HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-02-12, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015. PAGE 11.
For the Bachert family, producing
maple syrup, and some other maple
products, is a hobby that, in four
short years, has become a large
component of life on their Moncrieff
Road farm.
The family farm, called Blyth
Creek Maple Farm, which produces
organic chicken and non-genetically
modified (GMO) beef, has added a
sugar bush, shack and café where
people can enjoy the labours of all
the listed produce of the farm as well
as products from neighbouring farms
as well.
“We went from a hobby that
turned into a small farm business
niche,” patriarch Steve said. “We
spent the last few days visiting
schools, since our first goal is
educating youth on maple syrup and
how it’s made.”
Val, Steve’s wife, said they’ve
received interest from the schools
that could total 250 students visiting
their farm. The couple also said there
has been a lot of good feedback.
“We take the students, and anyone
else who visits, through the process
of making maple syrup from the way
local Ojibwa encampments would
have done it through the pioneers,
who enhanced the process with iron
ore, further to modern day
production in our own feed-silo-
turned-sugar-shack,” Steve said,
adding there are some other fun
activities included in the tour, like
archery at the model Ojibwa camp.
From the settlers’ camps, the
modern pumps and lines are running
to bring sap from the trees to the vats
which gets brought back to the sugar
shack, where the children gather
after their tour.
After seeing the evaporator,
students will enjoy some pancakes
prepared in a mobile kitchen
accessible from the dining hall set up
on the farm, called the Maple Café.
The mobile kitchen has seen a lot
of action this year as the Bacherts’
teenage children used it to serve
pancakes and syrups at the Brussels
Farmers’ Market and the Walton
TransCan.
This isn’t the first time the land
has served as a place to harvest sap
and make syrup, as Steve’s
grandfather, Bert, originally
practised the art in the 1960s.
However, Steve’s father didn’t enjoy
it as much as he does.
“It started as a hobby for us
because I really enjoy it,” he said.
“There’s something special about it.”
He said that, as far as hobbies go,
some people enjoy snowmobiling or
other sports, but he wanted to get
involved with syrup so, four years
ago, he started with a tiny evaporator
that would take hours to make a
single pint of syrup. From there, the
batches have gotten bigger and the
equipment has grown more complex.
The practice has become a real
family affair according to Steve and
Val, who say their children, Nathan
and Courtney, have become very
involved.
Nathan, with $500, built the
Ojibwa camp and has plenty of ideas
as to how to make the tour and
educational program more
interesting while Courtney has
handled both the technological and
artistic aspects of the endeavour,
including decorations around the
café.
Val said that during her time
researching farming sap and making
maple syruip she discovered that the
activity has always been a whole-
family event, and her own
experience proved that.
“Maple sugaring has always been
a family oriented job,” she said. “We
have some good talks and spend a lot
of great time together when we’re
boiling.”
Steve enjoys the work because of
how intensive and hands-on it is.
“Most jobs have been made very
easy by technology, and this hasn’t,”
he said. “There is technology and it
helps, but it’s still very labour
intensive and, at the end of the day,
that’s rewarding.”
Steve said there’s little he enjoys
more than spending a full day setting
up the lines in the bush and then
having a home cooked meal.
For their first season in operation,
the Bacherts are hitting the ground
running, planning events for this
weekend for both Valentine’s Day on
Saturday and Family Day on
Monday.
“We’ll be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
on Family Day,” Val said. “For
Valentine’s Day, we’re doing a
couples dinner that will feature
organic stuffed chicken and a
romantic trail walk followed up by
hot chocolate in the Maple Café.”
The site will also be open during
March Break from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
for families to visit.
For more information about the
business and what it offers, visit
blythcreekmaplefarm.com or find
the Bacherts’ farm on Facebook.
Bacherts open Blyth Creek Maple Farm
With a reduction of over $700,000
in Ontario Municipal Partnership
Fund (OMPF) money and over
$500,000 in pending grant requests,
Huron County Council had its hands
full as the budget process continued
on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Treasurer Michael Blumhagen
presented a list of both potential
pluses and minuses to the budget
after many councillors had been
skeptical about his initial proposed
tax levy increase of nearly 5.5 per
cent last month.
Blumhagen reviewed the grant
requests council had yet to approve,
totalling $505,311, but also detailed
$651,480 in items eliminated from
the proposed budget, as well as an
additional $861,850 he felt could
also be cut from the multi-million-
dollar budget.
Items that were eliminated from
the budget prior to the council
meeting included a waste
management transfer of $100,000, a
reduction in annual funding for
Water Source Protection of
$100,000, a transfer in accordance
with the structural compliance
premium for the county’s homes for
the aged in the amount of $201,480
and a capital expenditures reduction
of $125,000 each for the social
housing and facilities budgets for a
total of $651,480.
Blumhagen presented 15
additional cuts for council’s
consideration, totalling $861,850. If
all cuts were passed, coupled with
Blumhagen’s pre-meeting cuts, it
would reduce the proposed tax levy
increase by 2.42 per cent, leaving
the budget with a proposed 3.03 per
cent tax levy increase in a budget
that still didn’t include any of the
grant requests made late last year
and early this year.
The first suggestion considered by
council was a reduction of
$100,000 – a request from the
newly-formed Economic
Development Board.
Another item in the budget was a
transfer of $1 million from the
county’s general reserve to a newly-
created reserve dedicated solely to
the Economic Development Board,
an item with no impact on the budget
because it is both taken from, and
moved to, reserves. Blumhagen’s
suggestion was that the requested
$100,000 could be taken from that
$1 million, rather than treated as an
additional budget item.
Bluewater Mayor Tyler Hessel
said he felt the suggestion made
sense and he made a motion to
implement it, which was supported
by council.
South Huron Deputy-Mayor
David Frayne then moved a
recommendation that council pass
all of Blumhagen’s suggested cuts,
which generated more discussion.
Blumhagen’s 14 other proposed
cuts are: $65,000 from the facilities
capital budget, $33,500 from the
facilities operating budget, $122,250
from the housing capital budget,
County makes budget cuts
A family affair
For the Bacherts, collecting sap and preparing syrup is a family affair that’s also educational.
Val and Steven, shown above, and their children Courtney and Nathan, have set up a special
sugar bush under the name Blyth Creek Maple Farm which includes a glimpse into the past
showing how First Nations people and original settlers used sap to produce foodstuffs. (Denny
Scott photo)
You made history last year
Tell us about it
Join all the other couples who were married
last year in
The Citizen’s Parade of Brides
on February 26.
Simply send or bring in a copy of your
favourite wedding photo and the following details to
The Citizen by February 20
along with your payment of $25. (includes HST)
Name of Bride ___________________________________
Name of Groom __________________________________
Bride’s Parents___________________________________
Groom’s Parents _________________________________
Date of Wedding _________________________________
Location of Wedding ______________________________
Cost ~ $25.00 (must be prepaid)
Deadline ~ February 20
...................................
The Citizen
Box 429, Blyth
N0M 1H0 519-523-4792
or
Box 152, Brussels
N0G 1H0 519-887-9114
email ~ info@northhuron.on.ca
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 23