It’s a sunny spring afternoon as Wayne Krangle feeds firewood into his maple syrup evaporator at his property on Binscarth Road in Haliburton County.
Dressed in a camo cap, green shirt, khaki pants, with white suspenders, he walks around his production factory in boots with cleats as it’s still slippery with ice.
Three feeder lines carry sap from the many collection barrels on his property, coming from some 250 maple tree taps.
In a trailer by the evaporator, one can see a stereo, toaster oven and microwave because when the sap’s running, Krangle isn’t.
It’s the 16th tap for Krangle. It’s hard to know how much time and money he has put into it. But the profit is zero, since every botte of maple syrup he produces under Syrop for Soldiers goes to charity: Wounded Warriors Canada. He’ll likely top the $100,000 mark this year in sales on behalf of the registered Canadian charity that supports and assists wounded Canadian soldiers, and, in more recent years, police, fire and EMS personnel.
Krangle was recently awarded a King Charles III Coronation Medal for his work.
“I didn’t do this for a medal,” he says, standing up after loading the wood-fired evaporator.
His son, Chuck Krangle, did a tour in Afghanistan, and went on to become a police officer. However, Krangle isn’t just doing this for his son.
A couple of years after Chuck came home from Afghanistan, he recommended his dad read Christie Blatchford’s book, Fifteen Days. In the book, Blatchford describes 15 battles she witnessed from the the inside of a Canadian tank.
“She talked about some of the carnage that our fellow country people have suffered because of being in battle; people with legs blown off, eyes out, half a brain. I’m a grown man and I never cry, but by the time I finished reading that book, I had tears in my eyes,” Krangle shares while seated in the trailer next to the evaporator.
He retired in 2009 to a property full of maples. He pondered making maple syrup. “I thought it would be very cool that if you poked a hole in a maple tree, and sap came out, and you got to make maple syrup, how special would that be?”
‘It’s magical’
He took a one-day course in Dorset in February 2010 offered by the Ministry of Natural Resources. At the end, he and a buddy concluded, “you have to be crazy to make maple syrup. There’s no money in this.” So, he put the idea on the backburner. But a couple of days later, at 2 a.m., he awoke to the thought of what if it wasn’t about making money, but for a purpose. Two days later, and another 2 a.m. thought of doing it for people that have been in the military and suffered; the very people Blatchford wrote about.
He asked Chuck for ideas, and his son suggested Wounded Warriors Canada.
The first year, Wayne tapped 40 trees, running around on a snowmobile with a generator, long extension cord, and an electric drill. “I was so excited the next morning to go and see my buckets.” He evaporated sap on a pan on a fire on a cement block in front of his house. But the wind kept putting the fire out. That Canada Day, he sold his first batch at a neighbourhood party.
y. The next year, he got bigger and better, buying an evaporator to service 250 taps. He began seasoning firewood. It’s grown from there.
He’s proud of the medal, but says he’s not about to march down Highland Street wearing it on his chest.
“I’ve always felt that Canada is the best country on the planet, and I’ve always felt that it’s been really good to me and my family, and I’ve always wanted to give back, and this is my way,” he says.
There’s something very peaceful, sitting here in the sun amid the trees, the sweet smell of sap being turned into liquid amber.
“It’s magical … a day like today, this is as good as it gets.” Krangle says. “I’ve been here in sleet, snow, fighting to keep the sap flowing through the tube. There is something really special about taking nature’s gift and making such a delicious product.”
ronically, Krangle did not know maple syrup prior to this; growing up in a house that had Bee Hive corn syrup. And, now, he’s made $100,000 worth of the stuff for Wounded Warriors Canada.
“That’s pretty cool and everybody loves maple syrup.”
Find out more at SyrupForSoldiers.com
