Back to the land (family)

“My friends were buying houses or having babies…I guess I needed a 30-something challenge too! »

Donavan Lauzon stands proudly in front of the sugar shack he took two years to build. The building smells new and impresses with its fiery red. The interior, which I discover a few seconds later, is even more striking.

The walls are covered with paintings, the kitchen is immaculate, the ceiling is made of pine slats… It looks like a country condo in a decoration magazine. Above the ocher loveseat, a banner reads “I love maple syrup”.

I recognize the signature.

“It’s a work of Patsy Van Roost, the urban fairy!

“Exactly,” Donavan replies. I live in Villeray, so I was able to participate in his project “J’aime”…

“I wrote a column about it!” The world is small. »

Donavan grew up on the family land of Mirabel before settling in Montreal at the age of 18. He did not see himself evolving in the agricultural world. He started a police technique, then realized that he was “too bandit for that”. He eventually opted for a bachelor’s degree in criminology and became an addiction worker.

For five years, he has also been a maple syrup producer.

“It was not in my plans to take back the land, but I have always felt at home here. It’s a strong feeling! I wanted to do something tangible… And to do it at home. »

Donavan’s home is the land that once belonged to his grandfather and on which his parents later ran a dairy farm. It is the one that houses many childhood memories and a forest full of maple trees. This parcel has long been leased to a maple syrup producer… Then, five years ago, Donavan offered to take back control.

The news surprised the parents of the man who was then approaching his thirties.

“Yes, it takes time and investment… But it’s up to us! “, he pleaded.

In the first years of operations led by Donavan, the water collected on the family land was transformed in a local sugar bush. In the fall of 2019, the young man was ready for more autonomy. He wanted his own sugar shack.

“Maple growing is a disease,” he sums up, pouring me a coffee. You always want to grow. »

While working full time as a responder, Donavan was involved in every step of building the cabin. He was able to count on professionals as well as many friends.

“I try to be smart in life… It helped me! »

He hands me a bottle of syrup to pour into my coffee. I would like to point out that the Sucres St-Joachim logo — a hydroelectric pylon in a maple leaf — is very beautiful. It is precisely one of his friends who imagined it, Louis D’Arcy Dubois.

Donavan Lauzon then invites me to visit the “production” area of ​​the building. He points out machines to me, telling me about osmosis, evaporation, sugar particles, boiling time and wood fires which are perfect for a small production like his…

“Was it difficult to learn all that, for the urbanite that you had become?

– It was quite a lesson in humility, he replies. I’ve always been good at school and I have an ability to express myself… But I quickly realized that I didn’t have the intelligence of several of my colleagues who, on the other hand, know how big a pipe just by seeing it, or who can fix any engine! »

The project allowed him to take a different look not only at the agricultural community, but also at his own parents. As they pitched in, Donavan realized how resourceful they were.

“I planted myself a thousand times wondering how my parents could have learned to do that, them… It brought us closer. They see how I want to learn and get involved. They also see the potential of what we develop, because here, it stays with them! »

Moreover, the project goes well beyond the sugar shack. Donavan’s brother and his wife have started growing vegetables, also on the family land.

Soon, they will welcome animals. The Lauzon trio’s sister, a talented cabinetmaker, regularly lends a hand to the guys. One day, Donavan hopes to receive cyclists in a sugar shack converted into a café that will combine all the activities of the siblings.

“It’s a wealth, what we have, believes Donavan. It would have been our worst nightmare for the family land to be sold… We are attached to it. Rooted.

“And do you see yourself moving into full-time farming?

– I would like, but it does not pay! The sale of syrup barely pays my expenses… You always have to be bigger to be profitable, today, in agriculture. »

In the meantime, Donavan Lauzon is diversifying its activities. He is also interested in market gardening. In fact, he will soon be harvesting the 10,000 garlic plants he planted earlier this year.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet, but I have lots of ideas,” he says enthusiastically. I would like people to find out how many cool initiatives there are in the area right now. We talk a lot about microbreweries and small cultures in Estrie, but there is a whole change taking place in the Laurentians too! »

While waiting to put his agritourism plan into action, Donavan learns to let go. In recent years, he had to get rid of a certain thirst for performance and come to terms with the idea that the weather will dictate his priorities from now on… This allowed him to refocus on what he could control.

He hands me his phone and shows me pictures of smiling toddlers.

“Since the hut was built, friends come with their children to help me. It’s party time, every time. The project is bigger than me. In my head, it became exactly what I wanted it to be: a social project. »

We will not take the worker out of the farm.