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2023-2024 Common Read - Braiding Sweetgrass: Maple Sugar Moon

"The responsibility does not lie with the maples alone. The other half belongs to us; we participate in its transformation. It is our work, and our gratitude, that distills the sweetness." p. 69

Sugar maple

Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5 , via Wikimedia Commons

Maple sugar bucket and spile

Image courtesy of The Institute for American Indian Studies

A 1908 Roland Reed photo of an Ojibwe woman tapping for maple syrup

Reed, Roland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sugar maple leaf

James St. John, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Maple sap buckets

Davepape, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Squirrel and Maple

Kit Case Flickr  CC BY-SA

Keywords

Antifungal: natural properties that exist in plants that inhibit the growth of fungi. (YA)

Assiduously: showing great care, attention, and effort : marked by careful unremitting attention or persistent application.  (MW)

Canopy: the uppermost spreading branchy layer of a forest. (MW)

Embryonic: being in an early stage of development. (MW)

Flotsam: miscellaneous or unimportant material. (MW)

Incipient: beginning to come into being or to become apparent. (MW)

Manido: a powerful spirit being. (YA)

Original Instructions: Indigenous teachings that come from stories, not "instructions" like commandments or rules; rather they are like a compass: they provide an orientation but not a map.  The work of living is creating that map for yourself. (YA)

Phloem: a complex tissue in the vascular system of higher plants that takes the nutrients from the leaves back down to the roots. (YA)

Phytochromes: plant protein pigments that can detect light and initiate growth. (YA)

Sublimate: to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state. (MW)

Subsistence: the minimum (as of food and shelter) necessary to support life. (MW)

Xylem: a complex tissue in the vascular system of higher plants that carries water and nutrients from the soil through the roots of the plant. (YA)

Additional Resources

Video

Gathering maple sugar the traditional Anishinaabe way

Contact

James A. Cannavino Library

3399 North Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
(845) 575-3106

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