Walking on Mount Royal, procrastinating as a graduate student, I often wondered why Montreal didn’t have an Urban Sugar Shack. The production of maple syrup is an Indigenous tradition, a Quebec tradition and a Canadian tradition.

Yet it remains out of reach to Montrealers who can’t make their way out to the countryside, beyond the sprawling fields that surround the urban sprawl, to a maple bush in the Haut-Saint-Laurent, the Laurentians or the Eastern Townships.

An Urban Sugar Shack would provide families that do not have the means to travel to the countryside with an opportunity to experience maple syrup production firsthand, to partake in and gain an appreciation for this local tradition and to simply enjoy a sugary treat. It would be sustainable (as there is far less travelling), inclusive and potentially a source of revenue to help maintain the maple bush and any infrastructure.

I currently live in Franklin, Quebec (Haut-Saint-Laurent) and there is no shortage of sugar shacks! You can smell the boiling sap in the air come the springtime! It seems everyone is somehow involved – whether it’s tapping six trees for the fun of it or thousands of trees as part of a family business – no one is indifferent to it.

“Le temps des sucres” is a busy time. Some boil into the night, sharing stories as they throw spruce and pine logs into the evaporator. The vapor dances in the air, swirling before finding its way through the openings above. And then, almost suddenly, when the frogs begin to sing, the robins begin to forage and the buds bestow the branches with a reddish hue, it all comes to an end, for spring has arrived.

A few years ago, as I stood above my makeshift evaporator, boiling the sap I had collected, I wondered if it would be possible to share this experience with colleagues and students at Dawson.

This year – I decided the time had come! I asked around and it turned out Ben Lander had already tapped trees on campus in the past! Given that the possibility was there, I purchased a small evaporating pan from CDL (a shop selling syrup production supplies) with the generous support of the Dawson Foundation. I collected some buckets and taps we had at home and out we went!

With the participation of students in Geology’s Individualized Project Course (Dawson Aqua Research Team), Geology’s Anthropocène-Apocalypse course and students who simply wanted to be a part of the experience, we tapped seven Dawson maple trees, collected the sap and made some syrup!

Participating students got to take home a small container, with the rest of the syrup put aside for an upcoming tasting! To ensure everyone who participated would be able to try some syrup, I also brought some sap in from Franklin, to blend with the sap from Dawson’s trees. We need to work on our finishing (some of the syrup could have boiled a little longer), but all in all, it was a fun time!

While it is still a way off from the Urban Sugar Shack I imagined years ago, it’s a start! I thank all the students and colleagues (including but not limited to Ben, Gianna, Kate, Luc, Bryan, Gillian and Mitchell and Dawson Security) who made it possible! Thank you again to the Dawson Foundation for their generous support. Finally, thank you to La Ferme Aux Mille Cailloux for the extra sap! It’s time to take down the buckets now but we are looking forward to next season!

-Submitted by Adamo Petosa