The Rural Voice, 2003-03, Page 24A sweet
tale to .tell
Saugeen Bluffs
Conservation Area
shows the long history
of maple sgrup
making, from native
dabs to the present
By Keith Roulston
Acentury and a half ago when European settlers,
many of them with little experience on the land,
tried to survive in the rough pioneer life in the
bush, they learned one survival technique from the native
population that Canadians have been enjoying every spring
since: tapping maple trees for sap and boiling it down to
sweet syrup and sugar.
In the many years since, maple syrup making, like
farming, has changed forever as labour-saving devices and
food safety concerns have had their effect. But for school
children and adults visiting Saugeen Bluffs, north of
Paisley, each spring, there's a chance to see the whole long
history of maple -syrup -making on display.
The Saugeen Conservation Authority's maple syrup
demonstrations began back in 1979 and now each spring
about 1,500 students from 40 schools in Bruce, Grey and
Huron Counties visit Saugeen Bluffs, three kilometers
north of Paisley to learn how maple syrup has been made
over the centuries: As well, during Maple Madness
weekend, this year on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday,
March 30, (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) adults get a chance to
visit the site themselves and partake of this coming -of -
spring institution.
Grades 2 and 3 are targeted for the school tours because
maple syrup relates to their curriculum, but groups from
nursery schools to seniors homes also book visits.
Meanwhile secondary school students from Kincardine
District Secondary School assist in setting up the displays,
teaching the students and cleaning up at the end of the day.
It's a hands-on experience for students. There's a native
encampment where students learn the legend of how maple
syrup was discovered. Using forked sticks, participants
learn the hard way just how much back -breaking labour
was involved for natives as they move rocks from the fire
to a hollow log filled with sap. The natives used the rocks
to heat the sap to boiling and had to keep removing cooled
rocks and adding new hot rocks to keep the sap boiling
until it turned into sugar. For natives this was the one
source they had of sugar to sweeten their food. The dry
product kept well throughout the year, was easier to store
and to transport.
Maple syrup comes from a relatively small part of North
20 THE RURAL VOICE
Students visiting Saugeen Bluffs (top) learn how trees
were tapped in the early days before modern technology.
Below a demonstration helps people learn more about
where sap comes from in a maple tree. Some 1,500
students a year tour the site near Paisley.
-Photos courtesy Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority