Say goodbye to maple syrup

[cali]

First of all, let me say that I'm a Vermonter, and I've been helping friends who own a pretty large sugaring operation, for over 20 years. It's been a joy. The best parties I've ever been to took place there. I'm also a total addict. I put it in my coffee. I cook with it regularly. I love the stuff. I love making it. I've even written poems about it:

(As I enter, you break
into in old R&B tune
face half hidden in the
steam that shrouds you)
etc., etc.

Virtually every sugarmaker I know believes that global warming is here, and that it will be the death of the sugar maple in Vermont. And that includes right wing types who aren't exactly political allies. The guy in the article posted below is a conservative republican.

God this makes me sad.

MONTPELIER, Vt. — One might expect Burr Morse to have maple sugaring down to a science.

Vermont’s maple sugaring industry goes back centuries. Samples of different grades of maple syrup rest on shelves at Burr Morse’s farm in Montpelier. Tree sap is boiled down to make the syrup.
For more than 200 years, Mr. Morse’s family has been culling sweet sap from maple trees, a passion that has manifested itself not only in jug upon jug of maple syrup, but also in maple-cured bacon, maple cream and maple soap, not to mention the display of a suggestively curved tree trunk Mr. Morse calls the Venus de Maple.

But lately nature seems to be playing havoc with Mr. Morse and other maple mavens.

Warmer-than-usual winters are throwing things out of kilter, causing confusion among maple syrup producers, called sugar makers, and stoking fears for the survival of New England’s maple forests


<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/us/03maple.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[H2O Man]

1. In 1798

the Haudenosaunee prophet Handsome Lake delivered a message that is well-documented. It had to do with his vision of the environmental damage that was to come. This was 209 years ago, when the land, water, and air was still quite clean.

One of the things he saw was that the maple trees would begin to die from the top down. In nature, trees will have their lower branches die first. But he saw that there would be a problem in the air that would cause the natural process to reverse, and that maple trees -- which people who are familiar with maple syrup know played an important role in Iroquois' culture -- would suffer the consequences.

He also saw that the water supply would heat up and become oily on the surface. There are a number of other parts of the message that this man saw in 1798, and that we see today.

[cali]

4. That's pretty extraordinary.

do you have a link to his clearly prophetic words?

[PADemD]

6. Try this link

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/iro/parker/index.htm

[H2O Man]

10. Thank you. n/t

[Jcrowley]

26. Thanks for that

"Only after the last tree has been cut down.
Only after the last river has been poisoned.
Only after the last fish has been caught.
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."

- Cree Indian Prophecy

[H2O Man]

9. The best source

for a written account of this is from the Syracuse University Press. They reprinted, in 1968, a few of the works of Arthur Parker, an early 1900s NYS Archaeologist. Parker's family was "part" Iroquois, and they were associated with Handsome Lake and Corn Planter. Parker wrote three major works that are still an important part of any university studies of the Haudenosaunee. The one in the case is called "The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet." It is considered the most accurate of the records of the Gai'wiio.

Another very good article that I would recommend is Chief Oren Lyon's "Water is a Sacred Trust."
It is based on Handsome Lake's prediction, "There will come a time when the good water that we use to cook our food, cook our medicines, and clean our bodies will not be fit to drink ... and the waters will turn oily and burn .... the cool waters that we use to refresh ourselves will warm and heat up ... our misuse of this water will turn against us and people will suffer and die ...." (1799).

Oren's essay can be found in "New Voices from the Longhouse," by Joseph Bruchac. (Greenfield Review Press). Related articles and interviews with Oren are found in the old AHSKWA newspapers published by Opportunities for Broome, in Binghamton NY.

Oren was the Faith-Keeper who replaced Chief Paul Waterman on the Onondaga and the Haudenosaunee Grand Council of Chiefs. Bill Moyers did a great PBS interview with him, which is found in the book "A World of Ideas II"; in this, Oren also tells about Handsome Lake in a way that Moyers notes "anticipates the environmental degradation that we now see."

Most of the information I have noted here is in book form. I'm from a different generation, I guess, and have most of my resources on bookshelves. More, the vast majority of the things I know about Handsome Lake etc were things that people like Paul told me. My sons are putting a lot of those lessons into book form, and comparing the old oral histories, the written records from "pioneers," and the archaeological record.

[malaise]

11. The wisdom of indigenous people

across the planet has been ignored at the expense of humanity. We are all paying, and we'll continue to pay.

[H2O Man]

37. One of the books

that I treasure is called "Wounded Warriors: A Time for Healing." The editor of the collection of stories is Doyle Arbogast, and the book was published by Little Turtle. The book has the oral histories of about 15 Native Americans who have dealt with addiction-related issues. Many people do not realize that the first recorded "support groups" for alcoholics were found in the late 1700s on Haudenosaunee territories.

The first story in the book is of a Lakota man who had not been conscious of his identity, although he was raised on a "reservation." He went to Vietnam, and in this strange and moving book, he tells about the terror and the rage that became part of him when he witnesses the unzipping of 22 body bags, and saw his dead friends.

This increased his substance abuse, and his alienation from consciousness. Long story short, he eventually confronted his demons, and found that the power of recovery and healing was available within that wisdom of Indigenous Peoples. It's there, if only people wake up to their humanity.

I look at our society, and this terrible war in Iraq, which is simply the same unconscious energy found in immoral wars from "manifest destiny" to Vietnam. And it is as connected to the damage done to the environment that kills the maples from the top down, and the attempts to suppress anxiety and fear with strong drink or pills, and I think it is a shame that so many are unconscious of that power that heals and helps people recover. In that "Good Book," it says that "this power in us is the same mighty strength which God used when he raised Christ from death." (Ephesians 1:19-20)

We are all from tribal origins, and capable of waking to that healing power. That's what this country really needs right now -- because it won't be some money-changers in Washington, DC that save this country from the same fate as those maples. It will be when enough Wounded Warriors wake up. Until then, we are praying, and will continue to pray. (smile)

[Me.]

38. If I Could Nominate A Post

It would be this one.

"this power in us is the same mighty strength which God used when he raised Christ from death." (Ephesians 1:19-20)

[H2O Man]

39. Well, thank you.

I surely do appreciate that.

[malaise]

48. Thanks for this lovely response

H2O Man.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

53. Always look forward to reading your posts.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and conveying healing thoughts and ideas. :appreciative smiley icon:

[Clark2008]

12. I live in Tennessee and had a sugar maple tree that was slowly

dying.

I couldn't afford a tree surgeon, so I tried the local co-op's services to try and determine what was causing it.

It wasn't infested with any vermin. It may have been struck by lightening (not sure), but it most certainly was dying from the top down, not the bottom up as you suggest.

I sold that house to my mother who took some inheritence money and just had the tree cut (it was very, very large and could have fallen on the neighbors' houses, so, rather than take a risk, she simply had it felled).

I examined the branches and the trunk after it was cut and nothing - no insect infestation, no problem with the lower branches - just the topper most of the popper most.

Very odd.

[NashVegas]

25. Are Sugar Maples Indigenous to TN?

I ask because a) I see so few of them and b) seems like the sap season would be outrageously short.

[Clark2008]

32. I see tons of them. Maybe because I live in the foothills of

the Smokies. I don't know about the middle and western parts of the state.

:shrug:

And, I wasn't really commenting on the sap season - I was just pointing out that I had one die in much the same fashion as was discussed.

[Virginian]

55. We have some in our neighborhood

We were inspecting the neighborhood for the community association and I noticed that many of the houses on three parallel streets had notes to trim the dead branches from the trees in their yard. I went back up to look at the trees to see why so many neighbors had bad trees.

These are sizable trees. They were put in by the builder around 20 years ago. I asked one of the people who lived there what had happened to the trees. He told me he paid an arborist to come out and cure his problem. The arborist told him it was a Sugar Maple Blight going around and if left alone, the tree would probably recover. He pointed to a healthy tree across the street which he said had lost almost all its leaves the summer before, but had come back on its own. He said owner of the dead tree next door had pruned off the dead branches earlier in the year and the tree was too shocked to survive the blight. He also noted the roots growing in a circle around the tree and wondered if they could choke the tree.

The leaves on the blighted branches looked like leaves on a branch that has been cut off. It was like nutrients suddenly quit flowing to that branch after the leaves and seeds had started coming out in the spring. The blight was in a path going east/west. Not all the Sugar Maple trees on the north/south streets were affected, just the ones in the path. Only Sugar Maples were blighted. No one taps these trees for sap, they are just there like any other trees.

I will check again in April to see if and where the blight shows up this year.

[ms liberty]

16. I wonder, do you know if...

there are any similar messages from the Cherokee regarding the Blue Ridge Mountains area?

Last summer when mr liberty and I went on the day trip the photo in my sig line is from, we went all over that area - we were on the bike for over 12 hours, with only about 3 1/2 to 4 hours of that time being 'travel time' from home to the area and back. Often when I had a view I would look up at the mountains, and there were so many trees that were just stripped looking, bare sticks poking up in the midst of the forests, sometimes I could see that the lower branches had leaves, but sometimes not. I thought it was probably the result of acid rain. I also had a real problem with the smell in the air, I've always been ultra sensitive to smells; it was heavy and sharp in my nose, I could almost taste it. When I complained of it, mr liberty said he didn't smell it, and in trying to describe it I could only come up with "chemical-ly, and ozone-y," I ended up by saying that maybe it was all the gasoline fumes 'hanging' in the air. It didn't smell right, and I've wondered and worried about that since then.

[H2O Man]

19. Well, the Cherokee

are actually related to the Haudenosaunee. They are of the larger Iroquoian peoples.

Trees dying from the top down is associated with the poisons that fall with the rain.

[Error]

40. In the 1950s,

MAD magazine used to make joking reference to the theme of a man with long hair holding a sign that read "The End is Near".

Just think of how prescient that was.

[sce56]

49. What me Worry?

[InvisibleTouch]

44. You hear a lot about the Mayan calendar these days...

...and I dare say they were onto something, but I wonder how or if other Native American prophecies corroborate the Mayans? Would be very interesting to do a cross-cultural comparison.

[jwirr]

51. Acid rain causes trees to die from the top down. I saw this happening

in Montana near Coal Strip.

[jwirr]

52. Acid rain causes trees to die from the top down. I saw this happening

in Montana near Coal Strip.

[iamjoy]

2. Oh, Please, We'll Still Have Maple Syrup

we'll just have to get it from northern Canada instead.

And look on the bright side, you can start enjoying orange blossom honey in Vermont

George Will thinks "global warming" could be a good thing.

[wildeyed]

5. Well except for the part where all those bees have gone missing.

:(

[iamjoy]

7. Bees Missing - GREAT!

Really, that's a good thing - I won't have to worry about being stung.

See, we just need to find the GOOD things about global warming. You know, like people in some of the central parts of Florida getting ocean front property.

Actually, I read an article by Fareed Zhakaria in which he said many of the effects of global warming are inevitable (it's too late) and we need to start preparing for it and adapting. He was not dismissive of measures to try and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as much as he tried to convey that those alone would not be sufficient.

[Clark2008]

13. Um... how do you expect vegetation to flourish without bees?

Sure, you may not get stung, but humans can't play Johnny Appleseed and pollenate flowers and plants themselves. We're simply not naturally equipped to do so without everyone owning a pollenating machine.

[iamjoy]

17. I Wasn't Serious

I started off sarcastic (like no bees being a good thing).

But, I also think Zakaria had a point about planning for the inevitable. Part of that means finding crops that will work in the new climate.

[halobeam]

20. when I read your other posts, I thought you were making fun

but now I understand better. I think you are absolutely right. It's not enough that we cut down the carbon emissions, etc.. we MUST be active in relocation of planting food/plants/trees in areas that will give them a better chance of surviving... we have to take everything into account. As far as the bees go, well I am way out of my realm to even begin to guess what needs to be done (if anything can be). I hope there is aggressive R & D working on this.. the bees die, we are in one holy hell of a ride (one that only goes down).

[Subdivisions]

36. Here is an article out today on the plight of bees...

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/03/Worldandnation/Scientists_ask__Where.shtml

Unless scientists can find the cause of the die-off, and a solution, its long-term consequences may be as ominous as its name: Colony Collapse Disorder.

Not only are the livelihoods of beekeepers endangered, Hayes said, but so is the estimated one-third of the nation's food supply that depends upon honeybee pollination - apples, almonds, melons, blueberries and some varieties of citrus, including grapefruit.

"Honey is a byproduct of pollination," he said. "It's wonderful and it's great, but more importantly, without honeybees taking pollen from one flower to another, that plant has no reason to build a fruit or a nut."

-snip-
So far, the scientists know only two things for sure, said Dennis vanEnglesdorp, Pennsylvania's state apiarist: The main symptom has been the mass abandonment of hives. And the variety of fungi, viruses and mites found in collapsing hives suggests a widespread failure of the bees' immune systems.

"It's a lot like AIDS," Hackenberg said.

[wildeyed]

45. Thanks, that is the best article I have seen on the honeybee problem.

It was more detailed on the possible causes of the die off. Did they ever figure out why the birds were falling dead out of the sky in Australia? Strange times we live in. Is it just me, or is this all seeming kind of biblical?

[lonestarnot]

21. Just like polar bears can swim for it, so long as they don't have to go tooooooooooo far.

hmmmmmmmmmf.

[PhilipShore]

3. Bush: Global Warming? I'm waiting until I see "Sound Science" on the Issue

[Telly Savalas]

18. Actually Bush conceded that climate change is an anthropogenic phenomenon

in his SOTU address. (Granted he's committed to doing nothing about it.)

So the next time you hear a global warming denier, tell them that they are challenging the president and that it's treasonous to question the president during a time of war.

[SpiralHawk]

8. First you will see the elm trees wither, then the maples will die from the top

on down. These are the first two signs. When the wild strawberry refuses to give its fruit, this will be the third and final sign.

- Haudenausenee (Iroquois) teaching on the era of change

http://www.8thfire.net

[H2O Man]

14. Right

Those are from Handsome Lake's vision.

[SpiralHawk]

22. What the traditional elders said at the HOUSE OF MICA (UN headquarters)

As was expressed long ago in the Hopi understandings:

http://www.8thfire.net/Day_15.html



Chief Leon Shenandoah, Tadadaho, Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy: "It is prophesied in our Instructions that the end of the world will be near when the trees start dying from the tops down. That's what the maples are doing now. Our Instructions say the time will come when there will be no corn, when nothing will grow in the garden, when the water will be unfit to drink...We were instructed to carry love for one another, and to show great respect for all the beings of the earth.

"In our ways, spiritual consciousness is the highest form of politics. We must live in harmony with the natural world and recognize that excessive exploitation can only lead to our own destruction. We cannot trade the welfare of our future generations for profit now.

"We must stand together, the four sacred colors of man, as the one family that we are, in the interest of peace. We must abolish nuclear and conventional weapons of war...We must raise leaders of peace. We must unite the religions of the world as a spiritual force strong enough to prevail in peace.

“We (human beings) are a spiritual energy that is thousands of times stronger than nuclear energy. Our energy is the combined will of all people with the spirit of the natural world, to be of one body, one heart, and one mind for peace."

[H2O Man]

33. Here is Leon

on the day the NYS Museum/University system returned some belts. It was a fun day.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

15. I can vouch for the plight of the elms.

Here in Sacramento we have, over the past 30 years, experienced devastating losses of thousands of fine heritage elms to the elm leaf beetle. At our family home, my mother spent $850 a year for 20 years to inoculate her fine elm against the disease (I forget the name of the illness - it restricts the water-bearing part of the tree, and the beetles also eat the chlorophyl from the leaves, until they are see-thru).

Our house was once surrounded by these magnificent, vase-shaped trees, and they were common on every street in East Sacramento. Now, the remaining trees are few, and scattered sparsely throughout the city.

My mother's elm tree, although once topped many years ago, is a magnificent specimen of the American Elm - some 12 - 15 feet in diameter. It has been tagged as a heritage tree and it is her pride and joy. Because it shades our home so well, we have never needed air conditioning - and this in Sacramento, where summer temperatures can reach 110 and stay there for days on end!

[B Calm]

27. I have 12 acres with a lot of Elm trees. I can't count how many Elms I've lost.

[Auntie Bush]

35. Elms were not killed by global warming and have nothing to do with it!

The Elms were killed by Dutch Elm Disease which was caused by the beetle distributing fungus from it's mouth to other trees and infecting them when they grew too close to one another. They seem to pretty well when standing alone.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

43. I have not made that claim.

Quoting the post of Spiralhawk:

- Haudenausenee (Iroquois) teaching on the era of change.

[A Simple Game]

47. Here in Northern New York we lost most of our Elm trees

about 30 to 40 years ago to Dutch Elm Disease.

They are now making a come back.

Our maple trees were devastated the last two years by tent caterpillars. Hope they get a reprieve this year.

[pretzel4gore]

23. who killed the electric car?

the answer is moot, pointless, since it's dead'n'gone, and that's that. maple syrup aint electric, and aint a car, but it got killed anyway....
next

[CrazyOrangeCat]

24. K&R

[Jcrowley]

28. K&R

Related:

CSI: My Apiary
U.S. honeybees disappearing from hives, not even leaving a note
Don't let the pharmaceutical giants get wind of this: U.S. honeybees are suffering from "colony collapse disorder." Beekeepers in 24 states say their pollinating pals are simply disappearing, with losses of 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast and, in some cases, more than 70 percent on the East Coast and in Texas. "I have never seen anything like it," says California keeper David Bradshaw. "Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home." Perplexed scientists are testing theories including stress, toxins, and viruses. It's not the first time bees have met a mystery fate, "but it's never been on a scale like this," says bee specialist Dennis van Engelsdorp. With bees pollinating more than $14 billion of U.S. seeds and crops a year -- every third bite we eat, according to industry buzz -- those with full hives stand to benefit. "It's supply and demand," says a keeper who expects to earn $520,000 for a month in California's almond orchards. "That's what drives the whole dang thing."

http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2007/02/27/3/

[B Calm]

29. Malloy brought up Honeybees the other night. I haven't heard about

it until he mentioned it.

[mdmc]

30. more bad news

:(

[mcscajun]

31. Ohhhhhhhh, nooooooooooooo!

Damn, damn, damnit!

And we're losing the bees, so then honey will be gone.

The sweetness is going out of the world in more ways than this...

[devilgrrl]

34. Thank you for posting this.

This with the lastest news about honey bees makes my heart hurt but it needs to heard no matter how disturbing. :-(

[Eurobabe]

41. Just read the story in the NYT. Sad, very sad...

I lived near VT border as a teenager and spent alot of time in VT, skiing, tubing, etc. I usually come back to VT every fall, my Dad now lives in NH. We have tons of friends in VT.

I cannot imagine Vermont without the maples for one thing, and secondly, without maple syrup.

It's not much better in Germany, take heart -- we've had the earliest spring on record. No snow at lower elevations this year at ALL. It's quite bizarre. :scared:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

42. That's terrible - I love hotcakes and maple syrup

There's always sorghum, which is grown down South from a type of grass. I think it's delicious but some say it's an acquired taste. But everyone loves maple syrup.

[graywarrior]

46. Damn!

Who can live without maple syrup? Who can live without the people who make it?

This is sad.
:cry:

[jwirr]

50. We have sugar maples here in Minnesota to. I wonder if this is

happening here?

[Olney Blue]

54. I have happy memories of a "sugar on snow" party in Vermont-

dill pickles were served with the thickened maple syrup drizzled over the snow....



I was visiting my parents, who had moved to Vermont while I was in college.

[Laurier]

56. I've always got my maple syrup from Canada and didn't even know

that I could have got it from Vermont, but it's sad to hear of your dwindling sugar maple trees. :(
On the upside, Canada should probably still be able to supply vast quantities of maple syrup for the foreseeable future.

[SpiralHawk]

57. Vermont maple syrup tastes better - the trees have their roots

in some good Green Mountain stuff. Takes a trained palate, but some folks can distinguish by taste where the syrup came from.