Long Lasting Maple Shack

Growing up in  Quebec, Canada, maple syrup has been a big part of my mother's side of the family's lifestyle. Not only did my family regularly enjoy maple products, but they also produced syrup from their maple tree farm. My grandfather owned the maple farm and each Spring he and a few of my aunts and uncles would accompany him to collect the maple sugar from the trees and make the syrup and other maple products in their maple shack.

 The entrance has long since become significantly more obscure but beginning at the two tall trees you can follow a skinny, moose tracked marshy path to arrive at the maple shacks.


The cabin where my grandfather and aunts and uncle would stay to eat and stay warm for the cold is on the left, and the cabin where the maple syrup was made in is on the right. My grandfather bought both cabins in the early 1950s and are about 100 years old. My family has been able to keep them in good shape for many years but have recently fallen into disuse.


From a look through one of the windows, it is obvious many abandoned artifacts were left in the shack. This is the inside of the smaller shack from the previous picture. The main focus is the oven on the lower left hand of the photo. This was the cabin where my family stayed, so the oven was used as a form of warmth from the cold outdoors. 


An inside glance of the cabin on the right shows many abandoned artifacts: multiple cans, a barrel with a wooden sled laying on top and a glass jug on the bottom right corner.


Around the corner near the side of the house, there is a large pile of empty tomato cans. My family used these cans to collect syrup directly from the trees in the forest but immediately discarded outside the cabin once the collected sap had been transferred into a more substantial pot inside the cabin. 

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