The Rural Voice, 1996-03, Page 25depending on what kind of season it
is but the price seems likely to be $35
for a four -litre can this year because
last year's short crop has created a
shortage of good quality syrup.
"The weather is the whole thing,"
Han -y says of syrup making. "If you
don't get suitable weather you won't
get good maple syrup." There are
some years you'd think predictions
of climate warming were true when it
warms up and it stays warm and
foggy and the temperature doesn't
drop at night to make the sap run
longer. Still, he says, he can't
remember when there was ever a
complete crop failure.
While prices received for
syrup have increased, so
have costs, of course. He
can remember when he bought an
evaporator pan for $200. Now a good
one costs $4400. Still, he says, "I
think you can make money making
syrup if you don't get carried away
with equipment. You can't if you get
the (equipment) catalogue out and
say I'm going to buy this and this and
that."
Still, he doesn't see a lot of young
producers getting into the business
and the number of producers across
the province doesn't seem to be
growing.
Today Harry runs about 1,200
taps and sometimes processes for a
neighbour who has about 200 taps.
"I'm really a pretty small outfit
today," he says. "At one time this
would have been a big outfit. It gives
us something to do every spring."
He confesses not to know how
much longer he'll stay in the
business. "Tapping is the hardest
job," he says. Though modern power
equipment makes tapping easier (a
large operator can do 1000 taps a day
where in the old days, with brace and
bit, 200 a day would be a big
accomplishment) but there's still
wading through the deep snow to get
to the trees. "The legs are getting
old," he says.
They're not so old to prevent him
going to the bush this spring,
however. When the sap begins to run
in the trees it can make a person's
whole body feel younger again. For
Harry Thomas, like many maple
syrup producers, the March tradition
continues.°
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MARCH 1996 21