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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 $2,000 this year. The squirrels are definite- ly a nuisance. "Oh, they've been called worse than that around here....", Mr. Roney grins. The sap lines feed into a holding tank, and then into the pumphouse. Here, a •,:••N syrup and the pito of the vat would have to be almost completely replaced. "With a fire, you have to be very careful, -!'.4*- RunerenPlainn, noting that his syrup -vat is wood. fired. "You can't go away for five minutes when that thing's, boiling." Mr. Roney, along,with 40 or so fellow producers in the province, entered into a Maple Syrup co-op venture a little over a year ago in the hopes of being able to bet- ter market and sell his product. Although he sells most of his crop locally, the co-op . • THE HII8QkEXIVSITIQR,.:FEBRIPARY 28, 119.0 - 4A •••...4:1^ separator removes some of the water from the natural sap product before the liquid is funnelled into a 140 -gallon evaporator and boiled to a thick consistency. Mr. Roney explains that the sap coming from the trees has a base sugar percentage of about two per cent. After the sap is run through the separator, the percentage goes up to seven or eight per cent, reducing the boil- ing time considerably. Still, boiling the sap is a time consuming process that has to be monitored continuously. One batch of burnt Ottk ate „ issf '$'44<ritilr''''WitiV4070X,"W4 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 •