EPISODE 782 MAPLE SYRUP TIME … “LOOKS LIKE MID WINTER BUT ANDREW IS THERE WITH DRILL, SPYLE AND PAIL”
alan skeoch
March 19, 2023
TIME WARP: MARCH 19, 1975
“Marjorie the sap is running.”
“Too cold for sap, Alan….and we are in a snowstorm”
”Sap is running up the maples…feel it in my blood…time to tap the trees.”
And so, in 1975, we packed the truck with styles, sap buckets, drill and headed for the
Saunders maple bush on the fourth line. Spent a happy day drilling trees with a slight incline
so the ‘lifeblood of the forest’ could be harvested The kids, Kevin and Andrew, joined Marjorie
and me and Tara, our coonhound, in what turned out to be a delightful adventure. So what if
the sap pails were old and lead soldered! We were unaware of lead poisoning. So what if a
deadbeat with a 22 rifle was getting ready to shoot holes in the pails “Just watch that lifeblood of
the forest “drain to the ground, We got enough to make a gallon or two of syrup. It wasn’t so much
as the joy of syrup making anyway. We were out and about and ready for spring. So what if the land was cold and
snow covered. The change of seasons was on its way Wild garlic was poking its head through
the snow.
That was half a century ago.
DATELINE: MARCH 19, 2023
Today was reminiscent of that time. As we headed up the Fifth line in a light snowstorm under
dark clouds we were suddenly startled by a blob of bright orange on the road ahead.
“Andy is out tapping the maple trees today.”
“Using your old kit?”
“Nope, he is using aluminum pails…no lead poisoning…but everything else he found
in the barn. Waiting half a century for him to come. “
“Does he need the tractor?”
“Yes, it is more than half a century old as well as most of the sap kit.”
“You planted the seed in his brain, Alan.”
“Notice he only puts one pail per tree…just takes a little of the lifeblood of
the forest…like the Red Cross does with our blood.”
“I wonder if the assassin with the 22 rifle is still around here”
“That idiot was on the fourth line. The fifth line is more civilized.”
“Not in the deep forest…neighbours can watch.”
“The guy with the gun was likely 14 years old…kids do
stupid things.”
“Just like you did.”
“As God is my witness I did not know a BB gun could put a hole
in the back window of Angus McEchern’s pickup truck. That was]
a long time ago when I was 14.”:
”A day just like this day.”
“Spring was in the air back then just as it is today.”
“Alan you must like that term.”
“What term?”
“Lifeblood of the forest.”
“Suitable metaphor.”
“You want to know what makes me feel good about the tree tapping today?”
“We did it…we put the idea in Andrew’s brain on those days so long ago.”
“And there he is wading through snowdrifts with drill and spyle and pail.”
“The maple trees are waking up today?
“Everyone else is fast asleep.”
“No everyone. Te Saunders cattle herd is busy eating what
remains of the corn field.
“Along with about 100 Canada Geese also gorging on dropped corn kernels.”
“Isn’t this where we startled a couple of wild turkeys last week?”
“Same place…the land is alive.”
“We are not alone.”
“Did you see the ancient steam tractor on the Fourth Line.”
“That belonged to Sherwood Hume…I think Gladys and the boys
hauled it out there. Sort of a gravestone for Sherwood…he loved
the machines of the past.”
“Look over there, Marjorie, that barn has turned green…it is alive
and getting ready for spring…get he idea?”
“Time to get home.”
“Why?”
“Time to get the pancakes ready.”
“Slobber on the maple syrup.:
“Don’t you mean the “lifeblood of the forest”
“Did you invent the term?”
“Like to think so but there is nothing new under the sun”
alan
“What are those carrot tops doing in the shopping bag?”
“For the wild bunny living in the shed.”
“Some people would think of shooting the little fellow.”
“Not us.”
“Even Woody likes that rabbit.”
“Strange dog.”
“Woody smells …he knows that Spring is in the air
and in the ground…and under the snow and ice in the SWAMP.
SWAMP
A swamp, a fen, a marsh, a bog;
they’re all the same.
You trudge, you slog.
The ground is soft and wet and spongy.
Stay a while and you’ll feel grungy.
Walk a little further yet.
Your feet sink in;
your legs are wet.
Stay long enough,
you very might
be getting a mosquito bite.
There’s dogfish, cattails,
frogs and otters,
some turtles, beavers, in the water,
hawks and ducks and northern pike,
bald eagles, black birds —
much to like.
So grab your boots and come on in.
It’s better if you do not swim,
but save the wetlands
marsh and bogs
for all the turtles
ducks and frogs.
By Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers
Great Lakes Rhythm & Rhyme