To be frank, despite my Galway-based surname, St. Patrick’s Day has never really resonated with me. I don’t drink. Green (other than that in nature) isn’t my favourite colour. And as for cabbage and corned beef, we won’t even go there. Nevertheless, as this week’s column falls smack on the old St. Paddy’s feast day, I feel I should at least make an effort.
While hard evidence is a bit scarce, it’s estimated that Patrick was born in Roman Britain around 380 A.D. It’s said he was kidnapped at age 16 by an Irish raiding party and sold into slavery upon its return home. Six years later, he escaped and was reunited with his family. However, brewers of green beer are forever grateful that Patrick wasn’t content to remain there. He heard the call, caught the next coracle to Ireland and set about spreading the gospel like there was no tomorrow.
Legend has it, between feverish proselytizing and baptizing, Patrick still found time to banish all the snakes from Ireland (a relatively easy task as there were none to begin with) and raise 33 men from the dead. There’s nothing on record as to how this went over with the now undead guys. But I’m guessing they were none too pleased. Patrick’s name was also forever linked with the shamrock when he allegedly used it as a 5th century PowerPoint substitute to explain the Holy Trinity.
From what I can gather from an albeit non-exhaustive search of the Glengarry News, St. Patrick’s Day was never a red-letter day in Dunvegan. Which probably isn’t surprising, given its Scottish heritage. I checked with Dunvegan native Robert Campbell and he could recall no St. Patrick’s Day crafts, activities or decorations when he attended the old brick schoolhouse in the six or seven years before it closed. Although, he did know when it was St. Paddy’s Day because his family’s radio dial was firmly tuned to Ottawa’s CFRA and the station played Irish music from dawn to dusk on the 17th of March.
It’s interesting to note that, historically, as one left Dunvegan’s Irish-green blackout zone, St. Patrick’s Day frolics began to emerge. At S.S. #4 Kenyon for example, which used to be located east of St. Elmo on Concession 8, reader Ken McEwen recalls that, in the 1940s, his class would mark the day by “possibly doing a bit of art work, shamrocks, harps, leprechauns and the like.” This certainly was the case during the two years that Gwen Cleary was his teacher. “Gwen was Irish through and through,” Ken remarked in a recent email.
And almost 100 years ago, 35¢ would buy you a St. Patrick’s Lenten Supper at the Masonic Temple in Alexandria. Even Maxville caught green fever when the village’s Young Men’s Club held a St. Patrick’s party in the Institute Hall. So in that same spirit, I raise my Diet Pepsi to toast all those wearing the green today. Erin Go Bragh!
All about family
Laurent and Germain Soulingy, the two brothers behind Dunvegan’s Erablière Souligny Sugar Bush at 1717 Blyth Road, have a bit of a country mouse/city mouse thing going on. Laurent has been a farmer since the age of 19; Germain moved to the Capital region and became an accountant. But both have been outstanding in their respective fields. Laurent was Chair of Egg Farmers of Canada for 11 years, was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall Of Fame in 2011 and, in 2015, was co-recipient of the UCFO’s Pierre-Bercier Award for excellence in agriculture, together with his wife Hélène. Germain is founder and CEO of the Heritage Funeral Complex in Orléans. And yet both men are passionately devoted to the concept of “family.” In fact, that’s why they set up their maple syrup facility in Dunvegan — as a family-centered enterprise. When they built it though, they did it right. Their equipment is all stainless steel and state-of-the-art. For example, the vacuum-powered collection system from the 6,000 taps can be monitored and controlled via their smartphones. Even the building that houses the operation is top of the line. Spacious, well laid out and complete with a full kitchen and dining area, there’s no way it can be called a “shack.” It has all the conveniences of home and the Soulignys often use it for family celebrations.
There’s no big secret to making maple syrup. The raw sap from the maple trees is only two to five per cent sugar — it‘s virtually indistinguishable from water — so you have to evaporate a whole lot of the H2O. This takes a great deal of time, and fuel. That’s why more and more producers like the Soulignys are passing the sap through a reverse osmosis unit before it goes into the evaporator. This concentrates the sap’s sugar content and slashes boiling time dramatically. Gone too are the day’s of filtering the finished syrup through felt or flannel to remove any grit. The Soulignys pump their “Dunvegan Gold” syrup through a 44-membrane finishing filter unit, so the final product is as clear as amber crystal and smooth as silk.
The day Terry and I visited the operation, Germain’s son Guy was helping Laurent’s grandson Nicholas boil the season’s very first batch of syrup. Largely self-taught, syrup-meister Nicholas, kept a keen eye on sugar content… looking for the sweet spot of 66 to 68.9 on the Brix scale. During our tour, other family members arrived to help in a dizzying stream of enthusiasm, including Laurent’s son Jean who headed straight out to the bush to repair a hole in one of the lines, most likely courtesy of a squirrel.
As we were leaving, Laurent and I reminisced about our time together working on the Maxville Manor fundraising drive and his time as chair of the Dunvegan Recreation Association’s executive committee. I was surprised to learn that during the 70s, the DRA had hoped to add a regulation tennis court (and family skating rink in the winter) to the hamlet’s recently completed soccer field and baseball diamond complex. Unfortunately, Kenyon’s council at the time nixed the plan. As we talked, in the background, I could hear the joyful sound the Souligny gang chiding each other as they cleaned up after the first boil of the season. No doubt this was music to Laurent’s ear and proof positive of the legacy that he and his brother hope to leave nestled in the heart of their maple bush. For information, visit their web site: dunvegangold.ca
Laurent Souligny (left) and Germain Souligny (right) beside one of 6000 taps in their maple bush at Dunvegan’s Erablière Souligny Sugar Bush
Book lovers rejoice
I bear glad tidings of a huge book sale. The Lochiel Centre (in the former church beside the Father Gauthier soccer pitch) is holding a three-weekend used book blowout. Tables are piled high with fiction, romance, biography, fantasy, science fiction, self-help and books for children and young adults. You’ve missed the first weekend, but there are still two left: March 20th – 21st and March 27th – 28st. Terry and I dropped off boxes and boxes of gently used mysteries the other day and the sales floor is cavernous. Better yet, it’s indoors out of the unpredictable spring weather. The Lochiel Centre is located at 20863 County Road 21 (turn east at Fassifern) and is open each day from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Milk bag reminder
A reader from down Lancaster way called over the weekend wondering what she should do with the outer plastic milk bags that she had been collecting for the “Homeless Sleeping Mat” milk bag drive. She had 25 bags; over one-third the number needed to make a mat, which was terrific. So I put her in touch with Rosemary Chatterson. I also thought I’d better go over the options again, in case you too have been collecting bags and misplaced my column from February 24th.Your first option is to give Rosemary a call at 613-525-1336 to arrange a pickup. Or, if you live in or near Maxville, there’s a milk bag collection box inside the main door of St. Michael and All Angels church at the south end of Main Street. NOTE: Only the outer printed milk bag can be used for mat making… not the inner pouches that contain the milk.
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