LIVING GREEN

TREE! Tapping the Sweetest

By Kelley Stewart ~ Forest Specialist, Wayne Conservation District

Maple syrup has a long tradition in North America dating back to the Native Americans who first discovered the sweet sap of the sugar maple. Boiled sap was reduced to syrup and then to a granulated sugar making it easy to store and transport. As European colonists began to settle North America, Native Americans shared their knowledge of ‘sugaring’ with them.

Through the years, new technology has advanced the processing of turning sap into syrup, but regardless of the equipment, the product remains the same.

DID YOU KNOW?

The sugar maple, Acer saccharum, is a unique native tree to Northeastern America including Pennsylvania. Other species of maple trees may be used to produce syrup, but the sugar maple offers the highest sugar content in the sap (up to 5%), making it the best tree to tap.

Maple season occurs in early spring when cold nights dip below freezing, and day temperatures are above freez

ing, causing sap to flow in the tree. It takes, on average, 40 gallons of

sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup!

Evaporators boil tree sap until the sugar content is around 67%.

Pure maple syrup is 100% natural, unrefined sugar containing mineral nutrients and vitamins from the sap of the maple tree. Typical syrup products marketed for pancakes and waffles contain NO maple syrup. Common commercial ingredients may include corn syrup, br own rice syrup, artificial flavor, brown sugar, caramel color and preservatives. For a healthier option, you can swap maple syr up for sugar in your favorite r ecipe by using 3/4 cup of maple syrup to 1 cup of sugar . You can buy maple syr up locally! Visit a local sugarhouse to see maple syrup produced from the tap to the table! The Northeastern PA Maple Producers Association holds an annual open house the third weekend in March. Sugar makers open their doors to share their love of maple syrup and enjoy teaching families about the process. See producers tapping trees, collecting sap and boiling. Tasting of syrup and favorite maple infused recipes makes for a fun day. Be sure to stop at one of the pancake breakfasts along the way! For more information about the free Open House, please visit the Wayne Conser vation District W ebsite at www.wayneconservation.org or follow the Northeastern PA Maple Producers Association on Facebook.

Kelley Stewar t is the Forest Specialist for Wayne Conservation District located in Honesdale. Kelley provides technical assistance to timber industr y pr ofessionals, support for the Northeastern PA Maple Producers, and landowner assistance. For more information about the district, please contact Kelley by phone at (570)253- 0930, email: kstewar t@waynecountypa.gov.

DOCTOR

By The Reverend Mrs. Silence DoGood

Dear Editor,

Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. And then something strange happens.

The strange thing happened to me when my best friend Alice Bright Light told me she had a dream. She dreamt that my deceased father-inlaw came to her and told her that I should no longer be the senior pastor of the church that he founded and that I should become a medical doctor. Alice is a full blooded Chippewa Indian and an excellent evidentiary medium.

I was troubled. I believe in Alice’s powers. I believe that Alice had the dream. I believe that my father-in-law The Reverend Mr. Silas Patriot DoGood visited her. Why would he say that? My whole world was turned upside down. He brought me into his church and trained me to be a leader in it. The church has grown under my leadership and is now the largest church in the county.

Alice knew I was in turmoil. She suggested we hold a séance and invite The Reverend Silas DoGood to appear. She suggested we hold it in the yellow school bus which is now our Sunday school classroom. The Reverend Silas DoGood founded his church in that bus and used it for years. He stood in the bus’s aisle and preached his sermons there. We held the séance. And he did appear. At the séance he said I should take his for mer title of pastor which I had historically declined to take out of respect for him. It wasn’t that he wanted me to quit the chur ch; he simply wanted me to use his title. I have subsequently decided to keep my title of senior pastor which I prefer. He also suggested I get a Doctor of Theology degree since my Master’s Degree is in Art History. I had mistakenly thought he wanted me to become a medical doctor. Good thing we held the séance.

I tell my congr egation that I practice an over the stove ministry. While I am preparing food to nourish my family, I am also thinking of ways to spiritually nourish my congregation. It is a meditation. My husband and my two childr en know not to disturb me while I am in my kitchen cooking.

Meals are made up of many ingredients. A happy and rewarding life also has many ingredients. I think about the recipes that people can use to lead fulfilling lives.

My ingredients for a fulfilling life come from many sources. Some come from nature. I am a very good spectator. I look and I see. I discover the fauna and flora around me. In the lives found in the woods, the valley, and the waters I can find universal principles. When I point these out to my congregation, they can be a source of nourishment to them. Another source of my ingredients for a fulfilling life comes from art. When I look at the creativity of men and women over the course of our history, I see insights into who we are and who we can become. Often art begins in our subconscious levels and then is brought into consciousness. When this happens, our deepest humanity transforms into sculpture, music, paintings, architecture, literature and more. The mission of my church is to help my congregation overcome the fear of living and the fear of dying. In my experience and in my observed experience of others, I have seen fear can limit us. Only when we root out fear can we experience the deepest flow of our humanity. The power to capture life is in each of us. To live in it. To explore it. And to share it.

I have come to realize that my religiosity is not dependent on old books as a Doctor of Theology would instruct. Instead my religiosity is dependent on a book yet to be written. I will continue on my current path of exploration and not follow Reverend Silas DoGood’s advice to get a doctorate.

Amen.

The Reverend Mrs. Silence DoGood Senior Pastor Executive Director Pr esident Chairman Choir Master (part-time) The First Church of God’s Love