You might say biscuits are in Harley Sproul’s blood. The retired jewelry store owner (Sproul and Vose of Lincoln) and former appliance and electronics salesman has been a part of the annual River Drivers Supper for the past 30 years, the most recent four years as chairman.

And biscuits, as many as 2,500 per supper, cooked in reflector ovens by an open fire, have been Sproul’s specialty. After all, when you’re on the First Congregational Church’s Men’s Club biscuit committee you’d best deliver.

It’s only natural then, that this soft-spoken, 72-year-old gentleman would be thinking about biscuits a little more often than you or I (not that a day goes by without my thinking about a biscuit). And since he’s not one to sit around and waste his time staring at the walls, it’s understandable that he’s been thinking about making a better mousetrap – actually a better reflector oven.

Seven years ago, he told me, he started thinking about making his own, based on designs the river driver cooks used more than 100 ago. “I started with roof flashing (it’s cheap),” he explained as he mixed biscuit dough at the rear of his GMC van Tuesday morning between rain showers. “I did the bending by hand.”

It didn’t take long for him to explore the possibility of using a local machine shop to help with the metalwork. The research and development progressed and the kinks got worked out, and now he has an air-powered metal break and hydraulic pan and flat presses to do the bending and flattening.

The result is the Campfire Reflector Oven, a foldable oven that collapses to 13-by-13 inches by about an inch high. There’s also a 7-by-13-inch baking pan. When assembled (setup is really simple, using two skewer-type rods) the oven is a picture of simplistic beauty. The roof and bottom slant toward a short vertical back.

By placing the unit near an open fire (it doesn’t have to be a big fire) Just some open flames, what Sproul calls “an active fire”) you can bake anything you can fit in the oven just the same as at home using the same baking times. And (here’s the wow factor) you can regulate the cooking temperature based on where you place the oven.

For example, by placing it 6 inches from the flames you get a 450-degree cooking temperature at the pan. Move it just 2 inches back and the oven temperature is 375 degrees. And at 10 inches the temperature is 325 degrees.

And you can pick up the oven and move it by a cool-to-the-touch handle attached to the top. Best of all, the oven does not collapse when you pick it up and put it back down. The support legs remain in place too, so that when you put the oven back down it doesn’t fall over. Sproul said he designed his oven to be simple and safe to operate, and to improve on other designs that are on the market.

As we chatted, he went about fixing cinnamon rolls using the biscuit dough recipe in the cookbook that comes with the oven. I had to remind myself to pay attention to what he was doing since it was happening so effortlessly.

When you get into biscuit baking regularly, you make up a gallon jug of “Riverdrivers Biscuit Mix” (see page 19) at a time. There’s flour, baking powder, salt, Crisco and powdered milk. When you want to make up a batch of dough, you simply scoop out enough flour mix and add water (enough to make a stiff dough ball – not too sticky) and roll out the dough.

Sproul placed a floured board atop a couple of cement blocks to make a working surface at the back of his van.

Next thing I knew he was rolling out a rectangle about 10 by 18 inches, buttering it and sprinkling cinnamon and brown sugar on top. Then he deftly rolled it from the long side across to the other long side making a log. This was sliced into15 or 16 one-inch-thick “cookies” and each was placed in the buttered baking pan.

Then it was time to light a fire. Sproul used a couple of sheets of newspaper and a handful of split cedar and in minutes we were ready to cook (dry-ki makes an excellent fuel too). As we chatted the buns expanded and baked. I tried touching the oven’s handle. It was cool to the touch despite the fact it was inches from the fire. In a short 20 minutes (we weren’t really watching the clock), Sproul gave the buns a test with a plastic knife and we were ready for coffee and a great snack. The trick for pastry with sugar in it is to not overcook it and burn the sugar. Also key is removing it from the pan immediately so it won’t stick.

And, you might ask, how were the cinnamon rolls? First class! As we sat at Sproul’s kitchen looking over Upper Cold Stream Pond and sipped coffee, I had to stop myself at three. They were delicious.

I can’t wait for my next camping trip where I’ll give this recipe another try.

Later as I looked though the cookbook that comes with the oven I think I gained a few pounds just thinking about “Berry Buckles,” “Quick Blond Brownies,” “French Apple Pie,” “Edith’s Honey Apple Crisp,” “Lazy Cobbler” and blueberry muffins.

Besides desserts there are meals featuring such recipes as “baked eggs” (done in a muffin pan), “savory baked fish,” “country pizza,” baked potato or squash (you’ll need the optional baking rack), “hamburg plate,” “rice and corned beef,” roasted potato cubes, meat loaf and “roast chicken potato and squash.” There’s even a recipe for bean-hole beans with instructions on how to cook them traditionally (in the ground, not in the oven).

Your cookbook even includes a little history on the lumber camps and how the cooks kept the men fed.

And while seven years of work and tinkering may seem like a long time to get something into shape to put on the market, Sproul said the hard work is just beginning – marketing his product. A couple of grants from the Maine Technology Institute in Gardiner have partially defrayed the $4,500 marketing study and $1,500 for getting 100 ovens stamped (cut out), but there’s a lot of expense involved in tinkering and modification that anyone who has tried to produce something for sale knows goes uncovered.

In his sales efforts he has approached L.L. Bean, but the company buyer said the $69.95 reflector oven “didn’t fit their product mix.” He’s waiting to hear from the Nebraska-based Cabela’s, Inc. Likewise the Boy Scouts. And on Sept. 13 he’ll venture to the Maine Technology Institute gathering at the Augusta Civic Center where entrepreneurs from all over the state will gather to show off their products and make contacts with potential buyers.

Sproul can be reached at 96 Enfield Road, Lincoln 04457 or by e-mail at hisproul@yahoo.com.

Last Sunday I had a few hours free so I headed out to Pushaw Lake to explore. I hadn’t ever really checked out the eastern shore at the Old Town-Orono town line. There’s a large wetland there that was an absolute treat. This late in the season the bugs were not a factor.

I paddled through tall grass-like growth and up through channels surrounded by aquatic growth. Box turtles, fish (bass or pickerel) scooted out of the way ahead of my kayak, while two hawks perched on separate trees monitored my travels. I jumped (actually they gave me a jump) two Great Blue Herons and watched an eagle pass in the distance. Out on the lake there was the usual assortment of loons and gulls.

After a brief stretch on Moose Island I headed back to Goulds Landing and called it quits for the day.

Speaking of hawks, now’s the time to begin watching for the fall migration. September and October are the months when they head south taking advantage of thermals on sunny days. There are free hawk watch programs at the top of Cadillac Mountain (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) daily, weather permitting, until Oct. 13. Park staff and volunteers will be there to help spot and identify the birds.

Maine Audubon also has a hawk watch on Mt. Agamenticus in York from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 18. The current edition of the Fields Pond Journal, the newsletter of the Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon and the Fields Pond Audubon Center, says Scott Cronenweth will lead the trip and the fee is $12. Call 781-2330 to see if there is space available.

Be sure to take binoculars to these outings. If you’re in the market the Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden has a good selection. Visit them at 216 Fields Pond Road in Holden or give them a call at 989-2591 for more information on the wide variety of nature programs and field trips they offer.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.