Sugaring-off Parties: A Family Tradition
Drawing of a sugar bush.
On a beautiful spring day, a large table is set with mismatched dishes and utensils. On the menu: pea soup, baked beans drizzled with syrup, eggs in syrup, grilled bacon, delicious pancakes coated with maple sugar, “grandpères” (dumplings in maple syrup), “tourtières” (meat pies), and cakes and doughnuts accompanied with syrup. And if you’re still hungry, you can enjoy maple taffy on snow using a small wooden pallet. Welcome to the sugar shack!
Nathalie Lemieux’s maple grove in Saint-Pascal
You have arrived at Nathalie Lemieux’s.
Since 2008, Nathalie Lemieux has been proud to perpetuate one of Québec’s finest traditions, sugaring-off season, with her sugar bush in Saint-Pascal de Kamouraska. The daughter of Pierre Lemieux, a farmer, maple syrup producer, and forestry producer in Cap Saint-Ignace, Nathalie belongs to the fourth generation of Lemieux engaged in farming.
Enjoy the video interview, with its full transcript.
As the saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Nathalie’s father was president of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers for 15 years, while her mother, Monique Gaudreau, was named Côte-du-Sud’s Woman Farmer of the Year in 1995. Nathalie’s husband Samuel Drapeau, a graduate in farm management and operations, as well as horticultural production and environmental technology, owns the Ricet ancestral dairy farm.
It smells like taffy!
Nathalie Lemieux is in charge of a maple grove with roughly 2,000 taps, and she has built a sugar shack there that can accommodate 80 guests. All products are processed on site, and interpretive maple tours are offered year-round for schools, daycare centres and the general public.
Enjoy the video interview, with its full transcript.
Like most maple syrup producers, Nathalie has acquired family know-how handed down from generation to generation. Innovation coupled with tradition have led her and her mother to create a unique recipe: “petits rocs à l’érable” (maple sugar nuggets).