I remember growing up as a kid we always went to Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area at every time of year. There was a large pond surrounded by Cattails that they Zambonied a large central rink where hockey was played and an outer loop to be skated around for pleasure. Sometimes if the weather was just right, the whole pond would be crystal clear ice with no snow and then, the pond was your Oyster. There were changing huts, and campfires. In the summer I remember seeing some very large snappers in that pond. We hiked there, cross country skied there, and it was where I ate my first Sour Cream Glazed donut, oh the things you remember.
I will always remember, as well, Sugar season. Maple Madness, they called it. You could start in the parking lot and hop on a canvas covered wagon hauled by tractor, or hike out yourself, to their Sugar Camp. It was setup for educational purposes, but it was certainly a functional sugar bush. They had plastic lines setup running into an evaporator, and they also had buckets hung and old cast iron cauldrons hanging over open flames. There were pancakes! Snow made maple taffy on a stick! etc. I remember asking the old man who was working the sap questions, I was intrigued.
My uncle Tom, my dads brother, is the family historian. Ruth Jackson married Martino Franchetto. The Jacksons settled in a region of southern Ontario known as “The Queens Bush”. We have written diaries of their sugaring experiences. Small and humble, just for the family. Regardless of whether your direct ancestors sugared, I would be surprised if we all didn’t have an inherited excitement around the magic of this time and the process. It is interesting to note, that this area known as the Queens Bush was primarily occupied and settled by escaped or freed Slaves from the states. Once the land was surveyed and lots and concessions were in place, a lot of those occupants could no longer afford to stay there.
Maple Sirup, however, when first started in New England on a commercial scale, was some of the first commercially made Sugar available that was not made by Slaves. As consumers, you could literally choose consciously (or unconsciously) to buy Slave made sugar from the Equatorial Regions, or Freely and Joyfully made sirup of US and Canada. Now, with slaves replaced mostly by machines, chemicals, and fossil fuels, consumers still have a very comparable choice; local, joyfully, freely made Sugar with very minimal machines and fossil fuels (such as ours) ;), or industrial, exploitative sirups made by employment of plastic, propane, diesel, gas, and electricity, or of course, sugar from equatorial regions where locals are forced from the land, it is cleared and planted with cane and shipped around the globe.
It is certainly, our choices as consumers, that shape, carve and dictate the course of this planet and all living beings on it.
It took several years after high school for me to gain full freedom as an adult and take the reins of my life and choose my course as I pleased. And so in the winter of the year 2013, at 23 years old, I decided, one way or another, I was going to make Sirup. The preceding summer I had completed my first Farming Internship, the preceding winter, cooking school. I was still very keen to do another farming internship and had 2 different farms lined up that both did Sirup. I wanted to learn from someone else before starting off myself but when I told my brave entrepreneurial friend Alex Davies about the fact that this Sirup can be freely made his eyes lit up with excitement. He was just arriving home to Ottawa from a few years of travel and life in south and central america. We decided to Giv’er.
Coincidentally, his parents had a cottage in Quebec that was under renovation, that Alex was supposed to do. We figured, since it was Quebec after all, surely there would be some Maple Trees. So my Dad dropped me off at Alexs’ parents house with my pails of pickled radish, kraut, and foodstuffs that I made the summer prior from salvaged veggies of the farm I was interning at and Alex and I proceeded to get ready. We were on a limited budget but figured we needed to buy a few things. Spiles, and a stainless pan. We figured however that buying buckets was not necessary so we went dumpster diving behind restaurants at night with his parents car finding all the 1 gallon tomato cans we could. We also found, while perusing garbage left at the end of suburbanites driveways a serendipitous stash of old 1 gallon wine jugs…like 30 of them! Perfect for bottling our product. We packed his parents car with what we had gathered and set north to the Cottage a Sucre. Sure enough, it was a veritable almost old growth Maple Grove.
We harvested our firewood as we went. We tapped about 250 trees. We renovated, drywalled, and lived in his parents cottage. We harvested in the snow barefoot. We drank Sirup like we had never drank Sirup before. We came out with 13 gallons each (probably drank 13 over the course of those weeks), and some cash earned from his parents for the renovation. It was a success. Our parents were in disbelief. It was to this day, some of the best Sirup I’ve ever made or tasted. I believe this is attributed to the no chimney, open pan. “That Smoky flavour!” Alexs’ mother Lynn, could not get over! “We got flow!” Alex would holler in the morning. “Full Drib, full boil!” is what we would say when the dribble (a wine siphon) was fully open as the boil was raging.
That spring after Sirup had ended I had another farming internship which ended up falling through due to the host farmers health. It was almost June and I told myself if I could not find a place to settle with my dog and grow a garden then I would hit the Road to who knows where. Fate had it that I was introduced to George Kindermann and fate had it that he had a little cabin who’s occupant was just about to move on. Again, I was dropped off by my dad in his work van with all the saws, cast iron pans, crocks, clothing and tools that I had been collecting for years at the secluded cabin in Rockingham, Ontario. That summer and winter passed and he following year, I tapped around 90 trees on Georges property. Blake, my now Wife, and Mother of Child, had just moved in with me.
Maple Madness has served as a landmark in time and space for the past 7 years. It was the fall of this year (2014) that we purchased our farm. The first spring on our farm we tapped around 200 trees with our single horse Cedar (pictures above). The next year, 400 buckets hung and harvested by Cedar and Rita the mule, the following year, 450 buckets harvested by Cedar and Ginger, and last year, 600 buckets harvested by Cedar, Queeny and Vivian.
This year, alas, I believe we will be returning to our humble beginnings, rather than expanding. With our young Georgia to tend, Blake returning to work off the farm as a waitress, and my weak ankle, we will be lucky to hang 100 buckets. I do have some Hides in need of attention, and look forward to tending to them as I once did.
In closing, seek to experience these things on your own, if you can’t, seek producers and harvesters with stories. That what you injest may invest in a culture of care, nurture and connection. And remember, it is Law to lick your plate clean after pancakes…for when you’ve made Sirup by hand, you’ll know its true worth.
- Jackson