Dave
My name is Dave Chapman and I am currently employed as a freelance web developer. I have loved working in the maple syrup industry.
I first started working in this field when I was a kid with my father. We had a small sugar bush on far south side of St. Joseph Island. It was a very small operation, only about 200 taps at the most. We drilled the holes by hand and collected the sap in buckets. We made enough for our family and some gifts for Christmas.
My first real work in larger sugar bush came when I started working with Bill Smith at Hardwood Island Maple Grove. It was the first time that I had been introduced to a vacuum system and an industrial boiler. Bill’s bush was about 1600 – 1800 taps at the time and it was really hard work. I was about 20 when I first started. It was a far cry from the little bush I grew up with but working there brought back all those great memories.
Last year I worked for Bill Smith again, this time I took vacation time to do it. It brought back all of those great memories! Since I now work in as a web developer I decided to record my experiences in a blog to share how much fun I had and how the whole process worked. Most of my co-works did not understand why I would take a week of vacation to work hard labour for 14h a day so I thought I would show them.
Since then I have pursued a career as a freelance developer which gives me more time to develop my web skills. This site combines the two things I love to do the most web development and maple syrup.
If you want to learn more about my web work you can check out my portfolio site at :
