The Old McEwen Sugar Bush now Temples Sugar Bush

The old McEwen Suga Bush now Temples.. The property was clear cut for fire wood in the 1940’s. The regeneration which followed would have included a variety of species such as ash, elm, basswood, hickory, birch, butternut, cherry and, of course, maple. Fortunately, the McEwen family and in particular Bob McEwen, decided to develop this mixed bush into a working sugar bush. Through the 1960’s and 70’s the bush became a demonstration wood lot, with the assistance of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, to show the value of proper sugar bush management and thinning techniques. Photo- Carleton Place Canadian

Photo from Arlene Stafford Wilson… click here for more

This maple syrup business near Ferguson Falls has been in Tom McEwen’s family since 1936. The sugar shanty that’s still used today was built in the early 1950s. The public is welcome to stroll through to see an open evaporating system fueled by logs that turns sap to syrup. Sunday travellers can also explore some of about 75 acres of forest and then sample some of the sweet bounty at the McEwen’s pancake house.

1979

FERGUSON FALLS A sweltering day in mid-July is an unlikely time to be wolfing down pancakes and sausages and looking at sugar maples, but the 175 persons who visited McEwen’s Pancake Shanty here Saturday thought it was great. They were members of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association winding up a two- day tour of maple syrup centres in Eastern Ontario. Duncan McArthur of Glengarry said the annual tours are a great idea. “It is a chance to trade ideas with other producers. I’ve picked up a lot of useful ideas.” Bill Langenberg, head of maple syrup research at Kempt-ville College of Agricultural Technology, said this was one of the best attended tours yet. Langenberg said the energy crisis is a big concern to maple syrup producers. Many switched to oil-fired evaporators just in time to be hit hard by rapidly rising oil prices. Some of the smaller ones have gone back to wood-fired evaporators, but that isn’t possible for the big producer. 

Temple’s Sugar Bush Ltd
2h  · 

For some reason Google thinks we are closed right now! Rest assured we are open and ready to serve you a full pancake breakfast. Come out today between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for Temple’s famous buttermilk pancakes with all the fixings.

Gail Sheen-MacDonaldI went there many times. It was owned by my an uncle of my friend Ed McEwen. I still have (and use) their cookbook

Sherri Iona

My dad had a small sugar bush on the right on Hwy 7 just before the big curve, past Montgomery Shores Rd. The next people who bought it cut down all the maples. There are small trees on the property now and a auto repair. So sad the trees are gone.

But the property on the right before Montgomery Shores, has many evergreens that we helped my dad plant through a ministry program that are still standing. If you look the right way, you see the rows.

Craig Wilson

I remember going…either grade 2 or 3 in Doris Blackburn’s class. My drawing was up on the wall near the door…

Related reading

A few Memories of Maple Syrup

So What Did you Eat with Maple Syrup? Pickles?

Cooking with Findlay’s — Christine Armstrong’s Inheritance and Maple Syrup Recipe

Granny’s Maple Fudge —Lanark County Recipes

Life in the Sugar Bush in the 1800s

What You Might Not Know About The Maples

That Smell Of The Lanark County SAP Being Processed — Noreen Tyers

Sticky Fingers – With Apologies to Edward Gorey –Wheeler’s Pancake House

The Sugar Bush Fairy at Temple’s Sugar Bush

 

I know that some have walked alone on warm and cold nights, while gently waking frozen or slushed lines that are pouring golden liquid.

It’s syrup season, boiling sap until the sun rises–maple syrup steeped is waiting to be cherished slowly.

 

At Temple’s I find things made with love by someone who had been up at the crack of dawn making pancakes.

Crisp, sizzling bacon, slightly singed sausages and fluffy pancakes from a hot skillet, placed on a plate stacked high.

Dripping butter spreading from top to sides with warm maple syrup waiting for drizzle.

Flip, flop, golden brown–num, num, add maple syrup,
Cut, cutting, pick up with fork, chew, taste— oh, that tastes good!

Gluten-free pancakes drizzled upon me in maple syrup shimmer, coating my yearning lips with tasty sweet love.

 

Outside the air is crispy, like the bacon, and now my journey on the road ahead brings rain,

Out of the corner of my eye I spot her. She seemed to smell like waffles and maple syrup,
and looked like a maple leaf, red, rusty, spinning, floating through the now damp air.

Under her feather umbrella the sugar bush fairy was slowly licking the red top off the maple syrup bottle with maple syrup kisses. No one tried to catch her, as one might only seize her with smoke magic in moonlit parks while shimmering indigo stars dance around her.

As if my life is captured in a raindrop caught with the wind I too drift away like the sugar bush fairy. My tired eyes are now focused on the road.

Inside we drank coffee and ate steaming waffles,
While outside the gray fog draped itself–even over our minds,
Painting things in a sweeping grey that glistens in the sunlight.

A lesson lived,
A lesson learned,
We can’t live on love alone– but maybe, just maybe, life can be lived on maple syrup and sugar bush fairies.

THANK YOU to the staff of Temple’s for the great meal, and hugs and kisses to Moira Wilkie

Temple’s Sugar Bush Restaurant & Venue

1700 Ferguson’s Falls Road
(County Road #15)
Lanark ON K0G 1K0

GPS: N 45.039  W -76.285

Phone: 613 253 7000

Fax: 613 253 0099

 

RELATED READING

Sticky and Sweet in Lanark County

Sticky Fingers – With Apologies to Edward Gorey –Wheeler’s Pancake HouseCooking with Findlay’s — Christine Armstrong’s Inheritance and Maple Syrup Recipe