Maple Syrup Sunday in Maine

If you read my last post, you know that I’ve been exploring my Franco American heritage. In my contacts with the Franco American Center on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono, I was lucky enough to meet Lisa Michaud. Lisa extended an invitation to visit Dragonfly Farm & Winery in Stetson with her group. On Sunday, March 20th, a small group of us were welcomed warmly by the Nadeau family and given a tour and tastings of the operation.



 Bangor is a relatively large city in this part of the state. My home is just over the bridge, in Brewer, and maintains the feeling of a populous area. As we drove out of Bangor, into Kenduskeag, then Corinth, and finally into Stetson, the land and homes transformed into fields and farms. The day felt like spring, with blue sky and sunshine. It was nice to be getting out of town.

I’m not sure what I expected when I thought of a “farm”. I didn’t really expect livestock or rows of corn, but I was surprised to see two beautiful modern homes flanking the curved driveway. A small sign by the road told us we were in the right place. Between the homes and the road, blue tubing stretched from tree to tree, intertwining, meeting, and all the while, collecting sap from the maples. Co-owner Todd Nadeau, offered tastings of the sap out of one of the buckets hanging on the tree. It was only slightly sweet, unexpectedly refreshing.


Next Todd showed us the vineyard. It was obvious that this is a passionate endeavor. He and his wife Treena started this vineyard seven years ago with 275 vines. It has now grown to 600 vines, many different varieties and a distinctive fruit wine selection.


 For us, though, that day was about all things maple. Todd led us down to the edge of the woods, to the “cabane a sucre” or sugar shack, the home of the maple syrup production on the farm. Todd’s parents, Rita and John Nadeau, are from Jackman, Maine. As Rita explained, many of her friends and family made maple syrup when she was growing up. As retirement neared, the Nadeau’s decided to make the move. They built the “cabane” with wood from the land, and recently purchased a large evaporator to increase production of maple products.

 Pails hung from most of the trees, already tapped and running. John Nadeau let the kids in the group install a tap and hang the bucket with the cover on the tree. It didn’t take long for the clear liquid to start dripping from the tap.

Steam billowed out of the cupola vents on the roof of the Cabane. Inside, the evaporator was bubbling and frothing, filling the room with warmth. Rocking chairs and a woodstove gave the space such a homey feeling that it was difficult not to sit and relax. Rita was taking out the plates and napkins and serving up a slice of Maple Sugar Pie to each of us. It was delicious, sweet and creamy. I remembered my grandmother making sugar pie when I was young. Rita said it was a traditional recipe. On the stove nearby, she had pots bubbling the evaporated sap, boiling it down to syrup. Periodically she would pour some into a container where she would compare the color to a set of samples. She explained that syrup is lighter in color early in the season, and deepens as the weather warms.

After the pie, we went back out with John to collect sap from the buckets that hung on trees around the cabin. He used a tractor with an industrial sized plastic barrel strapped to the front. The kids took the buckets off the trees and poured the liquid into the barrel. John let the little ones ride with him from tree to tree.

When we made our way back to the cabin, Rita instructed us to fill a child’s sled with snow. With our hands, we packed in the crystallized snow and brought the sled back. After some stirring and testing, it was finally ready. After handing everyone some popsicle sticks, they poured some hot thick syrup onto the pressed snow. We swirled the warm gooey maple onto the sticks and enjoyed the maple taffy.

My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves visiting the Dragonfly Farm and wish to extend our thanks to the Nadeau family and the Franco American Center for giving us an experience that we had never had. Many of my ancestors had their “cabane a sucre” and supplemented their farming in the off season with maple syrup production. It was a nice reminder of simpler times.

This past weekend was Maple Sunday here in Maine. That’s when many maple farms open their doors and allow the public in to see how maple syrup is made. Dragonfly Farm and Winery is a participating farm. For more information, visit their website. Here is a link to Dragonfly Farm and Winery in Stetson, Maine. http://www.mainewinegrower.com/


Here is the link to the Franco American Center in Orono. Great resource for history and support. http://www.francoamericanarchives.org/

History, Ancestry & eBay

My grandmother, Blanche Lajuenesse, back row, far right.

I realize that we are just hours away from a long awaited return to spring, so discussing my winter interests seems like a step back. Perhaps it’s my attempt to justify my lack of blog posts, to indicate that my time has been spent elsewhere, somehow easing my guilt. Reality is that you probably don’t care that I haven’t posted since we were 52 days away from spring. If you do, please let me know and I’ll be absolutely sure to post more often.

My grandfather, Willie Roy, with my mother,
Rejeanne, and my aunt Madeline.

With that said, I’ve been on a quest to uncover my ancestry. “Who do you think you are?” is partly to blame. It’s that TV show on CBS where each week, a celebrity delves into his or her own family history. This season we’ve seen Rosie McDonald go from Montreal to Ireland to find out what brought her grandfather’s family to this side of the Atlantic. Tim McGraw found a route that connected his family to early Virginia settlers that housed and encouraged George Washington. Lionel Richie found out that his great grandfather, who had abandoned his grandmother as a child, had actually set off to establish a support system that led to the civil rights.



I started an account on http://www.ancestry.com/. I started looking. I found some very interesting stuff. Prompted not only by the television show, but also by questions from my daughter asking about where we can from, I kept digging, or clicking, and looking.

The population of Maine is becoming more diverse, although at last report, we are still the whitest state in the nation. White faces, however, do come in many varieties and mine happens to be one of the estimated 25% of the natives born with Franco American roots. I’ve learned that in the mid 1800’s as agriculture declined in Quebec, the industrial revolution was ramping up here in New England. Shoe factories, tanneries, paper mills, cotton mills and all manner of large scale production was developing. The combination of poor farming, large French Catholic families, and the lure of steady income and a better life drew hundreds of thousands of people to Maine, including, in 1896 my paternal grandmother’s family. I found out that my maternal grandmother, one of eighteen children, came to Maine with her family when she was sixteen years old. On Ancestry.com, I saw my great grandmother’s birth record. I found that my grandmother was the first in her family to read and write.

My maternal grandparent's wedding, 1930

My maternal grandparent's wedding anniversary

Growing up in Biddeford, Maine, the French language was heard everywhere. My parents tell me that I didn’t speak English until I started to play outside with other kids. The large brick mills hummed with activity, and although on the decline in my youth, and shut down now, they employed much of the population, including many members of my extended family. Aunts, uncles, and grandparents lived their lives in and around the mills in Biddeford and Saco. My point is that I took for granted that my history was all around me. For the most part I ignored the obvious; that manufacturing was moving south, that the mills were being converted to apartments and office space, and that a way of life was dying. To me, it was progress and frankly, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

My parents when they were dating.  Aren't they so cute?

My parent's wedding

So fast forward some twenty five years and I’m faced with a little girl who wants to know about her heritage, who has an unexplainable draw to France and the French language, and is looking for answers. I’m sharing with her the things I find and trying to sketch out a path that stretches back to France via Canada. What we find together, no one knows, but we’re looking.

My mom is the little one in the middle with the barette. 

My thanks on this to the Franco American Center on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono. I’ve got a book to pick up this afternoon on the Roy family, my family on my mother’s side. If Franco American history interests you at all, here’s their website: Francoamericanarchives.org

My grandfather

A quick note about the eBay mention in my title: My interest in selling my work and the neat items I find, and the things I dig out of our basement to ready for a yard sale has prompted me to open an eBay store to sell this stuff.

I will be writing more about this soon, and am working on a website to accompany it: http://www.fullcircleonlinestore.com/. It’s not up and running yet, as I’m still in the early stages of design. I chose the name based on the idea that the things I sell on the site and on eBay have been used, and can be used again, given a new life, come full circle from new to in use to unused to use and life again. We are fortunate to be able to have decent clothing and I want to pass on the things we outgrow. I’ve come across two antique photographs that have been in my basement for a few years after I claimed them from a pile of stuff found in my sister’s old house. Turns out Wallace Nutting and David Davidson have a following and I’m hoping to sell those prints online. An old jug that has been sitting on my parent’s hearth for years, dusted weekly by my mother, is an antique kerosene bottle. I’m selling my wedding dress, some jewelry, and some artwork and am hoping that with some sales, I can continue to explore history and craft a future with a connection to the past.

Here’s the link to my store on eBay: at http://stores.ebay.com/fullcircleonlinestore.

Wallace Nutting