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The Rural Voice, 2002-03, Page 23tourists. "We consider ourselves to be very blessed with so many different groups (of, customers)", Pullen says. Summer and fall see plenty of tour buses stopping at the farm as part of Stratford -area tours. There are two 400 -place campgrounds within 10 minutes of the market. Summer also brings visitors from the Stratford Festival nearby. American visitors particularly like to pick up small containers of maple syrup to take home. They find it very reasonable because in the U.S. people pay about the same price for syrup in U.S. dollars that we pay here in Canadian dollars. But the Pullens don't just wait for people to come to them. Darlene's experience with children has helped them design school tours. No matter what the subject the teacher may want students to learn about, there's an aspect of a visit to McCully's Hill Farm that can apply. In history, for instance, they can trace the story of maple syrup production from North America's native peoples through great - grandpa's iron kettle to modern arrangement with local restaurants under which people would go to the restaurant and have their pancakes and McCully's maple syrup, then come to the farm for a sugar bush tour as part of a complete maple experience. The problem was, not enough people went to the restaurants. "It seemed they'd like to come right to the farm," Pullen says. Still leery about getting into the food service business, the Pullens worked out a plan to turn the events into fundraising opportunities for charities such as the St. Marys Day Care Nursery, Downie Township Optimist Club and St. Marys Children's Choir. A different group each day comes in to cook and serve the pancakes. "We try to make sure the volunteer groups have a good time," Pullen says. Tours are offered for children -of those serving pancakes as well as for a second parent. Following their meals, visitors going on the tour, get a Maple sgrup can be used to teach nearly every subject on the curriculum evaporators. Geography? There are lessons on the places where maple syrup production is carried out and the reason eastern North America is the only place it happens. For a math lesson, they send students through the sugar bush measuring trees and using their math skills to see how many taps a tree can support. Of course there's the softer way to tug at the heartstrings of teachers and students alike. Each visit includes a visit to the barn where the breeding season has been designed to have baby lambs delivered during maple syrup season. For adults, the weekend tours in March and early April are built around the pancake brunches. Though many people had told them that pancakes were the way to attract customers for maple syrup, Pullen says they avoided getting into the food service business as long as possible. They tried to work out an wagon ride up the hill to the evaporator house. Outside there's a demonstration of syrup making using an old cast iron kettle over an open fire. People get a chance to sample taffy on the snow, (if there is snow, taffy cones otherwise). Next it's off to the barn to see the newborn lambs and piglets. Horse-drawn wagons take visitors into the sugar bush where old fashioned buckets are still used. Then it's back to the market on tractor - pulled wagons for the end of the tour. Because of the extra labour involved, the Pullens charge $5 per adult for the tours. Since ,there are maple syrup producers closer to London who offer free tours to lure people to their operations, some customers object to the charge at first. Those who take the McCully tour, however, later say it was money well spent, Pullen says. "One of our best successes is that people seem to leave happy," Pullen says. 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