by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WHITEWATER REGION (Foresters Falls) — Mother Nature may have tried to keep people from enjoying Maple Weekend with cold temperatures and wind, but that didn’t happen at Grants Settlement Farms near Foresters Falls.
Jason and Amber Finan were pleased to have more than 100 people enjoy a few hours of fun at their maple sugar shack and business on Dittburner Road.
It’s been a good season for making maple syrup culminating in the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association’s Maple Weekend, which was this past weekend.
The Finans participated in the weekend for the first time. However, Jason and wife Amber are the fifth generation maple syrup family—but it doesn’t stop there.
Jason’s great-great-great grandfather Frank Broome started the family tradition, followed by his daughter Sadie who married Robert Pettigrew; then their son Clarence Pettigrew carried on the tradition followed by his children Murray, Ona and Barrie. Ona’s children Jason Finan and Kim Koraca carried on the tradition and now Jason and Amber’s children are the sixth generation — Mary and Evie.
Jason and Amber decided it was time to help people in the area learn about the heritage of the former Grants Settlement and the tradition of making maple syrup.
Going back to the start, Jason said, “We’re very historic people and this is Grants Ridge that we’re on. This is the old hamlet of Grants Settlement.”
There used to be a carding mill, cheese factory and multiple families living in the area at one time, he recalled.
Jason and Amber moved some of the traditional buildings from the bush to the farm, turning one into a maple store. Inside the store, kept warm with a woodstove, there is no shortage of maple syrup goodies, including syrup, baked goods, cookbooks to use to cook and bake with maple syrup, artisan works and products needed to make your own maple syrup. The Finans are always looking into new products, such as maple coffee beans, cinnamon syrup and maple barbecue sauce.
While there are plenty of sugar bushes in the area, because at one time every farm had a sugar bush, Jason explained that their bush is the only one that is selling to the general public.
“We wanted to take our hobby farm forward,” he said. “This is the first crop for us before cash cropping begins.”
They also have a small beef herd, with hopes of selling beef to the general public in the future, he added.
For Maple Weekend, Jason said it was a way of encouraging families to go out to the maple shacks and learn how it’s produced. The Finans provided books and pamphlets for the children to take home. While at the sugar shack, there were a variety of games, an opportunity to watch the boil and sample syrup.
“People from all over came to the shack on Saturday,” Jason said. “They were from Pembroke, Merrickville, Ottawa, Kanata, Eganville.
“The children loved sampling the syrup and they loved getting really close to the evaporator.”
Games included maple bowling, tic-tac-toe, maple sap ball toss, and making s’mores in the store’s woodstove, since it was too windy to have a campfire.
Jason said, “We’re just trying to bring something old back into the area. A fresh spin on maple syrup for the locals and for the tourists.
“We’ve got some lovely historical artifacts from past generations of maple syrup making. That’s part of the feel of the maple store, it’s very historic with lots of history.”
For more information on maple syrup season and Grants Settlement Farms, check out the website grantssettlementfarms.ca or on facebook.
Grants Settlement Farms is open every weekend from March 1 to mid-April. For summer hours, please check the website.
