Mornings at the Cottage

I had the privilege when I was growing up to spend summers with my grandparents at their cottage on the south shore of Lake Nippissing in Northern Ontario. When I was younger (and when my grandparents were younger!) it would be several weeks at a time. As I grew (and presumably gained more of a "life") the time I spent there decreased. It has been many months since I was last there and may not ever again as my grandparents have decided to sell the cottage (anyone interested please contact me!) and move closer to their children in Southern Ontario.

My mind is infused with the memories, the smells, the sight and sounds of the Northern Ontario Lakescape. I can say with certainty that those times spent at "the cottage" (funny enough, it hasn't officially been the cottage for several years since my grandparents sold their house in town and moved out there full time) have shaped who I am. Throughout the happy times and the sad it has been my safe place, the retreat that I flee to.

I never stopped to think specifically about all of the things that I loved about the cottage until just recently. Foremost it would be the people...my grandparents. They have made it the wonderful place that it is...they built it first of all. They have seen children and grandchildren and great grandchildren there. They have added on, redecorated and re-redecorated. It is their home and they cannot be separated from it. But there are also many other things that I love about the place and I think they were brought to mind becuase they also remind me of my new house in Goulais River.

There are simple things that I love about the cottage and now my new home...the birch and poplar trees, the sandy soil, the birds, the lake of course, the granite rock of the Cambrian Shield. But it occured to me (and my husband) the other morning that it was precisely that, the mornings, that are so wonderful about being out here. We love getting up, having a coffee, listening to the birds go about their day. Things are quiet and peaceful. There are no 5 am wakeups when the neighbour starts his loud diesal truck and drives off to work. There is no construction equipment starting their day 15 minutes before they are legally supposed to. There are not even the hum of school buses shuttling kids off to school. It's just peace...and the chattering of chickadees, the rat-a-tat-tat of woodpeckers, and the occaisional shouting of our red squirrel whom we've named Uther Pendragon.

It's just like mornings at the cottage, and I didn't realize how much my mind and soul truly craved that.

Maple Syrup Goodness

I had a great experience today. Our neighbour asked if we wanted to come over to his house and see how he makes maple syrup! I instantly jumped at the opportunity. I was so excited to see the whole process (something I'd not done as a kid) and I really wanted to share it with my kids. As a homeschooler it is an awesome thing to teach your kids through lived experiences. They tend to grab onto the information and make it theirs when they are living it not just sitting down being taught it.

The fact that it was our neighbour who was showing us really got me excited. Yes, becuase it reminds me that other people actually do live out here! But more so becuase it added a personal element to the entire experience. We had actually been planning a trip to a big maple syrup farm in the area but this was even better. I live in a place where not only can I tap maple trees to make the world famous maple syrup but people actually get together and help each other out so that all the people in the area are supplied with the yummy goodness. That to me is community!

Though I have a feeling I could go on about this for a long time, I will briefly (as possible) walk through the steps. The first thing to do is collect the sap from the maple trees. It tends to run anywhere from February to April, when the weather starts to get warm. I always thought one could only tap a certian kind of maple, but my neighbour collects from any of the maple trees on his property. A hole is drilled a couple inches into the tree and a spout is inserted. The sap just drips out of the spout and has to be collected. This is the funny part. I thought that people used specific "maple syrup collecting" equipment...but no, not in the country! I saw everything from plastic jugs to metal buckets to dollar store plastic pails. Anything will do the trick. Just make sure to cover the top. I was told that if snow gets into the sap it turns yellow and is ruined!

We got to taste the sap. And actually, it just tasted like water mostly. Of course I wasn't warned about the hole in the jug used to hang it and I drank it the wrong way. Yes, maple sap all down the inside of my shirt. Nice. (pic NOT included)

Once the sap is collected it is boiled. Most people are familiar with this process. It was the first time I had ever seen it. We drove down the road to another neighbour's house. He has a small sugar shack on his property in which he has built a boiler. What an amazing smell! If there was a candle that could capture that smell! It's actually quite a big process. This boiler held about 60 gallons of sap and it takes about 24 hours to boil it down to 1.5 gallons of syrup. I had no idea it took that long.

It's then filtered. This is actually to remove any sugar that has crystallized in the syrup. My neighbour then took us to his garage where he showed us another smaller pot where he boils the syrup down even further. He told us that he tries to get it anywhere from 215-219 degrees F before its filtered again and poured into bottles. The higher the temperature, the more sugar that's boiled out of the syrup and the darker the syrup becomes. You could actually taste the difference of the syrups boiled at different temperatures! So cool! The best part is that he sent us home with a jar!

Finally the fruit of our labours...boiled maple syrup on snow. So so yummy!

I do alot of canning in the summer. I make jam and salsa, applesauce, preserve peaches and have made pickles. There is something so satisfying with taking fruits and vegetables and making them into something that you have all year. Maybe it makes me feel closer to the earth. Preserving is an old art in countries that experience cold harsh winters. Keeping that art alive keeps me in touch with women of the past. They laboured all summer and fall so that they would (hopefully) have enough food for the winter. Not only that, but women would work together to accomplish these tasks.

Too many times (especially growing up in the suburbs of Southern Ontario) we go through life alone, not taking the time to reach out to our neighbours, let alone develop a sense of community while helping each other. I began to develop that with my neighbours in Hamilton before we moved up north. We would help each other out, give one a cup of coffee (or other stronger libations) on a tough day, can together, be a listening ear. Today I saw that. I saw people working together and enjoying sharing that experience with others.

Oh excuse me, gotta run. My pancakes are ready...