The Wingham Advance-Times, 1974-04-18, Page 15the" *Way le 7r
Sissy, 'Wiailia*i Advsae.»
Thies Awl Moog Foreot NO*.
*rale Is mil by MOM pastas I
the .,l,,t Mdw.tt
,Onto
( 00.11 readers in atter 0
$400 IMM
uttlished every in The Listowel Banner, The Wirighain Advance.Tiimu
and The.
Wont Forest Confederate by Wenger Bros. 'Limited. °
car
Ikons.
• Sweet maple air =-a teasing i~in-
ger--Aures magi into the spring-
blessed bush.
He welcomes the challenge to
create perfection from nature's.
offerings; pure syrup flouts from
her generosity,
With a gait of noble errantry he
treads the black trail. Its ooze
Sucks his rubbered feet. Peter
mined, he strives to maintain
balance within the, bush. Over-
head the birds sing the praises of
spring; twinkling haloes insun-
shine, transcending time. Each
mind is stili,
• Thee audience of maple trees
and. wildlife observes the man
with scrutiny, knowing what he is
about to ask of them.
—Crossro
4111
8, 197
ofr-
The request hs been
e . .
and granted, many times before.
The sting of spires driven hard,
the smack of hampers resound-
ing throughout the once -still
vacuum of the bush and the
sleigh's ripping of the ground and
spewing ofslush constitute a rude
awakening of nature from her
winter sleep.
THE BUSH\SURROUNDS THEM—Lloyd Lytle of Mount Forest and Sid Ghent of Arthur
Township are silhouetted against the late afternoon sugar' bush -sky as they talk' of the
maple syrup season. Mr. Ghent's sugar bush has served the Ghent family well since the
days when his father boiled syrup. 4
But she gid in. The' buckets
go up, the weather is right, Minds
are made, up and tote ,bu and
pocket books. dictate. 'fie sap
runs and the boiling begins!,
On April a, Enos Altrobather.
boiled for the first time this
Stin-
son;
The .fragrant .wisps of std
billow from his sugar shack at
RR, 5, Mount Forest. The'hunitrY
fires gobble up great quantitieSof
wood as lati Enos can, feed 'to
rthemi i 4n, doors Of the r-
nace ng ;Openreleasing even
• great Iheat ``iatoy tbs - tiny ,'fin.
partm t already s ' faded'
swoop
Lig beilezes: dance n h
the s *Pk, Providing'the 410ale-
lief fio , the muggy steam. r:
► dls 4ting his ,lune fr . ` a
frolt l t Enos listens in tly
.fprithe4h vprustlinggoi his ton
drawigg' ore sweetiiVater from
:the; surto ding malifes. •
The .: d assures ihim he *ill
'be: busy till mnitlt ight bee
with mor ;than $,1,400 invested; in
bo linguipment, he cam
afford to !cave the building even
for a :few binutes. A pan, , valued
at around $400, could . burn very
quickly if'ieft unwatched and it
would 'taled as mulch as he could
earniisssenison just'to get r ?dY
again foi tiiext 'year.
Only these who have dealt With
the strange ways . of the sugar
bush know of the time, know-
ledge, equipment anti pains-
taking work involved in making
.maple syrup.
Those who don't: know xmay
criticise the prlbe Af d1S a g
but, before lodging them there,
many makes of maple syrup de-
posit a pill, composed of mainly
formaldehyde, used as a disin-
fectant and preservative to pre-
vent bacteria from forming
around the opening. through
which the sap runs.
The pill also prevents the
opening from sealing over, in the
event that the spites are put up
before the sap is really ready to
run.
No matter how much experi-
ence the bushman has had in tap-
ping and regaidless of his sense
of timing, therekis always a bit of
a gamble'involved when it comes
to putting :up, buckets At just
the right time.
If they- are put up too soon,
, there is a great chance that a
final ;;rage of winter will blow
,them Town or fl. them with rain
and freeze them :maybe° destroy -4
ging .many, . ,
If they , are .put; hp itoo late, the
, manufacturer gook( stand to lose
the bulk of Theap for\ the season.
Ie must also know, or at least
take an educated lgu+ess at, *hen
!the buckets " `should be taken
r+down.
A few :seasons ago, Enos
remefllbers, all Sighs indicated
'that sitgar4bakingliveather was
over and the trees vete dry. He
(took down his buckets just in time
to witness the biggest run all
season! More sap ran its that
week hisbuckets were down than
in all the 'rest of the spring. And
he lost money' because of it.
.eSid4fsbent of Arthur ciwnship
do. 1 think we're losing some, not system is "more expensive" than PipelinetoMpared to buckei3M le'
much, but some of it,"
buckets, although not by much, said, is that the nni'uouaily out.
Mr. Ghent said the pipeline The greatest advantage of .:the
atm .,gathi --ti` e -
foesytinti yOnr. But, it trrustr
be considered that it takes 40
gallons of sap, and som :4 mes
:,amore, to make one gallon of
maple syrup.
And it seems that no matter
what method is chosen to gather
the sap, approximately the same
hours are required. The Bru-
bacher family, comprised of
Enos and his two'sons and some-
times with the help of his wife,
has chosen the traditional meth-
od: putting up buckets. •
The buckets are firstly cleaned.
Spiles are driven into the trees,
i saw bucket and.. a pipeline.
About 500 of his trees are
gathered by the pipeline while
another 300 are gathered by
buckets.
During the actual gathering
when the sap is running, the
pipeline method is "a lot less
work", says Mr. Ghent, but,
"there is more work in putting it
up before we start and more work
involved in taking it down when
the Season is over."
He also says the pipeline
method doesn't seem "to get as
much of the sap as the buckets
THE BLACK TRAIL—The black trail winding into the sugar bush owned by Enos
Brubacher of RR 5, Mount Forest will get a great deal of use this season, providing the.
. weather is right. .Muddy? Very! ,
WAITING PATIENTLY Enos Brubacher's team waits
patiently as the sap is collected. A good, quiet team is
SUGAR SHACK—Enos Brubacher's sugar shack at RR 5,
important for this chore and this team knows exactly what Mount Forest nestles into the bush country and waits for
to do. Spring. On April 3, its wait was over and Enos boiled for the
first time this season. The fragrant wisps of steam billow
from his sugar shack.