Friends and family gathered over the weekend at the sugar camp at Glen Villa Art Garden for an old-fashioned sugaring off.
This view makes the sugar camp look bigger than it is.
What’s a sugaring off, you ask? In my world, it’s an excuse for a party!
More factually, a sugaring off marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It’s a time for people to gather together — and to indulge in the sugar high that comes when maple sap is boiled beyond the syrup stage to become taffy.
As soon as the weather begins to warm up, we tap some maple trees and hang buckets to catch the sap.
In the days and weeks before a sugaring off, sap is gathered and boiled almost daily. It takes about 40 gallons or litres of sap to make one gallon or litre of syrup. Boiling it down to exactly the right consistency is an art.
Ken Kelso and Jacques Gosselin make award-winning maple syrup.
We used to have a sugaring off every year but this was our first one post-Covid, and even if the day was overcast, with light snow and freezing rain, we still had lots of fun.
The road into the sugar camp was muddy before people began to arrive. Afterwards, it was much worse.
We provided sausages, baked beans and drinks, and everyone brought food to share. It was quite a spread.
Salads, pickles, Joanne’s ham, and crudités help to balance off the sugar.
And quite a crowd!
Friends and family of all ages, gathered inside and out.
Two grandsons carried a wooden tray packed with fresh snow to prepare for the ‘dessert’ course — la tire, or in English, sugar on snow.
Thank you, David and Alistair!
People gathered, popsicle sticks in hand, ready to twirl a tasty treat.
Jacques is about to pour the syrup on the snow.
Not surprisingly, kids were among the first to get a taste.
Wait your turn!
And boy, was it delicious!
Some of these faces belong to grandchildren.
Meanwhile, inside the camp, sap was becoming syrup.
Ken is filling the syrup cans, Jacques is sealing them.
Outside, people were enjoying themselves. And loving la tire.
NOTE: Keep tuned … by the end of next week or early the following week, tickets for the Open Garden Days go on sale. Numbers are limited so buy your tickets early!
Oh, this looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing it.
We had a wonderful time. I hope we can repeat the experience next year.
Always a joyful sign of spring — sap ping pinging in the buckets. Makes me nostalgic for the Townships!
You aren’t the only one who felt nostalgic. One person said she almost cried when she arrived — it reminded her of years spent with her grandfather at his sugar camp.
Oh yay, it must be Spring. Thanks for sharing Pat.
We thought it was — then woke up this morning to another snowfall. It is beautiful to see today but I’m ready for snowdrops and crocuses.
Damn…..I miss North Hatley!
I also miss North Hatley, haven’t been back in decades. Hope to return this coming summer, for a couple of days, with some of my family. Love connecting through Lac Massawippi, especially about PV beach, etc since my parents and grandparents owned Pleasant View Hotel…a/k/a “PV”. Most of my friends and neighbours have passed, so have no idea if I will see anybody that I know!!
You may be surprised… lots of people come back. MacKay: boat builders?
It is still here!