Middlef ieldPOST Volume 8 ~ Issue 14
March 5, 2014
www.middlefieldpost.com
Neighborly News from Middlefield, Parkman, Huntsburg and Surrounding Communities
Generations of Syrup Producers
Inside ...
By Kim Breyley
T Go To www.middlefieldpost.com
To Win! Details Page 2
Plain Pages Pages 11 & 12
Frugal Shopping Pages 16
By Patrick Robinson
Postal Customer Local / ECRWSS
A OR CURRENT RESIDENT
Middlefield Post P.O. Box 626 Middlefield, OH 44062
PreSort Std U.S. Postage PAID Middlefield, OH 44062 Permit No. 77
Maple Madness Pages 13-15 Pancake Breakfasts Page 22
his year, many volunteers for the Burton Chamber of Commerce will gather and boil sap from more than 2,500 taps of sugar maple trees in Burton Square Park, Kent State University Geauga, and several area farms. Mike Blair, a retired army vet and employed by Arms Trucking, will head the collecting and boiling process with the help of long time friend, Scott Adams, a fulltime plumber for a local company, Monroe Plumbing. These two men grew up a stones throw from each other on Burton Square and share countless memories of making syrup together as kids. Today, both men are tapping, collecting and boiling together again, and coincidently, they live a stones throw from each other Volunteers (l-r) Scott Adams, Rob Deans, Greg Corrigan, Jack Garner and Mike Blair tapped trees in Burton Square in Windsor Township. on Feb. 22, for syrup production and sale at the Log Cabin through the Burton Chamber of Commerce. As a child, Adams collected sap with his father be passing on the traditions. It’s not just and cousins on his grandfather’s dairy farm the maple candy at the Log Cabin. The Blair about doing the syrup; it is about being in Huntsburg and recalls, “I always liked it, family has volunteered at the Burton Log with friends.” and I have special memories of growing up Cabin for four generations. Blair’s daughter “Tourists come back year after year for doing maple syrup with my dad and uncle.” Thi and son Justin are now carrying on the our syrup,” said Blair. “And so many local Last year, he had a renewed interest and family tradition. residents contribute time and energy to this asked Blair, who donates at least 500 hours Both men agree that the maple syrup effort. To name a few: Greg Corrigan, Jack of community service annually to the Burton industry has changed over the years. Gardner Jr., Jack Gardner Sr., Larry Cirjak Log Cabin, if he needed help. Adams added, Moving from hand-fed fires, requiring two and Matt McDermitt.” “I wanted to do it again. I wanted to once to three men, to more efficient fuels - and It is the hope of these gentlemen that again be involved.” to reverse osmosis systems which cuts the some of the younger volunteers will catch Blair remembers at 5 years old, boiling time considerably. A single person the passion of the process. Blair’s nephew making syrup from about 3,500 taps at his can now man the newer processes. Aiden White, a freshman at Cardinal, has grandfather’s 360-acre farm in Newbury. He For the first time, this year, Adams took the “bug”. Adam George, junior at Berkshire, says, “I learned how to make syrup, when his grandson, Oliver, out to tap trees during I was just a little tot. We had a big huge the official ceremonial tree tapping on Feb. evaporator; I can remember the steam. It 11 on the square in Burton. He said, “It was Continued On Page 2 was awesome!” Blair’s wife, Amy makes all of great, Oliver enjoyed it and it felt good to
Memories of Yesteryear
s a child, I can remember sitting by the creek with a fishing pole in hand listening to my father tell stories of yesteryear. I was always enamored by the stories he would tell of squirrel hunting, rabbit hunting and the occasional trip to the creek for ducks. But the stories that really captivated my mind and took control of my imagination, were the ones about hunting pheasants. One story my father told takes me back to the middle of the last century. It was Thanksgiving morning and my father was standing at the window. Put yourself in his shoes, as if you were there. As you look out, you are embraced by the beauty of a fresh snow that has come down overnight blanketing the area like a quilt on a warm winter bed. It lays thick on everything it touches. The pine boughs are drooping under the weight and every hardwood branch you see is highlighted by the snow
holding tight to its bark. When you look out across the fields there is a distinct difference in what was seen and what we see today. The corn stubble is thick and jagged, not uniform and clean like the fields of today, and is providing great cover throughout the field. You notice birds and pheasants searching the stubble for morsels of corn left over from the harvest. The snow illuminates the beauty of these upland birds. You realize there must be forty or more birds in the field feeding on this wonderful morning. As you watch the wealth of wildlife out your window, you smell breakfast. It’s your favorite, and it’s almost done. The hunt won’t come soon enough. My father was born and raised in northwest Ohio and grew up during the heyday of Ohio’s pheasant hunting. Rumored to be one of the best areas in the Continued on page 25
Patrick Robinson (Post Photo/Patrick Robinson)