This is the sugar shack that I work at during the syrup season. The Bush has a rich history of love and hard work.

The land was bought By Bill Smith back in the early 70′s for less than $1000, he was still in his teens. The First year he started producing maple syrup was in 1992. This was the year that he poured the slab for the sugar shack.  In the first year he made only about 15 gallons on about 750 taps. He had decided to start the sugar bush after he came home from working on the rigs in Alberta.

The first evaporator that he had was build in Edmonton. It was build by a collage student, Bills jokes that the kid ended up failing the class. It fit into the back of a regular pickup and was trucked back to Ontario.

The tools there were used were also pretty improvised. Bill told me that the first industrial tapper that he had was a 1958 Chainsaw. They modified the gear box and built an adapter for a drill bit. We are both happy that cordless drill technology is at the point it is now.

In 2008 I started helping Bill out again. This is also the year that we installed all the new stainless steal equipment, the hardest of which was installing the stack! Amazing how well the new equipment works. It is a far cry from the college made evaporator.

This is a really great little sugar bush and I am happy to be able to be a part of it.

Bill Smith