Asian Beetle Spells Death for Maples So Dear

Stephan Savoia/Associated Press / In Worcester, Mass., a Department of Agriculture worker scours the trees for the insects that have taken hold there in part because of a lack of tree diversity.

Asian Beetle Spells Death for Maples So Dear
By ARIANA GREEN
Published: November 28, 2008
The New York Times
A number of maple trees in Worcester, Mass., will be chopped down because of an infestation of Asian long-horned beetles that is plaguing thousands of trees.

Read it all here.

Randall B. Heiligmann Tells All

Instructions for making maple syrup are especially detailed on this fact sheet from Ohio State University Extension (that's a spout inserted into a maple tree, at left).

"If you have access to a few maple trees, whether growing in your yard or in a woodland, you can produce your own maple syrup and even enough extra to use as gifts for family or friends. It's easy, great fun, and a very educational family activity," Heiligmann writes -- and then tells exactly how to do it!

Vermont Maple Festival Cookbook

This year's Vermont Maple Festival is history...but there's always the Vermont Maple Festival Cookbook.

The latest edition is chock full of recipes for Main Dishes, Salads, Desserts, Breads, Sauces, Preserves and Dressings, Vegetables, Cookies, Cakes, Pies, Candies, Desserts and more. The book is illustrated with photos from maple country, and the Vermont Maple Festival.

Go online and order one at $13 plus $40 shipping and handling.

Maple Heritage Museum

Wheelers Maple Heritage Museum is located in MacDonald Corners, Ontario, Canada. Housed in a dove-tail log building with a cathedral pine rafter ceiling, the museum boasts 2000 square feet of exhibit space and an extensive collection of all things maple (including sugar molds, sap buckets, production equipment and tools). For more information, see the website or call 613:278-2090.

Festival of the Maples in Perth, Ontario

Perth, "in the heart of maple syrup country in Eastern Ontario", holds its annual Festival of the Maples on the last Saturday in April (this year, that's 26 April).

Not One, but Two Pancake Breakfasts!

The 11th annual Maple Syrup Festival takes place in Powassan, Ontario, Canada, on 26 April.

Two pancake breakfasts are scheduled to start at 7 a.m. that day: one at St. Mary's Anglican Church and the other at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.

Main Street will be filled with activities until 4 p.m.: sheep shearing, wool spilling, Scottish Heavy Events demos, antique car displays, West Coast Lumberjack show...and more. Of course, there'll be tours to the sugar bush!

Quatrain by Jordan Webb

Drill the holes and gather the sap.
12 pm, the time to set the fire.
Afternoon, we poured the syrup and placed the caps.
Work done we now retire.