In Part 1 of “Into the Sugar Bush” Bill Paulson walks us through the Anishinaabe cultural way of setting taps in the Maple trees on the White Earth Reservation in Northwestern Minnesota.
Although there are now commercial processes for the gathering of Maple sap, this video shows a traditional, slightly modernized approach that Paulson uses to gather the sap before he returns the sap to camp where it boils until it becomes the syrup many enjoy on morning meals such as pancakes.
The sugary water from a Maple tree is as clean as the air, water and soil around it. The gathering of Maple syrup is also one of the types of cultural activities the Anishinaabe were guaranteed in perpetuity as part of the treaties signed with the US Government in the 1800s.
As we continue to build & extract the natural surrounds it is these types of “resources” that become compromised and threaten the future for First Nations across Turtle Island.
We uploaded several photos from our days in the Sugar Bush in this post, and in Part 2 to come Paulson will speak more about the cultural significance of the Maple syrup, the effect projects like Enbridge’s Line 3 have on treaties, and more…
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This video as also been uploaded to Facebook and is available by clicking the link below: