Last year the 3E maple season was disastrous – the worst in anyone’s memory due to a sudden weather shift from too-cold to too-hot. The 2024 maple syrup season was the opposite, the most abundant anyone could remember. We produced a healthy harvest of 93 gallons of high-quality syrup. We could have kept going for two or three more weeks, but decided to stop, partially out of exhaustion (the season started early, at a time when fewer collaborators were available to come up and help) but also because we felt we were reaching the limit of how much we could distribute in the coming months. This year we tried something new. A QR code on the bottom of the bottles links to a page of tasting notes on the 3E website that attempt to capture the unique nuances of each batch (https://3ecologies.org/land-based-activities/maple-syrup-production/2024-tasting/). We’re hoping to develop a vocabulary for maple syrup, with feedback from others. Thanks to Matthew and Marc for their discriminating taste buds! They are currently working on using the maple syrup in the production of distilled spirits.
Sugaring off was followed by the construction of a new greenhouse, built almost entirely from repurposed materials that we already had on hand (only the plastic covering had to be purchased). It has a gravity-fed watering system (water pumped up from the stream) and is surrounded by a large open-air garden. The gardening is shared with our local collaborator, Rémi, who has greenhouses on his own land and starts the seedlings indoors in early spring for later transplant. We also, inevitably, share the produce with the deer and rabbits (less damage than we expected!). Companion planting of species that repel them is helping, as well as learning by experience which crops they are less likely to browse and concentrating on those.
The summer gardening and land care will gently carry us forward through the warm months toward autumn, and a residency-based research-creation event called Perceptual Ferment, addressing fermentation in its largest connotations. Other activities are in the offing for August and September as well. More on these activities later!
