By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
CUBA — It’s hard to believe, but CTK Farms maple syrup production began six years ago with 150 sap buckets and a 15-year-old’s dream.
Fast forward to March 2026 and Clifford Karn, part of CTK Farms, one of the area’s fast-growning maple producers. They are operating about 6,000 taps this maple season.
Clifford’s father, Kendal Karn of Karn Automotive and his grandfather, Tim Resch, the retired former beer distributor, recycler and lumber and feed mill operator.
After a long, cold winter, the sap started flowing in the last week, but spotty warm weather could spell an early end to the season. “It’ll get cold again,” Tim said. “We’re looking for at least a couple of good weeks. We’d like to get 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of syrup.”
CTK Farms will be participating along with other maple producers in the region in the New York Maple Weekends March 21-22 and 28-29. To phone ahead, call (585) 610-7279.
You can spot their location at 6117 New Mexico Road from the white smoke coming from shiny exhaust pipes in the roof of the facility.
The smell of the maple is in the air when you get out of your car. Inside the evaporator room, you get the full-on aroma of boiling maple sap.
Tim used to collect sap he sold to others, but didn’t boil it commercially. He still had the sap buckets and when Clifford was 15, he asked if he could use them. “I used a turkey fryer to boil the sap,” he said smiling.
The evaporator in use now is two years old and has a pan measuring 4 by 14 feet. They also have a reverse osmosis machine that brings the water content of the sap down to about 16%. That means there is less water to boil off, which uses less gas. It can make 100 gallons an hour.
“We’ve gotten bigger every year, he said. “We’ve learned a lot from other people in the business and by educating ourselves.”
All their maple sap has to be hauled in. There is no plastic pipeline leading to the facility. Clifford does most of the driving in a truck with a 1,700-gallon tank. CTK Farms Nectar of the Maple is painted on the side of the tank.
Sunday afternoon they filled two wooden barrels that recently held bourbon.
Tim said the barrels are from the Mckenzie Distillery in the Finger Lakes. They still have the aroma of bourbon as they are filled with hot syrup straight off the evaporator. The flavors will mix as the syrup sits in the barrels waiting to be bottled.
The CTK Farms facility has a large parking lot for visitors and room for other area vendors in its attached store. Maple candy, maple cotton candy, maple-flavored popcorn and plenty of containers of CTK Farms maple syrup.
About four years ago, CTK Farms branched out into apple cider, and a portion of the production facility is used to press cider that is sold on New Mexico Road and locally at Giant Foods.
