HOPE & Snowshoes (by Ken)

“Hope” - it’s what the trees seem to say this time of year.   The somberness of a long winter, cold temps still holding steady, and plenty of thick crusty snow...it’s just hard to imagine spring will come anytime soon.... but the Maple tree roots reach deep into the soil of a bigger story, and they begin to move that sweet sap up through their fibers to the barren universe above.  

I agreed to work in a sugar bush again this year.  I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking.  For quite awhile this winter I kept thinking I’ve got to find something else to do, so I have an excuse to say “no thanks, I’m busy” if someone calls and asks for help.  Then Vernon called me and I said “yes.”  Almost like there was something deeper in me as well that needed the season and movement of life.

Even though it can be physically strenuous work, it continues to be good for my soul, a great lesson in perseverance, and hopeful... Did I mention Hope?  There is just this subtle magical reverberation of hope among the trees that indeed life will come... it will...it really will... just hold on a bit longer.

I missed the first day of setting out buckets but joined the fun on Tuesday.  By the end of the day Friday we had set out a few thousand buckets, tapped the trees and hung the buckets.  Each day was spent walking on snowshoes.  I wore a pedometer one day to try and calculate the distance I walked, but I’m convinced it was wrong, because I nearly walked from 9AM until 4PM and it recorded under three miles...WHAT?  I think I need a more accurate recording device or a pedometer that picks up snowshoes.... Really I don’t walk that slow, even when I set buckets and tap trees.  

Shuffle, shuffle, bend, set, spout, ring, lean, reach, tap, tap, tap, bucket, hook, up, next, dodge, shuffle, shuffle, ouch stick in the face, shuffle shuffle... and on it goes.

At one point this year we loaded spouts onto the wagon.  There were seven buckets of spouts & rings, just spouts and rings!  Did I mention perseverance?  I think we had a bucket or so left over when we were all done.  It always just seems a bit crazy to me when we start, but little by little it all gets done.

The other good part of working in the sugar bush is eating and sleeping.  I packed my lunch this Friday: five cookies, five homemade energy bars, an apple, two cheese wraps, two P&J wraps, three hardboiled eggs, three large bottles of water, one thermos of coffee and a bottle of ibuprofen.  And I was STILL HUNGRY... ok, just kidding. I didn’t eat it all for lunch... I saved some for the ride home (and the good part is I still have some ibuprofen left for next week).  And after a day of walking on snowshoes, weaving through trees and brush, bending to set buckets or tap in spouts and hang a bucket - I’m tired...in a good way.

The only daunting thing left... every one of those buckets that sits out in the woods will be visited several more times as they fill with sap.  So the work has only just begun.... but then we get MAPLE SYRUP!

barn and playhouse