Weekend Doings

After a glorious weekend both in terms of weather and company, we are back to babysitting on a cloudy Easter Monday. Unlike normal Mondays, even Nikki Dee is home as her Daycare school is closed for the holiday.

It was a weekend of maple syrup and other meals for us. First, we met Cuppa's sister and BIL at Wheeler's Pancake House and Sugar Camp on Saturday morning. It's way way out in the country but tons of people found their way on the most beautiful day of the year so far. After visiting the Nature Lover's Bookstore in Lanark, we drove to Perth where we did a walking tour on which BIL took lots of pictures. From there, we headed to Thesha's for a bbq supper.



First thing Sunday morning we headed to Temple's Sugar Camp for a wonderful breakfast of think, yummy French Toast and pancakes abundantly covered with a super blueberry compote. Yum. After walking their trail we headed in to Ottawa, stopping to meander along the River Parkway before driving to the Byward Market. Which was incredibly crowded. There are very many restaurants in The Market, and each was overflowing with people inside and outside on the decks. We ended up at the Heart and Crown for their excellent fish and chips before heading back to Thesha's for dessert.

What with all of the exercise and good food, we were all sleeping soundly when out smoke detector noisily went into action. Twice. It has never malfunctioned in five years but did it twice last night. We checked carefully as we live attached to other townhouses, but all was clear.

This morning, shortly after awaking I was made aware of another malfunction, this time of one of my hearing aids. I find this aggravating, especially because repairs normally cost $300. So, that's the bad news after a fine weekend.

The Running of the Sap

Temple's Sugar Camp consists of about 70 acres of bush that has all been reforested after being clearcut in the forties. The owners have created a trail for the public in a small section of the property, and I showed you a few photos of the trail in yesterday's post.

For those who still picture sap running into buckets and then being hauled off by horse-drawn sled, I have an update. These days the sap is collected and transported in small blue tubing.



As this little nine second video clips shows, the sap runs pretty fast.



See on YouTube

The tubing crisscrosses all through the bush ...



... and eventually into wider-diameter black tubes ...



... and is pumped up the building where it is processed into maple syrup.



The processing shed is to the left and the dining room to the right. Last year, I took pictures of the processing but didn't get around to blogging about it. Perhaps next year. As I showed yesterday, products can be bought in the dining room. They charge $17.50 for a quart of syrup, so I chose not to purchase any on the weekend. But it's not far, and I now have an excuse to go back before they close the place until next March.

Temple's Again

As I've said more than once lately, we've been enjoying some very nice weather in these parts, and seeing that we tend to get cooped up in winter, we were eager to get out and make the best of it on Saturday. I clicked on Google Maps and wondered if there was a little place that we hadn't already investigated. I didn't find one, but I did notice Ferguson Falls, and I did remember about Temple's Sugar Camp, and I also deduced that it was maple sap time, so off we went.



Temple's is only open for the sappy months of March and April, and, since it is only a fifteen minute drive, we seem to get there at least once a year. And every year, we seem to take a photo like the one above and the one below. What can I say: creatures of habit.



What we haven't done before, however, is walk the trails because we usually go later when the snow has mostly gone and mud abounds. This year, the time was right to finally walk the path.



A tractor had made ruts for walkers, but they were narrow, and the going wasn't that easy. Fortunately, the route wasn't very long, and there was a nice resting spot along the way.



The weather was so pleasant that we sat there for about ten minutes before continuing on our trudge through the ruts and over the little bridges.



Before we left, I felt led to make a few purchases. Just to help the economy, you understand. Perhaps, I'll post a little about collecting the sap, tomorrow.

Temple's Sugar Camp Restaurant

A new Maple Sugar camp/restaurant, Temple's Sugar Camp Restaurant, recently opened in tiny Ferguson's Falls, not too far from here. Despite the fact that Lanark County proclaims itself the Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario, there are only two other establishments that I know of within an hour's drive of us. So, we headed out thataway last Friday. It was a delightful day in these parts as you can tell by Cuppa's rather light attire (for March in Canada).





It's a brand new building that is rather wonderful inside. We were told that the family built it themselves over a five year period. There are two balconies, and the place will supposedly seat 700 people when it is able to sustain maximum capacity. If they ever do fit 700 seats in there, that would probably be about fifteen times the normal population of Ferguson's Falls. It may come to that too because although it's not totally finished inside, lots and lots of people (like us) have been showing up regardless. The parking lot was still pretty full when we arrived shortly after one o'clock although the restaurant was fast emptying.



Apparently, it's been fourteen years since the McEwen Pancake House closed. Despite it's rusticity and small size, it is said to have once served a thousand patrons in a single weekend. The old structure still stands. You can see it next to the new edifice, two photos above and in the photos below.





I'm glad they left the old place standing, but I'm even gladder that I got to enjoy the new place.