rev-digital-FINAL-PRESS-2023-PAGES-AHCC-QUARTER-BLEED - Flipbook - Page 38
ALMAGUIN HIGHLANDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Putting Down
Roots
in Almaguin
Rob Learn
PHOTOGRAPHY Hubbert’s Maple
BY
T
he love of working in the forest goes back many generations in
2,200 buckets and a horse drawn sleigh to gather the sap during
the Hubbert family. Harold Hubbert a fourth generation Canadian
the spring in the gap between the winter working in Algonquin Park
was raised on a farm on Manitoulin Island that had a nice woodlot
as a tree cutter and the summer at the sawmill.
where the family made maple syrup for their own use along with
In 1962 the cows were sold and maple became the only farming
extra to sell. After his service in World War 2, along with his wife
activity. Harold and Alice replaced the buckets with tubing in 1968
Alice they began looking for a farm in the Almaguin area with the
and were one of the first in the area to use tubing on a large scale,
help of Veterans Affairs Canada (Alice was born and raised in Burks
quickly growing to 3,000 taps. Alice was the driving force on a
Falls). A 200 acre farm was found in the small community of Hartfell
number of initiatives at the farm. She was instrumental in bringing
and Harold indicated to the officials at Veterans affairs that it had
the phone line and hydro line to the small community. Moreover,
an excellent woodlot and thriving sugarbush. They informed him
the move to tubing was actually her idea so that she could work
that the value would be based on the farm fields and other factors
in the bush instead of the kitchen during the spring making meals
as well as that the woodlands, swamps etc. were all valued at $1
for the men hired to gather sap. At one point Alice and Harold
an acre. So the portion of the farm that ended up being the most
purchased an adjoining 100 acres adding more woodland to the
vibrant was more of an afterthought during the purchase. The farm
farm. The youngest of four children took an interest in the woodlot.
was operated as a mixed farm for may years starting in 1949.
Bill studied Forestry at the University of Toronto graduating in 1983
Harold and Alice became an integral part of the community,
and quickly took on the operation of the family sugarbush along
particularly the nearby community of Pevensey and the village
with his wife Lori, a fellow graduating Forester. They moved to the
of Sundridge. Harold worked at a variety of jobs off the farm
Almaguin area in 1989 to be closer to the farm with Bill traveling to
eventually settling in to work for Kent Brothers Lumber in the
Huntsville each day to work for the Algonquin Forestry Authority.
sawmill in summer and the bush camps during winter. They utilized
The agency responsible for Forest Management in Algonquin Park.
38
