and maple farm in our directory:

Your family's sugar shack isn't listed? Write to us. There's always room for more syrup.

PapineauvilleLochaberLochaber-Partie-OuestRiponNamurNotre-Dame-de-la-PaixDuhamelBoileau

Share