Hill Top Maple Farm

12/10/2022

Today is the day! Christmas on the farm is happening until 4pm today. Stop in and grab a unique gift for that special someone, or something for yourself! We hope to see you at our farm at 254 E. Sullivanville rd in Horseheads.

03/22/2022

Small but mighty! Making some great dark syrup tonight!

03/22/2022

What a weird season it has been so far. But I am thankful our trees are still producing! Tonight we are making some delicious dark syrup.

12/06/2021

I would like to take a moment and thank everyone who venture out to our event today. As some of you know, this was our first time hosting an event like this and thanks to all of you it was a huge success! Thank you and we look forward to doing this again!

10/01/2021

We have restocked our freezer with lamb for the fall season. We have chops, roasts, leg of lamb and ground lamb.

07/14/2021

Some water logged crops today

07/08/2021

We purchased this farmco feeder wagon back in January from Frisbie Welding LLC. On a year where hay was a high priced commodity this has easily cut our waste to nearly zero. If your looking to add a feeder wagon to your farm give them a call.

03/24/2021

Making some liquid gold! Sap has slowed down but still getting enough to boil!

03/21/2021

After a slow start yesterday sap started flowing and gave us about 700 gallons to process today, along with whatever else comes today. Today lines are thawing out early and will be running hard. It’s going to be a productive day in the sugar house!

01/23/2021

Sometimes you just get lucky, never noticed this until after tying the pipe on!

01/16/2021

A little bit frosty at the office this morning.

01/10/2021

Spending the evening making drop lines, definitely a colorful batch this year!

01/01/2021

Well another step in our Maple journey was taken tonight. After many years with our old filter press it was finally time to upgrade to something larger. A big thank you to George and Cathy at Schweigarts Maple Equipment for getting this in for us! Time is ticking and soon this press will be going to work.

12/23/2020

If you still need a last minute Christmas gift we still have plenty of syrup in various sizes available.

11/25/2020

I wanted to take a moment and say “Thank you” to everyone who bought pumpkins from us this year. With your help we were able to raise $75 for the Southern Tier Food Bank! That will help feed 225 families in our community!

11/23/2020

It’s that time of the year again! We are now taking orders for our fresh Christmas wreaths. We have 2 sizes available, small wreaths (approximately 18” wide), and large wreaths (approximately 24” wide). Small wreaths are $20, and large wreaths are $25.

11/17/2020

We have restocked with lamb for all your holiday needs. We have Leg of lamb, roasts, chops and ground lamb available. Message us for pricing and availability.

10/31/2020

We have a few pumpkins left on our stand. We are giving away these final few pumpkins. If you or someone you know needs a pumpkin please come and get them. If you feel inclined to you may leave a donation and we will add that to our fundraiser for the Food Bank of the Southern Tier.

10/17/2020

Sale! All remaining pumpkins at our stand will be on sale for $1 each, and gourds will be $0.25 each. We would like to say thank you to all our customers this fall by paying it forward. All proceeds from our remaining pumpkins will be donated to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier to help fight hunger in our community. Located at our farm on East Sullivanville rd in Horseheads.

10/10/2020

We are down to our last pumpkins for the season! Stop by and get yours before they’re gone. Have a sweet tooth? We have plenty of our very own pure maple syrup! Available in pints, quarts, and 1/2 gallon sizes. Perfect for those weekend breakfasts or a great sweetener for your morning coffee!

09/17/2020

Pumpkin season has arrived! While we wish that Mother Nature was more cooperative in bringing us rain over the summer we still managed to have some pumpkins, though not as large as we had hoped for. Pumpkins are available at our farm on East Sullivanville rd in Horseheads and will be available through Halloween or until we sell out.

09/08/2020

We know we might be jumping the gun a little bit, but with the recent cooler temps it has us thinking about fall. We will have pumpkins and gourds for sale at our farm on East Sullivanville rd in Horseheads. We still have plenty of lamb chops and roasts available and of course pure maple syrup.

08/13/2020

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas! Giving these beauties a little trim today. All while humming Christmas Carol’s.

08/12/2020

We have USDA processed lamb chops, bone in leg of lamb, roasts and ground lamb available. Message for price and availability.

08/11/2020

Mother Nature must have a sense of humor. After spending the weekend irrigating the pumpkins we were blessed to get almost an inch of rain!

08/08/2020

The phrase “Making it rain” has different meaning to farmers. Giving the 2020 pumpkin crop a much needed drink today

06/01/2020

It was a busy couple of days getting all the hay equipment out of hibernation, but we were able to make some really nice cow chow and get the bugs worked out before the next stretch of dry weather. @ Hill Top Maple Farm

04/26/2020

If you have traveled along East Sullivanville rd this past week you might have noticed a new sign along the way. If you need syrup we ask that you call with your order and we will arrange a time for you to pick up your order.

04/15/2020

Despite the world being brought to a stand still we were able to pick up our new bale wrapper.

04/02/2020

While the Covid-19 pandemic has caused us to cancel our open house for 2020. We still have syrup for sale. We are taking orders over the phone and arranging pick up times for curbside pick up.

03/18/2020

It’s 11am, the RO is going, it froze last night and the trees are starting to run. This could be the last sap run of the season. We will see how the higher temps treat us tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy few days!

03/16/2020

These are the kind of sap runs we like to see. It froze overnight and then sun and 40 degree temps really help to get the sap moving.

03/15/2020

In our woods we utilize what is called a wet/dry mainline system. It is basically 2 mainlines setup one over the other. This helps us in two ways.
1. It helps with the transfer of vacuum out to our farthest taps. See picture 1.
2. On mornings when the sap lines are frozen sap can flow down the dry line to the sap releaser allowing the wet line to thaw as the day gets warmer.

03/15/2020

Sunday morning sap haul! Kind of surprised how well the sap ran yesterday. It was pretty chilly with only peaks of sun but none the less we will have about 700 gallons of sap to boil today.

03/13/2020

While the pay may not be as good as some other jobs one thing is for sure, you can’t beat the view!

03/13/2020

Sap had turned cloudy on us earlier in the week, but with a little cooler weather it has cleared right back up. About 1100 gallons of sap to process today!

03/10/2020

It was a pretty decent run today, 900 gallons of sap overnight, all concentrated and making some great flavored syrup.

03/09/2020

If only there was smellovision!

03/02/2020

Have you seen the latest NYS maple E-newsletter? You can check out the history of our farm!

Did you get the NYS Maple E-Newsletter last week? If you did, thank you for being a dedicated member of the NYS Maple family. If you didn't, you should really think about signing up - you are given the chance to learn and experience the world of maple in a whole new way!

Each bottle tells a story and each farmer has a story to tell. To give you a taste of the sweetness, we are sharing with you the most recent featured farm in the E-Newsletter:

Hill Top Maple Farm is owned and operated by Jeff Benjamin and his family. Hill Top is a first-generation farm. Jeff developed a love for farming on his grandparents' farm when he was growing up. The hard work and dedication that Jeff's grandfather had for all of those years, is now developed in his grandson. Family is at the core of what sparked his interest in maple. He shares fond memories of making maple syrup on a flat pan and barrel arch with his father and brothers - this was only the beginning to a sweet future!

Jeff began his maple journey in the spring of 2005 when he visited a neighboring maple producer and learned that a north-facing sugar wood works well for maple production, so he decided to give it a try. In the spring of 2006, he tapped 120 trees and finished the year making 40 gallons of syrup while building the sugarhouse.
The following 10 years consisted of slow growth, but growth there was - upgrading from flat pans to a real evaporator, learning how to incorporate vacuum tubing, and a focus on developing the business and knowledge of sugar making.

Today, Hill Top Maple Farm taps 500 trees, utilizing a high vacuum to maximize their yield and reverse osmosis to increase energy efficiency. The same evaporator that has been producing all of that maple for all of those years has not retired yet, it has just undergone a little bit of a makeover: adding a high-efficiency wood-fired arch and a Steamaway to further increase efficiency.

Hill Top Maple Farm produces 150 gallons of syrup annually which is sold through their farm stand and they even partake in some wholesale opportunities. Jeff's goal is to build a business that his children will one day be able to take over and then pass on to their children someday.
Jeff wears many hats as a farmer. Besides maple, Hill Top also raises beef cattle and registered Shropshire sheep, along with selling hay, pumpkins and fresh Christmas wreaths.