EarthCARE Update

Sap is the life blood of trees. With the advent of spring, the life force that is always present in living trees becomes more prominent, especially in maple trees. And the IHM Center has a whole neighborhood of them, observes Sister Donna Korba, in the far back of our land at the bottom of the hill. “Only a few years ago,” shares Jan Novotka, “an old red maple who had one last ‘give’ gave in abundance, producing thousands of seedlings. This final and generous gift required every bit of life left in the red maple.” Not long after this extravagance, the maple died.

That gracious maple who surrendered the last remnants of its life in an act of seeding new life speaks eloquently to us in this Lenten season. We see parallels between the living and dying of this tree and the giving over of Jesus’ life blood in the selfless gift that we call his Passion and death, an act of profound love and surrender.

The process of creating pure maple syrup also mirrors a journey of letting go, passing through fire, and offering the world a new kind of life in shared sweetness. Maple tree sap is a clear, slightly sweet liquid that flows in late winter/early spring, triggered by a freeze or thaw cycle that creates pressure in the tree. Making maple syrup begins with collecting sap from sugar maple trees in early spring during freezing nights and warm days. After a tap hole is drilled into a maple tree, a spout is inserted to direct the sap to a bucket. Sap then passes through a reverse osmosis machine, which takes a percentage of the water from the sap before boiling. Sugarmakers boil down the sap into syrup, sending clouds of sweet maple scented steam billowing into the air. In most sugarhouses, a heat source (wood, oil, wood chips, wood pellets) creates an intense fire, and as the water in the sap evaporates, the sap thickens. What remains after boiling is a distillation into the essence of pure maple syrup.

We may not be engaged in the tapping of maple trees and the labor-intensive process that brings pure maple goodness to our tables, but we’re all invited into gratitude for these plant gifts that are a manifestation of the unconditional love that plants have for us. Our EarthCARE committee wishes our Sisters, Associates, partners, and friends every blessing as we accompany Jesus and all of creation on the journey into new life this Lenten season.