Chris Cook is ready to sell his many maple products at a recent community event. Cooks Maple Products, LLC. will be participating in the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Open Farm Day, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 18, located at 247 County Road 20 in Sherburne, Four Corners. (Submitted photo)

SHERBURNE — Cooks Maple Products, LLC. will be participating in the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Open Farm Day, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 18, located at 247 County Road 20 in Sherburne, Four Corners.

Owners Kim and Chris Cook invite the community to take a break from the kitchen and enjoy their hardy pancake breakfast and also sample many of their maple products throughout the day.

“The pancake breakfast will start at 7 a.m. until 12 p.m., Kim said. “The cost for adults will be $10 for pancake and sausage with drink or coffee, $5 for twelve and under, and free for ages under three.”

Product sampling will be between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and wagon rides will be between 10 a.m. and noon.

The Cooks said they are excited to be part of the CCE Open Farm Day so they can help raise awareness of maple production, in hopes that young people may produce maple products themselves.

Their maple products include syrup, sugar, cream, popcorn, cotton candy, candy, sauces, infusions, ice cream, fudge, and dog biscuits.

“The maple cotton candy is really popular,” Kim said. “It’s really good.”

There will also be a photo opportunity with the big bear statue in front of the sugarhouse.

She said they have a passion for teaching and visitors should feel free to ask any questions any time.

“It’s a teaching thing, we love to educate people and enjoy showing kids how to drill holes in trees for tapping,” she added.

She said they give tours to schools and just gave a tour in late spring, adding, “we give about two to three tours a year and offer samples for people to try our products during those tours.”

“We’ve made a lot of good friends with our customers in New York and out-of-state,” she said. “It’s a great industry.

“When we went to Michigan to the Northeastern Maple Council, we won three awards for our maple sugar candy and our syrup,” Kim said. “There was a lot of competition and it was pretty exciting.”

“We go to Canada to sell our products and every year we visit different areas, that’s a lot of fun too,” she added.

Their family is third generation maple producers and have long enjoyed everything maple. Kim noted her husband Chris grew up making syrup with his dad, and now their son Zachary participates in the business too.

Kim also mentioned their niece Lindsey Murphy is a great help with their business and she means a lot to them.

She said their busiest season is during sap season, usually January to March, depending on Mother Nature and when the sap runs.

“That’s when we’re hard at work producing and making syrup,” Kim continued, “the summer seasons we are very busy with our retail business and fall and winter we are absolutely the busiest because we make everything else during the rest of the year.”

When they find free time, they go tubing with the kids and grandkids and take some time for family to vacation together.

“The last two years have been hard to get everyone together but we usually go annually,” she said. “Chris loves to hunt and fish on his time off and we also have ATV’s and we trap shoot.”

In between running a business and finding spare time for family outings, the Cooks built a new kitchen to keep their pure maple separate from their other items.

“So we now have two commercial kitchens and also we’ll be building on the back of the building to expand it,” she added.

The farm was originally called Donnival Farm and was a dairy farm, established about 100 years ago in the 1920’s.

It has held three generations of maple farmers, but recently the farm was divided between the two Cook brothers, Marty and Chris, with Marty changing production to crops and beef cows, maintaining the Donnival name.

The division of the farm came after their parents Don and Maryjane Cook passed and Kim and Chris took it over, naming the farm Cooks Maple Products, LLC.

“Don and Maryjane started everything maple and we sure do miss them,” Kim said.

“You have to love this maple business to do it and my husband loves it so much,” she said. “He started doing maple syrup with his dad in the driveway when he was eight years old.”

The Cook farm is open seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 9.pm. Visitors can take advantage of dropping in anytime, as it is self serve. Cash, Check, or Card are accepted.

For more information, follow the Cooks on their Facebook page at Cooks Maple Products.