Memories of an Accomplishment

My fondest memory of a former group home (47 Main St.) is of building a sugar house. The residents at 47 Main St. would go to the program director's (Willem) property to do carpentry once a week. I believe we went there on Thursdays. We had the help of knowledgeable carpenters on this project. Willem was quite handy and we had a staff person as well as a volunteer who both knew quite a bit about working with wood.

Building the sugar house took over a year, as we were limited in the amount of time we could work on it during each week. The Thursdays we spent working on it lasted only until lunch time. However we went out to Willem's property to work on the sugar house in all kinds of weather. We would make campfires in the winter to warm up by.

I felt quite useful during these times working at the sugar house. I had done a little carpentry prior to this project. I was also strong enough to work at a good pace. I was often times assigned work that was challenging. I came away from this project with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

We got the sugar house up and running just in time for the sugaring season that preceded my discharge. I remember spending long days tending to the slow work of boiling sap. We spent some time gathering sap with buckets. However most of the time was spent enjoying each others company and drinking sap tea; a drink of partially boiled sap steeped with a tea bag. It's a very sweet and refreshing treat. Great on cold spring days.