The March 6 edition of The Globe and Mail featured a photograph of a 1914 oil painting entitled Blessing of the Sugar Bush. The painting, by Marc-Aurele de Foy Suzor-Coté, is part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art’s collection. The painting depicts clergy members leading a ceremonial procession through a maple bush as they sprinkled the trees with holy water. The masterpiece attests to the timehonoured tradition in Quebec of praying for a good sugar season.
While this particular custom has been lost over time, the sugar season remains entirely unpredictable and – some might say – up to divine will. Certainly, there were more than a few producers who were wondering just when this year’s sap run would start, and whether to prepare for a marathon like last season or a full-on sprint to spring. Last year, the evaporators were running by mid-February. This year, the Valley was still locked in a deep freeze, with some trees left to tap. When asked if it was going to be a good year, Jeff Blair of Verger Blair Orchards simply shrugged and said, “Ask me at the end of April and I’ll tell you.”
Many are saying this year is a return to a traditional sugar season when the sap routinely ran in March. It is also a good reminder that climate change will bring wilder temperature swings, with any measure of predictability becoming even less likely. Researchers predict the freeze/ thaw cycles that sugar maples depend on will become more frequent in the middle of winter. This should mean an earlier start to sap flow, though most experts agree that yields should remain similar to today, especially with technologies like vacuum systems and reverse osmosis.
This means producers will continue to adapt as they have been already to avoid missing out on the early run. What remains to be seen is whether the seasons will consistently become shorter with an earlier arrival of spring and less pronounced changes in the seasons.
One thing is for certain, the Valley wakes up during sugar season, with many producers saying this is their favourite time of the year. The season is short and relatively straightforward once it starts, and nothing smells better than a sugar shanty at full boil. Climate change will no doubt impact the making of maple syrup, but the traditions that define springtime in the Valley are surely here to stay.
Sarah Rennie