#Sugar Maple Tree

[lostintheuniverseslies]

A Quiet Little Seedling

Chapter 12 Plants

Hepatica Acutiloba/Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Cactus Mistletoe

Sugar Maple Tree

American Basswood

Rain Lilies

Zephyranthes

Habranthus

Iris

Iris Cristata / Dwarf Crested Iris

Previously: Chapter 1 Plants Chapter 2 Plants Chapter 5 Plants Chapter 7 Plants Chapter 8 Plants Chapter 10 Plants Chapter 11 Plants

Next: Chapter 13 Plants

[emaadsidiki]

Central Park of Late Autumn 🍂🍁

[legendary-cookies]

Other Cookies' relationship with Black Sugar Swan

[plants-and-swords]

HAPPY DESSERT PARADISE UPDATE NIGHT RAAAAAHHHHH

[aisling-saoirse]

Old Sugar Maple, Hewitt, NJ - June 4th 2024

[colorsoutofearth]

Big tooth maples (Acer grandidendtatum) coloring the grass with fall color, Coronado National Forest, Arizona.

Photo by Jack Dykinga

[allgremlinart]

if YOU HATE maple candy we cant be acquaintances I fear

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

Musing Maple

Requested by @birchwood-path some musings on the Maple.

I live in maple syrup country; maples are EVERYWHERE. Sugaring season is a big deal here, not only does it generate revenue but it's very much time for community. If you were to ask around, I think almost everyone would be able to tell of some very fond memories of the sugar-shack, the stories and jokes their friends, family and neighbors shared waiting anxiously to buy syrup. Clouds of sweet-smelling steam filling the air, kids clamoring for maple taffy. The sugarmakers patiently attending the boiling sap, sometimes giving out samples of fresh warm syrup. Maybe some would be able to recant their time collecting the sap, trudging out in knee-deep snow, praying they don't spill a drop. Long before our sugarshacks and [insert state name here] Maple Sundays the native peoples had been making syrup. One story I've been told states that during a time of food scarcity someone noticed a squirrel drinking the tree's sap. they tried it for themselves and found it unpalatable, I can't quite remember how but eventually it decided the sap will be boiled. I've heard it suggested that this or the maple's inner bark was a survival food for first nations peoples. Another story I've seen involves a young boy throwing his tomahawk at a tree, sweet sap flowed out and maple syrup was discovered.

I tend to look to things that were and are important to both the settlers and the first peoples, so as long as said thing is not especially sacred (sweetgrass for example), for aide in learning how to approach this land and rectify my ancestors' mistakes. Thankfully I have native family who I can ask if what I'm doing is appropriate or not. Maple and broadleaf plantain (blog coming soon) I work with in this capacity. Maple, I understand as a tutelary spirit. I approach them almost as would approach the guardian spirit of a place or thing- I see them as a gatekeeper. I ask to be humbled, to be taught a kinder way. To be in right relations with the land and the dead this tree {spirit} has provided for since ages ago. I seek their blessing and tutelage before and while I learn from the spirit of a native plant that I'm unfamiliar with. I see them as the lifeblood of the land, sustaining generation upon generation with their arboreal blood. Great provider, Hail! gifting us saccharine sustenance when all else is barren. In the same way community is built and strengthened around the sugarhouse so too is community, spirit community, built under Their branches.

For the sap to rise we need freezing temps at night and above freezing daytime temps. This, where I am, tends to occur late January-March. Sometimes the start of sugaring season happens to line up quite nicely with St Brigid's Feast; regardless, it's the first sign of winters wane, of the spring to come. I very much see this tree as carrier, emissary or perhaps even embodiment of the "serpent in the land" we are all so familiar with. Recently I have been toying with the idea of invoking said serpent as the "white" or maybe "clear" snake- rather than the red serpent often spoken of, due to the clear sap which herald's springs impending return. Coupled with the fiery orange the leaves turn in fall I am hoping this will work quite nicely. Especially since fire-in-the-water is important to me.

I also find maple syrup a wonderful offering to the land and the dead. In certain instances, (not all, honeyed dairy imo is required sometimes) I have found it more appropriate than honey, I'll sweeten milk or cream with it the same way one would with honey. I think of this as a fitting show of adapting our traditions to the land in a way that acknowledges first peoples and our history while giving a nod to my ancestral european trads/lore.

[vox-anglosphere]

The backstreets of small town Ontario are most charming in autumn

[lauramariescorner]

It's the maple syrup time of year 🍁

[tridiver43]

[hazelhymns]

Brittnee’s plant of the day 5/?

The Sugar Maple 😍🫶 (Acer saccharinum) is the tree that lights up the hills of New England in Autumn. You can identify this tree by its 5 lobed leaf and U shaped sinus. Remember the leaf is smaller than the Norway Maple! Producing delicious sap for maple syrup, it’s an essential tree for New England’s and Canada’s economy. The star for leaf peepers in Autumn, this tree is native to the Northeast United States (yay that’s where I live!) and Canada. Our Sugar Maples are threatened by climate change, where the warmer winters are effecting the trees’ health and the maple industry . More information about the maple decline can be found here x. These are finicky trees who don’t like to be alone and need friends, they can’t handle a lot of air pollution so planting in forests or parks is best! We love u sugar maples, we will protect you! 🍁

Photo credits and more information: x x

[emaadsidiki]

New York Botanical Garden 🍂🌲🍁🗽

How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.

∼ John Burroughs

[greencoding]

[prep4tomoro]

Make [Natural] Granulated Sugars from Honey, Fruits and Tree Saps

Honey/Honey Sugar is the only natural sweetener not made from plants.

Many fruits, trees and plants contain natural sugar. Sugars from flowers and plants are mostly gathered by bees to make honey. Removing the moisture (by cooking or dehydration) from the sap/juice, then crushing the dry residue, produces granulated sugar to use for sweetening.

Maple Syrup & Sugar    [Video 1]    [Video 2]    [Video 3]    [Video 4] Box Elder Sap/Syrup Birch Tree Sap/Syrup Making Apple Sugar (video)

[11-Cs Basic Emergency Kit] [14-Point Emergency Preps Checklist] [Immediate Steps to Take When Disaster Strikes] [Learn to be More Self-Sufficient] [The Ultimate Preparation] [P4T Main Menu]

This blog is partially funded by Affiliate Program Links and Private Donations. Thank you for your support.

[ergativeabsolutive]

I don’t get it. Why the fuck are we, my fellow Americans, still to this day engaged in this bloody business of exploiting people abroad for sugarcane? Why were we ever? We have sugar at home! My god, we have sugar at home! No, not HFCS!!! Fuck that! It’s called maple! Beautiful, delicious maple!!! The greatest form of sugar in the world! Why do you think the Canadians have it on their flag? They’re right to celebrate it so! The only thing sugarcane is really good for IMO is molasses