Many Up North communities plan some kind of snowy festival to take the edge off the bitter cold of February. This year’s wildly unpredictable winter dealt us a wicked hand to play. But we live here. We persevere. Scratch the sleigh rides. Bring out the carriages. Go ahead with the snow sculpture contest, but judge it really quickly. If the cross-country skiing looks iffy, strap on snowshoes instead. Emphasize the excellent treats. No crowd goes home surly if it’s had something good to eat. Light candles and bonfires. Sing. Congratulate ourselves that at least we’ve saved a lot of money on propane and firewood. Commiserate with the neighbors who deliver propane and firewood. They’ve saved a lot of money on fuel for the truck.
This whole week has been a fine example. Snow one day, thaw the next. Drifts against the mailbox in the morning, bare road by evening. On Tuesday we had some snow, and then a little wind. It must have been a mild night, because yesterday morning we went to get the newspaper and found one of my favorite things.
I love it when snow is just the right consistency to hold its shape as it slumps away from wherever it accumulated. This particular Accidental Sculpture strikes me as a bow to spring. I suspect it’s a sly little bow, as I’m sure that more winter will arrive in due course.
If people are confused, imagine the plight of the trees. Cherries are mulling over whether it’s safe to bud (it’s not—trust me on this cherry trees, it’s not safe yet) and maple sap is feeling the urge to rise. Bring on the maple syrup. If you are from Around Here, or even if you want to come Up Here for the first weekend in March to experience it all, you can get out in a real sugarbush with people who know what they’re doing and learn how to tap trees. Maria Wesserle writes from Wagbo:
We’re having a Maple Tree Tapping on Saturday, March 3rd, starting with a potluck lunch at noon. Bring a dish if you can, but it’s not required. Wagbo provides drinks and table service. The program begins at 1 pm with an excursion to the Wagbo Sugarbush to tap maples with the Friends of the Wagbo Sugarbush (FWSB). Our sugarbush is a half-mile hike from the farmhouse, so come prepared for the trip and for the weather. No experience necessary. Bring a cordless drill and 5/16″ bit if you have one. And the time you spend working for FWSB earns you sweet syrup in exchange. For more info, call 231-536-0333 or email info@wagbo.org. (See the Wagbo website for more about events and a map.)
One of my favorite things about Wagbo is its generous spirit. Bring a dish or not, there will be plenty either way. Bring a drill if you have one. Bring your own self and a good attitude and you will be welcome. You will have a good time. You can earn some maple syrup. There will be something useful for you to do and you will go home knowing that you have been part of something that is much older and much bigger than you are, even if you are a rotund old bat. I don’t see how you can go wrong.
You can find a very fine piece of writing about the sap run in the current issue of Edible Grande Traverse. (You might remember the author, Fischer Jex, from a 2011 post about ale brewing here on TLV.)
Finally, just because I stumbled upon it and have to share, here is a slideshow of some carnivorous eagles over in East Jordan. I found it on the Petoskey News-Review site, and I think you will enjoy it very much. The Cowboy should pay heed.
Torch Lake Views 
Joss
February 17, 2012
Oh, that’s funny, last night we tried some maple syrup for the first time ever. Lovely! And ours came from a cheap supermarket. I can imagine how much better the real thing would be, and fresh too. The sap run sounds like a very enjoyable event. Yep, I don’t see you can go wrong.
Gerry
February 17, 2012
A cheap supermarket sounds like a wonderful thing, too. I confess to a taste for excellence when it comes to treats, though, and real maple syrup is high on my list. Everyone should have some at least once in this life. One hundred percent real maple syrup. Not maple flavored syrup, or corn syrup with a tiny bit of maple syrup added.
uphilldowndale
February 17, 2012
Back in the 80’s I had a colleague who used to brew wine from birch sap, oh my it was a potent brew. My liver was younger then and could cope with such things.
I’m off to look at eagles..
Gerry
February 17, 2012
I seem to recall that Fischer was making mead with a combination of apples and maple syrup. Of course he’s not afraid of elderberries, either.
Beth Toner
February 17, 2012
When I was a kid in Wisconsin, my dad, who had been a teen in MI during the Depression, made his own taps and drilled about a dozen maple trees. It was the one chore my sister and I LOVED doing, even though schlepping heavy buckets of sap in wet spring snow was hard work. It meant we could drink that sweep sap right out of the buckets. MMMMMMMMM. To me, that was the taste of spring.
Gerry
February 17, 2012
Kids love sugaring time. Everyone loves sugaring time. It’s the kind of hard work that comes with time for meditation and companionship around the fire – and very tangible rewards at several stages along the way. Excellent stuff, maple syrup.
Sybil
February 17, 2012
Pure maple syrup is the best ! Has anyone ever poured a bit of maple syrup in their palm and just lapped it up ? ummmm…errrrr … not that I have or anything…
Eagles ? You wanna see eagles ? Come to Nova Scotia to Sheffield Mills at this time of year and this is what you’re likely to see … http://www.eaglens.ca/Attractions.php
Gerry
February 17, 2012
Oh wow . . . oh wow, oh wow, what wonderful eagles! OK, lessee . . . is there a winter campground up in Sheffield Mills that would accept fur children? I’ll go look. I think it’s only fair that I become a Tourist Person for a bit – sort of a thank you to Canada for all the visitors it sends to Florida every winter.
Karma
February 17, 2012
I love your “bow to spring” – that’s really neat, I’ve never seen accidental sculpture like that. And I was so surprised to see that my neighbor who taps his maples had his buckets out yesterday! That must be a sure sign of a mild winter.
Gerry
February 17, 2012
I think accidental snow sculptures are a lot of fun. They disappear almost as quickly as they form, so you never have to dust them or pay to have them moved and reinstalled at the new condo.
Late February/early March is pretty standard for the beginning of the sap run here. It lasts for weeks, and clouds of fragrant steam rise all over the county.
P.j. grath
February 17, 2012
I read that Edible article, Gerry, and I was already jealous before you wrote and posted about your Antrim County fun. Northport is on pins and needles with Winter Festival only a week away. “We don’t need snow for the chili cook-off,” I said hopefully to one glum local, and she responded by observing that chili all by itself didn’t make much of a festival. We need kids racing downhill on sleds! Broomball on ice! Etc., etc. But time will tell. Anything can happen in a week, right? Sometimes it all happens in a single day!
Gerry
February 17, 2012
It does indeed. And I have ideas for adapting! First of all, chili all by itself makes a very good festival if you feel the way I do about excellent treats. There will be cheese on top, right? I rest my case. Second, kids will race downhill on anything. If there’s no snow they’ll slide down the bumpy grass on greased flying saucers. I am betting that even if we don’t have snow there will be enough ice for a broomball game. If not, pretend it’s Holland and sweep the street? Bring back those great horses from last summer’s parade. Dog baseball? Beach volleyball with mittens? Speed knitting! Power shopping? I’m no good at this stuff. Ask the kids – give ’em a prize for the three best adaptations. Heck, give ’em a prize for showing up. And send us pictures. I have faith in Northport.
kanniduba
February 18, 2012
No snow here, and no ice, but our Annual Winter Fest went on just the same. 🙂 I’m running into a lot more cheerful people than I normally do this time of year, and a lot more people who are staying home this winter break since they don’t feel the need to fly South. Vitamin D is a wonderful thing! Spirits are much lighter after this winter of rest and ease. Even the skiers don’t seem all that disappointed.
Ahhhh…maple syrup. Now there’s a delectable thing. A dear friend owns a maple farm, so I am very fortunate to be able to buy right from the source. I don’t treat us to the real stuff very often anymore…now that the kids have developed a taste for it, a $20 bottle is gone in a matter of days. But when I do bring home a bottle, they ooh and aah over it, (as they should.) Not only is it delicious, but it’s beautiful…that color! God is quite the fine artist, isn’t He?
Gerry
February 18, 2012
I think you’re right that the extra sunshine has boosted our immune systems. I’m nowhere near as cranky as I usually am in February.
I don’t know how much maple syrup costs right now. It’s one of the few things that I buy anyway – but in very small amounts when the price makes me weep. I will do without altogether rather than have the blends or the imitations. There is, after all, always an excellent Antrim County fruit preserve to spread over pancakes.
Dawn
February 18, 2012
Love the accidental sculpture, and love that you noticed it and shared it with us. I agree it’s bowing to the inevitability of spring. Spring season starts next week for baseball! March is only 12 days away! We still have a little snow on the ground but only in shady corners. And even if snow dumps on us it will be warm soon and snow melts! That’s one of my favorite things about snow…it melts.
Gerry
February 19, 2012
That is a good way to look at it. A walk in the woods in today’s sunshine is another really good way to look at it. Diamonds everywhere.