The Sugar Shack

The Sugar Shack - Fri, July 11                                                                         By Jennifer Green                                              

For as long as I can remember, nearly every spring, my Uncle Frank Lehman has harvested his beloved Maple Trees for sap and with my Aunt JoyAnn Lehman, makes homemade maple syrup. When I was a young girl I remember riding around on the back of a wagon pulled by his tractor as he wove in and out of the trees collecting the precious elixir. He’d pour the sap into a large metal container over an open fire and as it began to cook, the woods would smell like an intoxicating mixture of sugary sweetness and campfire. Over the years my uncle has created a sort of grown-up tree house to make his syrup in called the Sugar Shack. This past spring I was lucky enough to spend some time out there with him so I could document this remarkable man doing what he loves to do. I also ended up getting a quart of syrup out of it – sweet liquid gold, nectar of the gods - I hide it behind the mayo and mustard jars in the far back corner of the fridge so the kids can’t find it. Aunt Jemimas got nothin’ on Frank & JoyAnn Lehman.