Who We Are
The Early Years
When I was a baby/toddler, my dad was making maple syrup on the family farm. He'd procured an old steel shed from the mine he also worked at (yes, farming, mining, and sugaring) to be be out of the weather while boiling. His evaporator was a simple, but quite effective wood-fired unit. It just had a flat pan. Made the whole works himself.
Once more kids came along and farming became the sole income for a while, and likely many other reasons, sugaring was put aside.
I remember seeing a sketch on the inside of the door of the shed when I was quite young, but it didn't mean much until I got bit by the maple bug when I was about 13 years old. We resurrected the old evaporator. Dad helped me get it set back up in the shack as the little shed had been repurposed after he stopped making syrup. During my first season making syrup on my own, I learned what the sketch was. Dad explained the divided pan etched in the door.
It's still there. 30+ years later. He never got around to making it.
Fast forward a few seasons of making syrup myself, but then high school sports and moving away to college (and all that fun stuff) put a hold on it. Now I finally have a little woods of my own and a curious son. I hope the Smoky Lake pan I bought for my homemade evaporator/arch helps pass the maple bug to the next generation and maybe more. It's one step beyond the sketch - but wouldn't exist without it.
