HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-02-28, Page 3Staffa man priming uri for the ma
"It's a, ug that gets into you."
At 1et that's the way he puts it, but it
has to,be more than just a 'bug' that com-
pels George Roney to venture out to his
Staffa woodlot in the early morning hours,
ev$ry day from December to March, to
tend to his 80 plus acres of syrup maples.
Aided only by a a friend or two during the
peak of the season. Mr. Roney taps over
1600 trees and processes it into world-
famous Ontario maple syrup. He's been at
it for 15 years now, and he remembers his
first ventures into the business. Back then,
Mr. Roney had six trees manually tapped
with the sap running into buckets, the old-
fashioned way.
"That was back when it was fun, then,"
he laughs.
"It's a big business now."
He figures that there are about 1500
maple syrup producers in operation in On-
tario, but that the size of their businesses
ranges anywhere from a 10-20 tree opera-
tion to a 10,000 tree venture, such as one
run by a fellow producer in Auburn. And
gone are the days of the spigot and bucket
for George Roney. Getting the sap from
the trees to the processing vat in the pum-
phouse now involves over 20 miles of
plastic pipeline.
"Everybody in town is complaining
about the squirrels in their bird feeders,"
he remarks wryly, waving a hand at the
pipeline that he's been checking and
repairing for the last number of weeks.
The problem? Squirrels chewing holes
through the line. Every rend Must be seal-
ed, or air getting into the sap will damage
the product. Repairing the varmints,' an
diwork will cost George Roney upwards of
$2,000 this year. The squirrels are definite-
ly a nuisance.
"Oh, they've been called worse than that
around here....", Mr. Roney grins.
The sap lines feed into a holding tank,
and then into the pumphouse. Here, a
•,:••N
syrup and the pito of the vat would have
to be almost completely replaced.
"With a fire, you have to be very
careful, -!'.4*- RunerenPlainn, noting that
his syrup -vat is wood. fired.
"You can't go away for five minutes
when that thing's, boiling."
Mr. Roney, along,with 40 or so fellow
producers in the province, entered into a
Maple Syrup co-op venture a little over a
year ago in the hopes of being able to bet-
ter market and sell his product. Although
he sells most of his crop locally, the co-op
. •
THE HII8QkEXIVSITIQR,.:FEBRIPARY 28, 119.0 - 4A
•••...4:1^
separator removes some of the water from
the natural sap product before the liquid is
funnelled into a 140 -gallon evaporator and
boiled to a thick consistency. Mr. Roney
explains that the sap coming from the
trees has a base sugar percentage of about
two per cent. After the sap is run through
the separator, the percentage goes up to
seven or eight per cent, reducing the boil-
ing time considerably. Still, boiling the sap
is a time consuming process that has to be
monitored continuously. One batch of burnt
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BEEHIVE OF ACTIVITY - George Roney's 'sugar shack', just outside of Staffa, will
be humming once the sap starts running. Mr. Roney is busily repairing sap lines
in the 80 -acres of maple forest behind the outbuilding. Elliott photo.
will help _himself and his associates to
market the bulk crop - about 150 gallons,
in his case - to larger markets and
supermarkets.
"When we got into this co-op, I'd never
been involved with the grocery stores," he
says.
"It really opens your eyes."
Another spanner in the works as far as
the bulk prices are concerned is the
amount of syrup flooding the market from
Quebec. Producing roughly 75% of the
world's maple syrup, Quebecois producers
have been fed grants from their Provincial
government to up production. This baffles
George Roney, who notes that no govern-
ment assistance is established for Ontario
producers. He also points out that "..the
guy with the most syrup determines the
prices," and in the face of Quebec's in-
creased production in recent years, the
bulk prices have dropped right through the
floor.
"Right now, there's the equivalent of a
crop and a half in storage in Quebec, and
they don't know what to do with it."
What with non-uniform pricing, a flood-
ed market and uncertain weather condi-
tions, the Maple Syrup business certainly
isn't one of the more secure ones. But it
is a labour of love for George Roney, and
with luck, circumstances will complement
his hard work for a successful season. If
all goes well and the weather holds up
("You want nights just below zero, and
then have it warm to just above zero the
next day."), Mr. Roney expects to harvest
400-450 gallons of syrup.
TWENTY MILES TO GO - With 20 miles of sap line to check in his syrup maple
lots, George Roney of Staffa has his work cut out for him. His archenemies are
the squirrels, whochew holes in the line. Elliott photo.
Generally, the maple syrup harvest is
wrapped up for the first week of April.
And then a summer of leisure?
"Chores." George Roney glances back at
the woodlot with a wry sonile."And then
you come back here and work for most of
the day, again."
"Some people think that there's nothing
to this," he remarks, slinging another bun-
dle of line over his shoulder before trekk-
ing back into the trees.
"I tell them to come out here for a day
and work with me...but nobody's taken me
up on the offer!"
‘..
WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT? -Jim Crawford makes the mistake of gawking at
fellow Rolling Thunder theatre troupe member Kirk Griesser, who turns out to be
blind. . .
SDHS students take
a'"Good,
The sound of Rolling Thunder filled the
Seaforth District High School auditorium
on Monday afternoon, and staff and
students took an hour off to stop and
listen, and give a Good Hard Look.
A Good Hard Look is the name of the
latest production by the Rolling Thunder
theatre group. Based out of Partipaction
House in Brantford, the troupe of five
disabled and able-bodied actors is in the
middle of a tour that will see them per-
form 209 shows in a nine-month "season".
This is the company's fifth year of perfor-
ming, and A Good Hard Look is their
fourth show.
The play, comprised of a series of skits,
focuses on attitudes of both able-bodied
and disabled people towards themselves
and each other. The key element in the
performance is humour, but Rolling
Thunder has no qualms about treading on
thin ice and the humour cuts pretty close
to the bone a number of times. One skit
has a cerebral palsied man, played by Jim
Crawford, mocking a fellow who he
asserted was staring at him because of his
ard Look"
physical handicap. After ranting at his
friends, he then watches slack -jawed as
victim stands up and unfolds a white cane.
"Well...he didn't LOOK blind, O.K.!!?"
Other skits included three disabled men
trawling for a date in a nightclub, the con-
tinuing saga of bombastic evangelist Bob-
by bleeding the audience for dollars, and
the dark "Rent -A -Wreck" ("..rent a disabl-
ed person and feel better about yourself.")
The performance was liberally peppered
with local references and wisecracks. "Is
there a Lenscrafter in this area?", the
near-sighted 'charity case' asked Bobby.
"Son," replied Bobby, "there's NOTHING
in this area....".
The show wrapped with a wonderfully
choreographed skit of a bigoted man and
his equally bigoted son encountering three
disabled men in a photo booth, done entire-
ly in slow motion to a driving bass beat.
In many cases, the silence after a skit
spoke louder than any applause. It meant
that Rolling Thunder had achieved their
end and gotten the wheels turning.
TERRORSTRUCK, a bigoted youth (Kirk Griesser) flees in horror from a Cerebral
Palsied stranger (Jim Crawford) in slow motion, but not before turning to jab at
his eyes, Rolling Thunder performed for S.D.H.S. students on Monday.
Phot.s by Paula E
"THE NIGHT OF THE DISABLED PSOPL81" - Kirk Griesser, playing a bigoted boy,
screams in silent horror as two Cerebral Palsied strangers (Al Sunisloe and Jim
Crawford) emerge from a photo booth.
DOESN'T THAT JUST TEAR YOUR
HEART OUT? - The 'Reverend Bobby'
(Larry Brown) exhorts to the Seaforth
District High audience during Rolling
Thunder's Monday afternoon perfor-
mance.
STEADY, BOY!! - Bobby (Larry Brown)
administered the healing touch to his
victim (Kirk Griesser)
Wed., Feb. 28
1:00 - 3:00 p.m. — Parents and Tots Skating
.1:30 - 4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard at
SDCC
4:30 - 5:30 p.m. — Junior Ringette practice
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. — Pee Wee "CC" hockey
practice
6:30 - 8:00 p.m. — Minor Broomball
8:00 - 9:00 p.m. — Fitness Is Fun at SDCC
6:o0 - 10:00 p.m. — Recreational Volleyball
at SDHS
8:00 - 10:30 p.m. — Ladles' Broomball at
SDCC
8:00 - 11:00 p.m. — Men's Competitive
Curling.
Thurs., Mar. 1
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
SDHS
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
SONS
6:30 - 8:00 p.m. —
7:30 - 9:00 p.m. —
7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
8:00 - 10:00 p.m.
7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
8:00 • 11:30 p.m.
— Figure Skating at SDCC
— Atom Hockey practice
— Junior Gymnastics at
— Senior Gymnastics at
Minor Broomball at SDCC
Ballroom Dancing at SDCC
— Wood Carving et SDHS
— Mixed Basketball at SDHS
— Mixed Curing
— Men's Broomball at SDCC
Fri., Mar. 2
1:00 - 3:00 p.m. — Open Curling
2:00 p.m. — World Day of Prayer at Fleet
Presbyterian Church
4:15 - 5:15 p.m. — Petite and Tween Ringette
5:15 • 6:15 p.m. — Junior Houseleague
Hockey
6:15 - 7:15 p.m. — Senior Houseleague
Hockey
7:16 - 8:16 p.m. — Junior Ringette
8:00 - 10:00 p.m. — Mixed Curling
Sat., Mar. 3
9:00 - 11:00 p.m. — Teachers Hockey
Tournament
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. — Story Hour at Library
Sun., Mar. 4
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. — Ringette
9:00. 11:00 p.m. — industrial Hockey League
Mon., Mar. 5
4:30 - 8:30 p.m. — Figure Skating at SDCC
7:00 - 11:00 p.m. — Men's Curling
7:30 - 9:30 p.m. — Wood Refinishing at SDHS
8:00 - 10:00 p.m. — Competitive Volleyball at
SDHS
8:30 - 10:00 p.m. — Kincardine vs. Seal orth
Beavers
10:00 - 11:00 p.m. — Midget Hockey practice
Tues., Mar. 6
10:00 - 12 noon — Parent and Tots Skating
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. — Minor Hockey
6:30 - 8:00 p.m. — Minor Hockey
8:00 - 10:00 p.m. — Minor Hockey
Wed., Mar. 7
1:30 - 4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard
4:30 - 5:30 p.m. — Junior Ringette
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. — Minor Hockey
6:30 - 8:00 p.m. — Minor Broomball
7:30 p.m. — Huron County Branch - Ontario
Genealogical Society meets In Goderich at
the Assessment Board Room, behind the Jell.
Speaker: Frances Storey. Visitors welcome.
Info. 522-1608.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m. — Fitness Is Fun at SDCC
8:00 - 10:00 p.m. — Recreational Volleyball
at SDHS
8:00 - 10:30 p.m. — LadiesBroomball et
SDCC
8:00 - 11:00 p.m. — Men's Competitive
Curling
A
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