Sugaring Off
As the syrup cooks it gets moved down this bin. The most cooked syrup is at the top.
Our friend Gail and her family collect maple syrup every year on their family farm and we have had the incredible privilege of being invited to participate. We help a little, but mostly, our kids play hard on the land and in the creek. It is a place they get to be boys without being in trouble or having to apologize for who they are.
This year we happened to go out on their birthday and it was the most glorious spring day. It was sunny and warm and the sap was flowing. It was absolutely amazing. We cooked hot dogs on the fire and we all helped empty the sap from the 180 sap buckets hanging from the sugar maple trees. The kids got a ride on the ATV that they use to pick up barrels of sap across the property.
Watching the family work together, I see they have something special. Gail was there along with her brother Paul, and Paul’s wife Giselle. They were texting their brother Bob who was coming back from a vacation to help tomorrow. Paul’s son Matt and his girlfriend were there. Bob’s son Robb
and his girlfriend were also there. There was teaching of how to do it between the generations.
They all come together to the “bush” as they call it, to collect the sap and boil it down in specially made pans over the fire. They are all strong and carry the sap, and they all work together to do it. They don’t sell the syrup,
Maple sap bucket hanging from a tree
they just enjoy it among their large family. All of them are in a position to buy as much maple syrup as they want, but they do this because it has meaning for them. In fact, now it has meaning for me. We were there a couple of years ago and we helped for a day. Emerson and Xander worked hard on helping collect the sap. Gail and her family were kind enough to share some syrup with us. All year, we had a good feeling every time we used it. It was a craft, made with our own hands.
This year, Sela brought her musical instruments and played guitar and ukulele in the bush. But she also
carried some of the sap back from the pails in the trees. It is fun to work hard in community together.
Sometimes I get busy and I try to avoid “hard work” because I am tired. I am realizing it isn’t that linear. Sometimes “hard work” is the most restful thing I can do to rest my tired brain.
