Eastern
Learn about this Local
This Local includes the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry, and the Township of Cumberland in the amalgamated City of Ottawa.
2021 Events in this Local
Meet Your Local Representatives
Local Executives and Board Representatives
Frank Heerkens – President (Provincial Board President)
Jules Rochon – Vice President (Provincial Board 2nd Vice President)
Bryan Exley – Past President (CHEO contact person)
Ozwald Linton – Director – CHEO physical ground organizer
Angela Coleman – Director (meeting host organizer, info day hostess)
Pam French – Director – auction fund raising organizer
Richard Mcmillan – Director - Russel Fair organizer
Sheri Gallinger – Director - meeting organizer
Gary Gallinger – Director - Treasurer
Fay Gallinger – Director - Treasurer and Maple Weekend assistant
Claude Castonguay – Directeur (francophone ambassador)
Anne Zoeller (Director - Maple weekend organizor)
Contact this Local
Spotlight on a Local Producer
Fernand Séguin et
Pascale Cloutier
This quarter’s Spotlight on Producer shines the light on a very ‘sweet’ couple keeping the Franco- Ontarian tradition of la saison des sucres alive and well right here in Eastern Ontario. We are proud to have Fernand Séguin and Pascale Cloutier as members of the Eastern Ontario Maples Syrup Association. Jules and I recently had the pleasure of having a ‘virtual’ visit with Fern and Pascale and they were kind enough to share with us and you – our readers, a little insight into their operation. We are happy to share this conversation with you as it took place in both official languages
Bonjour Fernand Séguin et Pascale, comment allez-vous? – Please share with us:
How long have you been in operation?
Notre première saison des sucres était au printemps 2011. On ne connaissait rien à la production de sirop d’érable lorsque nous avons acheté la propriété d’Yvon Chénier. La cabane à sucre et tout l’équipement étaient là alors on s’est lancé. Yvon et sa belle-sœur nous ont transmis leur savoir de plus de 30 ans d’expérience.
Our first sugaring season was in the spring of 2011. We did not know anything about maple syrup production when we bought the property from Yvon Chénier. The sugar shack and all the equipment came with the property so we went for it. Yvon and his sister-in-law took the time to pass on their knowledge of over 30 years of experience to us.
Are you a family run operation?
Le sirop d’érable, c’est principalement Fernand qui est le maître sucrier et qui coordonne les opérations. La famille et les amis se joignent à nous chaque année pour aider durant la saison des sucres, c’est un rendez-vous qu’il ne manque pas.
The maple syrup, it is mainly Fernand who takes care of boiling the sap and who coordinates the collection. Family and friends join us in making the syrup year after year, it's a rendezvous that they haven’t missed.
How many taps do you generally run? And what do you focus on in the business.
On fait environ 1000 entailles par année depuis que nous avons commencé. Pour l’instant, nous ne planifions pas augmenter le nombre d’entailles. On se concentre à perfectionner le goût du sirop et à améliorer les installations.
We have been taping 1000 taps a year since we started. At the moment we have no plan to increase the number of taps. We focus on improving the taste of the maple syrup and the equipment.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you collect and process the syrup?
La production est très artisanale. La collecte se fait avec des chaudières. Un véhicule tout terrain traine une remorque avec un réservoir et on fait le tour de l’érablière pour vider les chaudières. Lorsque le réservoir est plein, on retourne à la cabane à sucre pour transférer la sève dans un autre réservoir qui se transvide par gravité dans l’évaporateur. Jusqu’à l’année dernière, le sirop était filtré avec un filtre de feutre et un de papier. Le bois de chauffage est notre seule source de chaleur.
The production is very traditional. Collection is done with buckets. An all-terrain vehicle pulls a trailer with a tank, and we go around the maple grove to empty buckets. When the tank is full, we return to the sugar shack and transfer the sap to another tank which is emptied by gravity into the evaporator. Until last year the syrup was filtered through a felt and a paper filters. Firewood is our only source of heat.
What sort of maples do you tap?
Sur notre terre on retrouve principalement de l’érable à sucre qui pousse sur un sol rocailleux.
Our woodlot is primarily sugar maples which grows very well on a rocky terrain.
Do you do any maple product transformation?
Une partie de notre production est transformée en beurre d’érable. Une chose que l’on aime bien faire et qui est appréciée de tous, ce sont des pacanes rôties au sirop d’érable et au poivre de Cayenne, une recette de Josée di Statio. On a essayé plusieurs recettes de noix et de sirop d’érable, mais celle-là reste notre favorite.
Part of our production is transformed into maple butter. One thing that we love to do and that is appreciated by all is roasted pecans coated with maple syrup and cayenne pepper, a recipe from Josée di Statio. We tried many other similar recipes but this is our favourite one.
Do you have any annual activities for patrons and families?
La saison des sucres est la réunion annuelle pour passer un bon moment avec la famille et les amis et savourer le sirop d’érable. Notre clientèle s’est développée au cours des années de bouche à oreille, principalement la famille, les amis, nos voisins et les collègues de travail. Notre cabane à sucre n’est pas ouverte au public, mais nous sommes toujours heureux d’accueillir les gens attirés par la vapeur s’échappant de la cabane à sucre qui s’arrête pour savourer une tasse de réduit.
The sugar season is the annual gathering of family and friends to enjoy the freshly made maple syrup. Our client base has grown over the years through word of mouth, primarily family, friends, neighbours and co-workers. Our sugar shack is not open to the public, but we are always happy to welcome people drawn by the steam and to get a cup of reduced sap.
Thank you Fernand Séguin and Pascale Cloutier for taking the time to share information on your maple operation with us. We, here at the Eastern Ontario division of the OMSPA are proud to support you and your organization and strive to help you and our members with the opportunity to better promote that wonderful Sweet Ontario Maple Syrup!
Send your classifieds to
Phone: (613) 446-5670
or
Phone: (613) 912-2014.
Local Classifieds
Send your classifieds to Jules Rochon
Visit our News Archive for past event photos and news stories.
Maple Weekend :
Stay tuned as we will have decision mid February if event is back on or not. To contact Anne Zoeller at for more information.
New event is back on for 2021:
Aceritour en couleur, fall colored tour for the first weekend of October. To contact Anne Zoeller at for more information.
First tapping Event:
Stay tuned, march 6 will be hosted at “Onthebend Sugarshack”. We may have covid restrictions to follow. Please contact Gary Gallinger for early registrations or reservations at 613-448-2742.
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Minutes-Reporting Virtual AGM with discussions-presentation.
When : Nov 28 2020.
Speech and discussion with outgoing provincial president. Brian Bainborough
- Discussed is maple an essential services
- People were still able to sell syrup this year
- At the Provincial level there were more meetings conference calls,
- E-commerce funding became available
- Eastern Chapter are hosting the first virtual agm for OMSPA,
- There has been sharing of buddy sap research and mold research with all of the industry.
- Discussed Succession plan for the next 5 years.
New incoming provincial president speech. Frank Heerkens
- Discussed how Covid has been hard on us, forced us to slow down
- Sales have been up 20-25% across markets
- 65 members for eastern chapter,
- First omspa president from eastern was 40 years ago
- first local to have a virtual agm
- we are on the omspa website, check us out.
Agm portion and Financial reporting from Gary Gallinger and Frank Heerkens.
- Financial statement submitted
- Richard Mcmillian motions and George Horton seconds it, the Financials are passed
- No support for losses for maple weekend. No elections this year.
Membership renewal reminder. John Williams and Jules Rochon
- Online renewal discussed by Jules
- Demo on OMSPAsite.
- Enews and mainline discussed by John.
- TSC Draw gift card From John.
Maple weekend and Aceritour/maple tour in colour – Anne Zoeller.
- -Last year was disappointing as it was cancelled, this year we are hoping we can have it
- co-operators insurance will sponsor but you have to follow local health guidelines.
- Working out ideas for this year, we have to be flexible
- if we can’t host Maple Weekend in 2021 we will try to support maple producers in other ways
- we are hoping to have a fall tour this year regardless if we have a spring maple weekend
- This year Maple Weekend is April 3-4,
- We have 15 banners, Anne to find out how much they cost and see if we can get some of our money back.
E-omspa Web discussion. Jules and Teressa Dauphinais.
- Quick demo
- Explanation of spotlight producer questionnaire and how we select a producer
Flagship shipping arrangement Demo. John Williams
- Demo of the site and how to use it
- If OMSPA wants to join OMSPA gets a kickback.
- Have you reached out to freight.com.
- Does it integrate with e-commerce stores.
Alpha Book presentation and Demo John Williams
- We paid a royalty to sell the maple alphabet book,
- Retail is $10.00 cost is $3.00 a case or $3.50 each
Speaker presentations
CDL – Steve O’Farrell - How is pandemic affecting service delivery for us the producers.
- Sales were up, but they are short staffed
- They are following regulations for COVID
- They have online store so you can shop online
- There are videos on their website to watch, vertical tanks,
Small RO
- Nanoro small RO 2 models 2 membrane model, 20-50 taps
- 3 membrane model, 50-150 taps
CDL presentation can be viewed here.
Lapierre – Steve Bedard How is pandemic affecting service delivery for us the producers.
- Forced lapierre to advance their online presence
- -you can pre-order soon online
- They are having more zoom meetings, live chats, and new tools for reps to help sell online
- Lapierre considered an essential service
- New products include:
- vision evaporator
- Fully automated ro
- New hobby ro
- New extractor emergency opp
- Flexclip saddle
Q&A - Richard Macmillan
- No Questions
Closure comments by Frank Heerkens thanking everyone for joining and wishing a happy and safe end of 2020.
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Membership renewal for 2021.
Please note that it will be difficult to physically renew your membership because there is no physical in person info day this year. Therefore this leaves us with some other options. Note that you now can renew for up to 2 years! If you know of someone who wants to join, please pass on the info.
1. You can renew online at the omspa.ca site .
2. You can also call our executive director John Williams who will be more than happy to help out.
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Email at : admin@ontariomaple.com or call at : 613-258-2294
3. You can call one of our Eomspa directors from our web page for assistance.
4. Invoicing, I was told that we now do invoicing…you may want to wait and see…but remember to properly focus on our current registered members we cut the cord come March 31st if not renewed. Invoicing will be attached to the next mainline as a reminder.
Special note:
2021 OMSPA Renewal time has arrived…so its here!
If you renew or join now till Jan31st, you are eligilible for a
$500 TSC gift card.
Wow!!