Mother Maple

Have I mentioned before how much maple syrup my little family goes through each year? A ridiculous amount I tell you! It's a guilty pleasure and one we will be enjoying for a life time I presume. Luckily, we do live in New England where there is a great bounty of that golden deliciousness. This year we tapped a couple of our big maples. We have one in particular who we've taken to calling Mother Maple. She is dear to all of our hearts and is so grand and old, old, old. When her leaves turn a crimson red in the fall they float down to the ground below and make a brilliant ring of red around her base. And when we had to put down our beloved dog just a few weeks before welcoming our son, we went down and dug a deep hole in the frozen, snow covered ground below her to bury him. Somehow, the thought that he would be protected by her expanding roots and hovering branches above made the heart wrenching experience just a little bit more bearable. It seemed she would be watching over him.

Anyway, we have been busy collecting sap and boiling it down into syrup. I will share some pictures of the boiling process soon!

Oh, and I hope you can join me later in the week when I share an interview I did with mother, artist and teacher Unni Strand of StrandRedesign!

Until then, a happy spring to all of you!