Interview with Greg Berrea (Part One)

Greg Berrea

St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

Marketing Director

Greg Berrea is starting his third season as Marketing Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. Getting THE INSIDE SCOOP, I wondered how he got involved! Greg tells me that “I was looking for meaningful employment when I answered an ad in my local paper for a bookkeeper/marketing representative position with a local Registered Charity”. It is no wonder that he is a good fit for this job, he has a two year college diploma in Business-Accounting from St. Lawrence College, a degree in Economics from University of Ottawa and three years in sales! Although Greg is “just the marketing guy”, I find him to be interesting to talk with and I’m sure he has some INSIDE SCOOP to share with us all! With the kindness of the folks at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, we have been fortunate to join in on a couple of occasions for their “Gala” evenings held on the first evening of the first performance of the season, opening night as it were! We have seen Greg “tending bar” after some of the performances over the years and I was wondering if he had any opportunities to enjoy watching the performances? He does actually watching the performances 2-3 times each season. This led me to wonder if Greg had a favorite production. Greg replays … “That’s a tough question. My favorite Shakespearean play was As You Like It. The music and feel of the 1960’s along with the language of Shakespeare and the outdoor venue blew me away; it was also my first show. My other favorite was a St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival commissioned play called Trouble on Dibble Street, it was just too funny”. Both Gary and I enjoyed this play immensely! It was too funny and the actors/actresses were top notch! Getting Greg to share who his favorite performer was difficult to obtain as he is a true “politician” with his answer … stating “Any past and present member of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival ensemble!" (To be continued)

Interview with Sam McLean (Part Four)

Sam & Janet McLean

McLean Berry Farm and Buckhorn Maple Syrup Festival

Farm Owners/Entrepreneurs

In The Thick Of It! The shack, where Sam can be found, smells fabulous, but the pans are very hot, so take care! Don’t miss out on the Syrup and Sugar Demonstrations and Maple baking. Toffee on Snow is a great favourite for both young and old. "If fresh snow is available" says Sam, "we can make this treat." According to Sam, there is so much to see and do for the Kids, including a Giant Straw pile, Snow Canon (if snow), 'Kids Corral', tree tapping, kids activities at the fire. Sam is quick to point out, "It's a family affair at McLean's Sugar Bush - so bring everyone (except fido … sorry … please and thank you!)." "McLean's Sugar Bush is an essential part of our working farm. We tap about 1300 trees and collect all of our sap by hand, about 15,000 gallons by the time the season is finished. It is said you can't make syrup without mud and when you drive over the ground with machinery as the frost is coming out - it does get muddy. My suggestion is to bring along a pair of boots." And from my personal past experience, bring along a dry warm pair of socks too! "McLean's Farm Market will be open serving hot drinks Maple Syrup, Maple Baking, Maple Sugar, Maple Butter, Fudge, Maple Popcorn, Hot Chili and fresh bread, Hot Apple Cider. The wood stove is on. You'll be able to dine in the open air or eat your pancakes in the comfort of our Market while tapping your foot to live music." I then asked Sam was what he enjoyed about the festival. He told me that "he enjoys meeting and talking with people, listening to the great live music and entertainment, the horses, and the smells!" However, what Sam enjoys most, are the children! The McLean’s focus their event on the children and try to ensure that they have a wonderful time at the sugar bush! Sam says, as THE INSIDE SCOOP has found out, "that the best part is when the kids leave crying because they have had such an amazing time that they don’t want to leave!" Perhaps not so much fun for the parents and adults, but, as Sam says, "he knows that it worked, that all of his efforts were worth it!"

Interview with Sam McLean (Part Three)

Sam & Janet McLean

McLean Berry Farm and Buckhorn Maplefest

Farm Owners/Entrepreneurs

A Great Year To Attend... This year's event might just be the best year to attend! The McLean's have new and exciting plans for you to enjoy! You can look forward to seeing a pioneer display, which includes boiled down sap in a cast iron kettle and a Wool Spinning Demonstration, on Saturday March 19th. Sunday March 20th kicks off with Grammy award winning duo, Toasted Western Swingband! Two members of the Toasted Western Swing Band, from the Niagara region, will be making their way to the great white north to dazzle you with their second performance at the Buckhorn Maplefest! This Grammy award winning duo is sure to be a huge hit for their first Sunday and the music promises to be superb! This year the Newfoundland Dog Cart Races will delight you on March 27th. The Paddling Puppeteers (Glen Caradus), will be performing with music and puppet shows. You'll be able to enjoy all the fresh air and take part in the Sugar Bush Walking tour. The tour is a well laid out walking trail through the Sugar Bush, with informative sign posts to learn all about Maple Syrup Making - from start to finish and beyond! As Sam points out, "all of our maple sap is collected by hand. No modern pipelines are found on our farm." During all the dates of the Buckhorn Maplefest Sam suggests that "you jump on the horse drawn hay rides enjoy a ride on the wagon from the central parking/market area to the sugar bush, evaporator house and beginning of the walking trail. This is a great favourite with the kids." On the menu this year are waffles with fruit and McLean’s famous Maple Syrup. You can also enjoy a pancake breakfast hosted by the Lakefield Lions Club, with flap jacks standing the true test of our syrup is in the taste. The Lakefield Lions Club does a superb job of serving heaping plates of hot pancakes and Maple Syrup all day long. This is a Lions Club fund raiser and is not include in the admission charge. As always, Sam McLean is the chief “fire stoker” and “maple syrup interpreter”! He is extremely interesting to listen to! (To be continued)

Interview with Sam McLean (Part Two)

Sam & Janet McLean

McLean Berry Farm and Buckhorn Maplefest

Farm Owners/Entrepreneurs

The Sap Runs...
He says "yes, the traditional way seems to still be going strong for smaller sugar bushes, some even smaller than his. The modern way takes longer in preparation for the season. The modern way of running lines from tree to tree, can take 2 to 3 weeks to set the pipelines up, but these bushes produce hundreds of thousands of loads of sap that are piped directly through the lines into tanks that are shipped on trucks directly to the factories for production. These much larger scale bushes are also much more financially economical." Sam and his team do not take that long to set up for the tapping and hanging the buckets. The labour comes when the collecting starts. Their season usually starts early March and runs through to mid April. The McLean Sugar Bush usually has three people running the buckets during the day while one person boils the sap. They work from 3 to 5 hours each day collection the sap. For every hour, they collect approximately 100 galloons, and sometimes collect 600-800 galloons during a 6-8 hour day. Sam tells THE INSIDE SCOOP that the costs of the maple syrup (and the amazing other maple products including maple butter), vary depending on various factors. They do have their fixed costs, of course (equipment, buildings, etc.), but other costs do fluctuate, such as the fuel to run the tractors. The McLean Sugar Bush uses wood to produce the heat, and that takes time to cut and then there is the actual cost of the wood. The wood is prepared a year in advance in order for it to dry properly. Then there are other costs, such as packaging, retail costs and the wages of employees. Speaking of employees, I was surprised by Sam’s answer when I asked him if his festival was “fueled” by volunteers. His reply was that they had tried running the festival with volunteers in the past “but it did not work out”. The McLean’s family hires about 20 people just for the festival. It is imperative that they have full staff to run this event. The Lion’s Club, who operate the pancake breakfast, has its own volunteers and their profits go directly into their funds used for the community and their projects. You can find Sam around the farm during the festival, mostly stoking the fire at the evaporator station.
(To be continued)

Interview with Sam McLean (Part One)

Sam & Janet McLean
McLean Berry Farm and Buckhorn Maplefest
Farm Owners/Entrepreneurs

It's Maple Sugar Time at the McLean Berry Farm!
This week's interview is with Mr. Sam McLean, owner/operator of the McLean Berry Farm. It is a family affair with Sam leading the way! The interview is timely because the Buckhorn Maplefest, held at the McLean Berry Farm, is just a few weeks away! This festival of maple syrup, pancakes, hayrides and demonstrations takes place over three fun-filled weekends! You can find out more about this event at http://www.mcleanberryfarm.com/maple.html.

Sam McLean is a leader and expert, especially when it comes to one of my favorite times of year, Maple Sugar Time! Sam has owned the McLean Sugar Bush, in the Buckhorn area just north of Peterborough, since approximately January 1991. They were fortunate to continue with the existing set-up and began tapping right away. This is their 21st year and they will be celebrating the anniversary during the Buckhorn Maplefest. I am anxious to share with you a look behind the scenes with Sam, but first, I want to tell you a bit about Sam. Sam tells me that farming is a way of life, so I wondered what he did prior to owning the McLean Berry Farm. It wasn’t too much of a surprise when Sam told me he had been a cabinet maker for about 15 years prior to this adventure. He is still in familiar territory with all the surrounding Maple trees! Ironically, Sam’s favorite wood to work with for cabinet making is butternut. Getting back to THE INSIDE SCOOP, I wanted to know the correct name for this "quest for maple sugar". Sam tells me the simple version is the maple sugar "harvest". I had heard rumors that this year’s harvest was going to be good, so I asked Sam what he thought. He replies that he just doesn’t know yet, that it is too soon to tell. Part of what determines if it will be a good year collecting syrup depends on what happened last year. If it was a hot, warm summer you get good sap, the sugar stores well in the roots. Once the weather turns mild and gets above freezing it can start to run. Sam tells me that the ideal situation is below 6 degrees Celsius in the night and above 6 degrees during the days. Apparently, the diverse and changing temperatures, creates stress in the tree and forces the sap out. This is where Sam becomes the expert in this industry! He states that he knows his trees, saying that over the years you get to know them. You learn how it varies. They vary in sweetness depending of their size. Last year the McLean Sugar Bush yielded approximately 10,000 gallons of sap, 1,000 liters. The method of tree tapping used is the traditional tree tapping. I asked Sam if this process was a dying art.
(To be continued)