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An Invitation to Connect
Tyler Pastorok, Land Steward & Programs Coordinator for Rock Point
With several feet of fresh snow on the ground, and freezing winds gusting against our homes, it’s difficult to imagine the vibrant new growth that will paint the landscape in little more than a couple months’ time. Sustenance is increasingly sparse on the land this time of year, but as life at Rock Point makes its preparations for Spring, new opportunities arise to eek through until abundance returns.
Around this time last year, I walked toward the trails on a cold, sunny day. A Tufted Titmouse caught my attention as it danced with another and then landed on the tree in front of me. It hopped its way purposefully toward the tree’s trunk, where ice had built up around an oozing
wound. The Titmouse pecked at the chunk for a minute as if it was a cluster of berries, and then fluttered away. I pondered for a moment about what this bird was up to. Sure enough, it was feeding on the sweet sap of a Sugar Maple.
Noticing other creatures feeding on the gifts of maple trees is a practice as old as sugaring itself. As Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in Braiding Sweetgrass, “It is said that our people learned to make sugar from the squirrels… [Gnawing on] the bark allows sap to exude from the twig, and the squirrels drink it. But the real goods come the next morning, when they follow the same circuit they made the day before… Freezing temperatures cause the water in the sap to sublimate, leaving a sweet crystalline crust like rock candy behind, enough to tide them over through the hungriest time of year” (p 68).
In the age of grocery stores and global trade, many of us humans no longer experience this as the hungriest time of year. But harvesting maple sap and boiling it to syrup offers relief for more than just hunger. Even with abundant food, the dark, cold days of winter can be tough on us. Our bodies and minds are stiff and yearn to be out in the sun moving and smiling together. With months still left until the soul-nourishing transcendence of Spring, Maple trees invite us to do just this.
For more than a decade, Rock Point School has engaged its students in the joyous practice of Maple Sugaring each year. With tireless support from our groundskeeper, Chuck, students have helped to tap trees, collect buckets of sap, boil it down and enjoy the sweet rewards of backyard sugar. The school supported the program with equipment, and eventually erected the gorgeous timber-framed sugarshack that we enjoy today.
Last year, Rock Point Commons partnered with the school to pilot bringing this program to the broader community, and the response was overwhelming joy. Volunteers signed up to be on call for sunny days when the sap was running, and we gathered a few times per week for the month-long season to carry buckets and feed the wood stove. At the end of the season, we jarred up our bounty, shared with each other, and spread the gifts through mutual aid networks in town. On many accounts it was the best time of year, and we’re excited to do it again and extend the invitation further.
If you tend to be available on weekday afternoons and are able to commit to a couple afternoons per week during March, you can sign up to volunteer here! https://forms.office.com/r/zjCBaJMA7G
If that doesn’t work for you, we hope to still see you out there. We’ll be hosting an Open House along with many other sugar makers in the state on March 22nd from 10am-2pm. Sustaining members are invited to learn more about the natural history of maple sugaring on March 15th https://www.rockpointvt.org/calendar. Stay tuned here and on social media for more opportunities throughout the season!
enjoying a bit of maple syrup!