EP Road Trip #3: Sugar Moon Farm

Recently I started volunteering at the YMCA Centre for Immigrant Programs. When I signed up I was told about a trip the Centre was taking to the Sugar Moon Farm in Englishtown. It's been a while since I've been on a Road Trip, so I was quite excited, and even more so when I heard it was a maple farm.

(The Sugar Moon Farm is located at one of the highest elevations in Nova Scotia, so the amount of snow it receives is exponentially greater than what I'm used to seeing in Halifax.)

While there are roughly 150 varieties of maple trees in the world, the Sugar Maple is the preferred species for making syrup because of its high sugar content. The Sugar Maple is native to the north-eastern United States and eastern Canada, which means this is the only region in the world that has the climate necessary for producing maple syrup.

Maple Sugaring is not a particularly new art form. In fact, First Nations people were slashing trees and collecting sap in birch bark buckets thousands of years before European settlers arrived. The European settlers though, were responsible for advancing the form to the more efficient drilling/tapping process used today.

(Our guide explains the early sap collecting process.)

Efficiency is a relative term I suppose, since sugar maple sap is 97% water. This means that you can easily drink it, but it also means that 40 Litres of sap must be evaporated to make 1 Litre of pure maple syrup. Furthermore, it means that one tree can only sustainably produce 1 Litre of syrup per year (sap only runs for a few weeks during the early spring).

(The brand new evaporator the farm installed this year.)

After the tour we received a free all-you-can-eat pancake lunch with pork sausages and veggie beans. I kindly helped the kitchen staff clean up by finishing off the leftovers to save on waste.

My favourite part of the tour was rolling maple sugar in the snow to make candy. The boiling hot, liquid maple sugar is ladled onto snow, and a popsicle stick is used to roll the quickly solidifying sugar into a lollipop-like treat.

I wanted to conclude this post by giving a big thank-you to the YMCA for allowing me to come along on the trip. It was a unique experience, and I look forward to many more.

Natal Day Festival: July 29 - August 2, 2010, Part 2 - August 1

Day 4 of the 2010 Natal Day Festival started at 9:00 AM, with the Maritime Heart Centre's 17th Annual MACPASS Miles run, over the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge. The race started on the Halifax side of the bridge and continued for one mile up one side of the arched Halifax Harbour suspension bridge, and down the other to the finish line by the toll booths in Dartmouth.

Not only was the race free to enter, but New Balance was on hand giving out free sneakers for anyone to try during the race. Since my old running trainers were over a year old, had crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and travelled across Canada three times, not to mention having spent considerable time walking, hiking and running on three separate continents, they were a little worse for wear (my toes had blown a hole through the sides of both shoes). Therefore I jumped at the chance to wear a new pair for free, even though my personal view is that expensive cushioning-heavy running shoes are the major cause of running related injuries, not their solution.

(My perfectly fitting racing false feet.)

Not having ran any race even close to only a mile since high school, or even having trained for running in over a year, I had no idea what to expect from the race. I just tried to pick a decently fast pace that I thought I could maintain, and see if I could finish the race looking strong and not so close to the back that I embarrassed myself.

In the end I felt that I finished a pretty good race. I estimated that I finished somewhere in the top 25 to 30 racers, and that my time was around 5:35. I even ran the second half-mile a little faster than the first, so that was a good sign too. As my new friend from the YMCA (a retired guy who has to be at least 80 years old) tells me though, "don't you worry about going fast, just meet some people and have fun." It's a great motto for running, and my new motto for life.

(Waiting around at the "start line" on North Street.)

(Heading on to the bridge. I apologize for the off angle picture here, but I didn't have time to stop and focus my shot during the race.)

(The winner of the Open Women's category "breaking the tape" in about 5:20.)

Speaking of the YMCA; after the race I went back there again to get in even more exercise. After lifting some weights and relaxing in the whirl pool and steam room, I went out for coffee with my aforementioned friend. We talked for so long though, that I missed the gospel choirs concert at the Waterfront. It was little worry though, as I was then more easily able to make it to the Mayor's Halifax Natal Day Tea Party in the Public Gardens, where I filled up on the free cake, cookies, and iced tea.

(A pipes and drums band plays for the crowd before the mayor took to the podium to address everyone. His speech was mercifully short and sweet, so that we could get to the cake sooner.)

(The very popular, very busy refreshments tent. The mayor was out carrying around a tray of cookies when I took this picture, so he is not in the shot.)

(Haligonians enjoying the sun and the fun in the Public Gardens. A live band was providing entertainment at the bandstand this afternoon too.)

Natal Day Festival: July 29 - August 2, 2010, Part 1 - July 31

Natal Day is the celebration of the founding of Halifax in 1749, and Dartmouth a year later in 1750. The Natal Day Festival was not started however until 1895, making this year the 115th anniversary. While the Festival officially started on July 29, I did not actually make it to any of the events until July 31.

At 8:00 AM, the Canadian Forces Base in Halifax hosted a free pancake breakfast on the Waterfront. Even though I was a little late in arriving, most of Halifax was still sleeping off their Friday Night (as the picture above would suggest), and so I had no problem procuring seconds after I wolfed down my first serving.

This was the 5th year the pancake breakfast had been run during the Natal Day Festival, and so I'm sure more people were expected to come later, because I heard from one of the servers that the poor sailors cooking the pancakes had started preparing at 4:30 AM. They must have been the new recruits.

After the pancake breakfast, I went to the YMCA to workout. There was yet another free all day/night concert at the Festival tent later that day (there's at least one every day, and two on some days), but I couldn't be bothered to go; there's only so much "noise" one EP can take in a given weekend.

Later that night I was sitting at home, when at 9:00 PM I looked at the schedule to plan the next day's events. It was at that time that I noticed the most spectacular fireworks show of the year was scheduled to start in an hour at the Waterfront. I hurried to get myself ready again, and pedalled back down to the Halifax Harbour.

In hindsight, I'm not sure if it was worth the 35 minute round trip at night to see 10 minutes worth of fireworks, but a motto is a motto, and at least I was able to get this stunning picture.

Interesting Person #1: Chris Waldron

Chris Waldron a local cyclist who is training for a 430 km Coast to Coast mountain bike race through the tropical rain forests and over 11 000 metres worth of volcanic mountains in Costa Rica this November. On this day I saw him training outside the South Park Street YMCA where I go swimming, and where Chris used to hang out every Saturday morning as a child.

Over he course of several 8 hour stationary training sessions like this one, Chris hopes to help raise the $10 000 he pledged to donate towards YMCA's Strong Kids program. I gave him $2 because I was trying to stretch my budget as far as it would go at the moment, but the next time I see him I hope to be able to donate more.

As well as being incredibly fit, Chris Waldron is also an all-around nice guy, and he was gracious enough to chat with me for several minutes even during the final minutes of his gruelling 8 hour training session on this day.

To read more about Chris Waldron, his cause, or to donate, visit his website here.