HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-04-01, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1987. PAGE 5.
A group of visitors from the Waterloo area pauses to examine sap
simmering in a huge iron kettle over an open fire, a demonstration of
how early pioneers made maple syrup, usually the only sweetener
included in their diet. Maple Keys has a large number of pioneer
Maple Keys Sugar Bush
MVCA brings history to life
One of the most popular rites of
spring in north Huron County is the
annual trek to the Maple Keys
Sugar Bush in Grey Township,
where hundreds of visitors each
year can watch maple syrup being
made and delight in the taste of the
truly Canadian delicacy.
During the time the sap is
running, the Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority (MVCA)
holds an open house at the 90-acre
maple bushlot, hosting hundreds
of visitors each year to a “ Pancake
Day” and to the hilarious shenani
gans of teams of local council
members and media personnel
which vie for the coveted “Maple
Madness” award, tallying points
toward the trophy in events such as
a pancake flipping relay race and
pancake eating.
A major highlight for visitors are
the walkabouts guided by MVCA
staff, in which small groups are
taken on a complete tour of maple
syrup history from early pioneer
days until the present, with
working exhibits carefully set up to
show how the sap was collected and
boiled from the days of hollowed-
out basswood logs right up to the
modern pipeline methods of today.
Located on Grey sideroad 30-31,
two concession south of Highway
86 near Molesworth, the sugar
bush is open to the public all year
round for nature hikes and picnics.
MVCA staffer “Sadie the Pioneer” [a.k.a. Esther Bush of Gorrie] delights a large group of visitors with
her authentic demonstration of maple syrup making as practised by the Indians long before the white
settlers arrived in Canada. Using Forked sticks, Sadie picks hot rocks out of a campfire and drops them into
ahollowed-out basswood log containing maple sap. With the sudden addition of heat, water is driven out
as clouds of steam, eventually leaving behind only pure maple syrup, which is then strained to remove the
debris.
Little Sean English celebrated his fourth birthday by going to see how
maple sugar is made, testing the quality of the sap right at the source.
Sean is the son of Harper and Lea English of Wingham. The
hand-carved wooden bucket and home-made hardwood spile are
authentic reproductions of original maple syrup equipment, two of
many such items of early Canadians in actual use at the Grey Township
sugar bush.
March, MVCA staff is always on
hand throughout the two weekends
which usually make up the syrup
making season of “Pancake
Days.’’ There is no admission
charge, andvisitorscan wander
freely about the entire site at any
hour of the day.
The International
Scene
Tips on being
well-read
BY RAYMOND CANON
If you are going to keep up with
what is going on in the world, it is
generally assumed that you do a bit
of reading on the matter and on a
regular basis at that. It won’t do to
look at the 30 or 60 second film clips
which are a daily feature on T.V.
news programs since they are far
too brief to do anything more than
give the viewer a glimpse of the
current situation. Frequently the
sameT.V. stationswill use nothing
more than clips from their files
which means that they are showing
you something that has happened
in the past and which is similar but
not identical to current events.
For this reason if you feel that
you are not able to keep up with
world events but would like to, let
me give you the following prescrip
tion:
Above all, get yourself a good
atlas and go over it thoroughly. It
will be counterproductive to try to
figure out from the news reports
what is going on in, say, Afghani
stan when you have no idea
precisely where the country is or
which other countries border on it.
A few minutes with an atlas will be
sufficient to understand why it is
that Pakistan gets mentioned so
frequently, especially when it is a
question of a peace treaty between
the Russian-supported regime in
Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
on one side and the Afghan rebels
on the other.
The same goes for other coun
tries in the news. Let me ask you a
couple of questions. Can you tell
me without looking at a map what
countries border on Lebanon?
Where are the following places
thathavefrequently beenin the
news- Chad, Ecuador, Kazakh
stan, Zimbabwe? See what I mean!
Now that we have the question of
geography settled, what reading
should you undertake each week?
If I were to be sent off to a desert
island, I would make sure that I had
the British news magazine, the
Economist, mailed to me each
week, even if 1 got no other
magazine. Don’t let the name fool
you. While it does have some
articles on economics in each of its
issues, it is much more a news
magazine and in this respect it is
head and shoulders above any
American counterpart such as
Time or Newsweek.
To give you an idea of its
contents, it has a series of lead
articles on any number of current
topics followed by articles on the
United States, Europe and Britain
as well as a number of an
international nature. There are
business, finance and science
sections followed by book reviews.
Needless to say there are letters to
the editor. This is a magazine that
you can read from cover to cover
and I do just that. I can’t even wait
for it to come by post, given the
vagaries of our postal system and
thus I have one of the local
newsstands save it for me when it
comes in. My wife can vouch for the
fact that, if the Economist is a day
late, I am nothing less than
crotchety for the entire day. She is
almost prepared to drive toToronto
to get a copy if that would make me
any happier.
For Canadians the chief maga
zine to read is MacLean’s although
I find its quality to be somewhat
uneven at times. Some of the
writers are, to be sure, quite good
and I never miss them. Others I
tolerate - barely. However, it will
give you a view of the world from a
Canadian angle.
The Globe and Mail claims to be
Canada’s national paper and I
guess I will have to take their word
for it since it does come closest to
being just that. It does have its bias
which is at times quite noticeable
but its business section is espe
cially good. If I look at the Toronto
Star at all, it is the Sunday edition.
There are good summaries as well
as some equally good in-depth
reporting on certain topics.
It is too bad that we have to wait
through 20 minutes of the National
before we come to the Journal since
that is where the meat of the news
is to be found. Incidentally,
Canadian news programs are
generally quite good compared to
their American counterparts. That
may be the reason why so many
news people from Canada are
offered jobs in the States in a
similar capacity.
Don’t expect to become totally
conversant overnight. It will take
some time but it will be time well
spent. If you persist, who knows,
people might start coming to you
for explanations, tacitly accepting
you as the local expert. The
possibilities are endless..........!