In addition to satisfying your sweet tooth, we invite you to enjoy a nice sleigh or carriage stroll depending on the state of the trails. This free activity allows you to do several tours of the pathway across the Sugar Bush.
Take advantage of it to watch wildlife and nature; and to breathe deeply the fresh air of our small little paradise!
THE ORIGIN OF TRACTOR STROLLS
Tractors strolls are very popular in Quebec’s sugar shacks. They are a reminder of the way maple syrup producers used to collect maple water. The invention of tractors litterally revolutionized their work and increased their productivity.
Indeed, early settlers used to collect maple water with snowshoes using wood buckets and a yoke. A hard labour to acquire the sweet liquid that contributed to their livelihood!
Over time, animals supported men for the harvest : dogs, oxen, and towards the end of the 1930’s horses. They were pulling a sleigh on which there was a barrel to collect the precious liquid.
The arrival of motor vehicles such as snowmobiles and tractors helped producers to reduce their workload. And, in the 1970’s, plastic tubing and vacuum pumps (to allow maple water to transit directly to the sugar shack) transformed the production of maple syrup from an artisan production to a commercial production.
During that time, and to this day, Meunier’s sugar shack stayed true to the tradition, collecting the buckets the old-fashioned way. Every year, the Meuniers tap around 3,000 maple trees.
