Sugaring

Nora and Gramp are collecting sap from maple trees to make maple syrup. The horses, Bonnie and Stella, are working hard, too, pulling the heavy sap tank through the snow from tree to tree. This third story about Nora and her grandparents brings the beautyof a Vermont farm in early spring vividly to life.

A year in the life of one New England family as they work to preserve an ancient, lucrative, and threatened agricultural art--the sweetest harvest, maple syrup... How has one of America's oldest agricultural crafts evolved from a quaint enterprise with "sugar parties" and the delicacy "sugar on snow" to a modern industry? At a sugarhouse owned by maple syrup entrepreneur Bruce Bascom, 80,000 gallons of sap are processed daily during winter's end. In The Sugar Season, Douglas Whynott follows Bascom through one tumultuous season, taking us deep into the sugarbush, where sunlight and sap are intimately related and the sound of the taps gives the woods a rhythm and a ring. Along the way, he reveals the inner workings of the multimillion-dollar maple sugar industry. Make no mistake, it's big business--complete with a Maple Hall of Fame, a black market, a major syrup heist monitored by Homeland Security, a Canadian organization called The Federation, and a Global Strategic Reserve that's comparable to OPEC (fitting, since a barrel of maple syrup is worth more than a barrel of oil). Whynott brings us to sugarhouses, were we learn the myriad subtle flavors of syrup and how it's assigned a grade. He examines the unusual biology of the maple tree that makes syrup possible and explores the maples'--and the industry's--chances for survival, highlighting a hot-button issue: how global warming is threatening our food supply. Experts predict that, by the end of this century, maple syrup production in the United States may suffer a drastic decline. As buckets and wooden spouts give way to vacuum pumps and tubing, we see that even the best technology can't overcome warm nights in the middle of a season--and that only determined men like Bascom can continue to make a sweet like off of rugged land.

Grade level: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, p, e, i.

Learn how to make syrup the old fashioned way with the help of a friendly bear and her amusingly unhelpful accomplices Dog and Squirrel in this informative comics-style picture book, now available in paperback. Did you know that it takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup? "How many pancakes can I eat with that gallon?" wonders Dog. Every step of the process of making maple syrup is covered in this sweet (but never saccharine) informational picture book by Maxwell Eaton III, the creator of the popular "Truth About" series. It begins with Bear assembling the tools she'll need for the project, continues with a discussion of the types of maples found in the area and why sugar maples are best for tapping, then on to drilling, tapping, evaporation and at the end of the process, real maple syrup and best of all, PANCAKES! Along the way there are hilarious asides from increasingly ravenous Dog and Squirrel, making this a book as funny as it is informative. Helpful back matter and suggestions for further reading complete the package. Praise for Bear Goes Sugaring: A Junior Library Guild Selection ★ "Even as Eaton folds in lots of information, diagrams, and solid vocabulary ('spiles,' 'brace,' 'sugarbush'), the antics of Bear's two sidekicks—Squirrel and Dog—will keep readers in stitches and turning pages and learning a lot about the process of maple sugaring. . . . Readers are sure to request both rereads and pancakes. . . and maybe a few spiles and buckets of their own."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review ★ "Watercolor and pencil illustrations by Eaton (the Truth About series) illustrations have a cheery, get-’er-done orderliness, efficiently conveying a wealth of information with comics-style panels, cinematic framing, text callouts, and just the right number of comic asides from Bear’s peanut gallery." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Sugaring is the act of collecting maple sap to make maple syrup, an early-spring endeavor that takes place in the Midwest and Northeast United States, and in neighboring areas in Canada. It is a time-honored tradition with Native Americans origins. Sugaring is a beautifully rendered narrative about this soulful activity that slows down time. Interspersed throughout the book's lyrical story are instructions to guide the novice sugarer through every stage of sugaring, from selecting trees and hanging sap buckets to finishing off the syrup. For anyone with an interest in taking up sugaring, everyone who has a maple tree, and all those with nostalgia for the rural landscape, Sugaring will be a joy to discover.

"In Meanings of Maple, Michael A. Lange provides a cultural analysis of maple syrup making and its relationship to Vermont identity."--Back cover.

This lovely book provides the first comprehensive examination of Eastman Johnson's vivid paintings of a quintessential New England theme - the making of maple sugar. This series of pictures, executed during the 1860s, is perhaps the most ambitious project in the artist's career. Brian Allen discusses the ways in which Johnson's maple sugar paintings reflect a New England on the edge of vast changes, both in the technology of farming and in the social structures of small communities. He notes how Johnson conveys the tense, shifting relationship that existed between industrial innovation and New England's distinctive brand of community spirit, evident through maple sugar's close association with free labour, as opposed to cane sugar's connection with slavery. Presented here in full colour, Johnson's maple sugar paintings are both a celebration of New England and a commentary on a bygone era. This book is the catalogue for an exhibition organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (January 18 to April 18, 2004), and traveling to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California (May 11 to August 1, 2004).