“Sugarbush” is an Anishinaabe children’s book about maple sugaring. illustrated by me and written by Keri Finn (images + text © Chapter One)
Sugarbush
It was a beautiful spring morning. Viola’s mother woke her up early. “It has been a long winter. But now we can tap the trees. They are ready,” says Viola’s mother. “Let’s go.”
Viola’s father and mother pack the buckets. They all drive to the sugar shack. It is a long drive.
“We go to the sugar shack every year,” her father says. “My parents did the same. So did their parents. This tradition goes back many years.”
“How do you know it’s time to tap the trees?” asks Viola. “It is time to tap for sap when the first thunder is heard. That is what your Mishoomis said,” says her mother. “We heard thunder the other night!” Viola says.
They get to the sugar shack. They see lots and lots of trees. There are big trees, small trees, short trees, tall trees.
They pick up their buckets. They walk over to the trees. Viola’s father taps the tree with a drill. He cuts the tree bark.
Then they put a piece of wood in the hole. They put a bucket under the wood. The sap runs down the wood into the bucket. Viola claps her hands. It’s working!
“Now what do we do?” she asks. “We will get lots of sap. Then we will boil it. It will get thick,” says her mother. “And tasty!” says Viola.
“But why do we have to boil the sap?” says Viola. Her father tells the story of Nanabozho and the good beings, the Anishinabe people, people just like them.
Long ago things were new on Turtle Island. The people worked together. They fished. They hunted. They trapped and gathered food from the land.
The trees were filled with thick golden syrup. It was a gift from the earth. They ate syrup right from the tree.
After a while, people stopped working for their food. They only ate sweet syrup from the trees.
One day Nanabozho saw that the people were not working. They were just eating sap. They were being lazy.
This made him sad. He said, “My people cannot live this way! Something must be done!”
Nanabozho went to the river. He poured water over the trees. “Now the syrup will be like water. My people will need to work. They will need to learn how to make syrup.”
And the people did! They learned to tap the trees. They told their children how to make thick golden syrup. It has been passed down over many, many years.
“Someday I will tap the trees with my children,” says Viola. “Yes,” says her father. “And you will teach them to make syrup.”
“Now we should thank the earth,” her father says. Viola looks up to the sky and smiles.
“Thank you earth for these trees. Thank you for my hands that carry the buckets. Thank you for my feet that walk carefully to the trees. Thank you for my eyes that watch the sap boil. Thank you for my mouth that tastes the sweet syrup. Chi-miigwetch!”
